Childhood
Nani was born on July 21, 1938 in Tbilisi in a creative family. Her father, Georgy Efremovich, acted in films and played in the theater, her mother played the piano beautifully, and her parents paid great attention to the creative education of their daughter. The girl began to sing almost as soon as she learned to speak. Already at the age of six, Nani perfectly performed the romances "Gate" and "Don't leave, my darling" with the guitar. 
After graduating from music school, the girl decided to continue to improve her piano playing skills and entered a local specialized college. For several years, she dreamed of becoming a popular pianist, although she was also fond of singing. Her mother managed to convince Nani of her choice of specialty, drawing attention to her daughter's vocal talent.
The beginning of the way
In 1956, the girl began performing with the orchestra of the Polytechnic Institute, and the very next year the team became a laureate of the World Youth Music Festival in Moscow. The talents of young singers were evaluated by famous artists, among whom was Leonid Utyosov himself. After the song “I put out the candle” performed by Nani, the artist said: “This girl, if she continues to sing, will make a good singer.” 
Despite her success in vocal art, in 1958 Bregvadze continued her musical education in piano at the State Conservatory in her native city. But she could not leave singing and in 1959 she became one of the soloists in the Tbilisi State Variety Orchestra "Rero", where she worked for five years.
At one of the performances, the singer with an unusually soulful voice was noticed by representatives of the Moscow Music Hall and invited her on tour to Paris, where Bregvadze was lucky enough to sing in the legendary Olympia Hall. Upon returning home, she received an invitation to become a soloist of the Orera ensemble, with which the Georgian singer worked for 15 years and toured more than 80 countries.
Musical career
In 1966, Nani met Vakhtang Kikabidze, who also joined the Orera ensemble. He not only sang, but played percussion instruments there. Joint tours rallied the young artists, and soon they became best friends. With Vakhtang and Nani, the team released several records, which almost immediately became classics of Soviet pop music. 
In 1968, Nani received the title of Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR. In 1970, together with Kikabidze, she took part in the filming of the musical Orera, full speed ahead, dedicated to the ensemble's journey to Australia. In 1974 she became the People's Artist of Georgia.
Nani Bregvadze - "Snowfall"
In 1980, the singer decided to go on a solo voyage. With her sensual and tender songs, she returned the love of many Soviet listeners to Russian and gypsy romances. Her fans especially liked such songs as "Lost love" and "I remember the sound of a waltz." But the visiting card of Nani was the lyrical song about the female fate "Snowfall", performed by her for the first time in 1981. Two years later, the Georgian singer became the People's Artist of the USSR.
In the 90s, Nani continued to delight listeners with her soulful performance, releasing such albums as Romance, Romance (1995) and Concert in New York (1997). In 1997, Bregvadze founded the Nani company, in which she supported young Georgian musicians. In addition, she was an active participant in the public organizations "Women for Peace" and "Soviet Woman".
Nani Bregvadze - "Romance about romance"
Since 2002, Nani has been engaged in teaching activities, headed the pop vocal department at the Institute of Music of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts. In 2005, the singer recorded a new disc with previously unreleased songs based on verses by Bella Akhmadulina and Marina Tsvetaeva. Over time, Bregvadze began to perform less and more time to devote to her family and well-deserved rest.
Personal life of Nani Bregvadze
The first and only husband of the singer was Merab Mamaladze. Due to the frequent tours of his wife, her husband regularly arranged scenes of jealousy for her. 
In 1960, the couple had a wonderful daughter, Eka (Ekaterina), who later also became a popular singer in Georgia.
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Marriage between Nani and Merab did not work out, and after long separations and litigation, they divorced. The singer became a grandmother three times and is now raising great-grandchildren Dmitry and Alexander.
TASS/ Edisherashvili Sergey
There is nothing surprising in the fact that she began to sing, says Nani Bregvadze. During the years of her childhood, all of Georgia sang: there was no family that would not while away the evening with a good song at a hospitable table. But, of course, the singer is a little disingenuous: many Georgians sing well, but her voice gave the audience goosebumps.
Under mother's wing
Her first performances began as soon as Nani learned to speak. By the age of 10, she already performed well "Kalinka", "Caravan", old folk songs and romances. One day, the girl confessed to her own aunt, a professional singer, that she gets goosebumps when she sings.
"Is that bad?" Nani asked. "What you. This means that you sing with soul, ”the aunt reassured.
RIA Novosti/Vasily Malyshev After school, the girl began to study at the conservatory in the piano class (Bregvadze never studied vocals separately). And in her free time, she sang with the variety orchestra of the Tbilisi Polytechnic Institute - it was in its composition that Nani conquered the jury of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow.
The young singer was praised by Leonid Utyosov himself.
Nani Bregvadze recalls this time with pleasure: it was so happy and serenely calm. She had a favorite pastime, close people nearby, every evening there were interesting guests. Interesting young people often came to the small apartment where the girl lived with her parents.
The guests behaved respectfully, joked and laughed a lot, sang along with Nani and her family. Their mother invited them, and for the first time she drew her daughter's attention to one of the guys - Merab Mamaladze.
By that time, he imperceptibly pushed other boyfriends away from Nani: she was aware that she was drawn to this tall and handsome young man. But when her mother directly raised the issue of the wedding, the girl realized that she did not want to get married.
Parents did not listen to her objections. There was no turning back: the Mamaladze family had already officially wooed Nani, their marriage was a settled matter. The only thing Nani's mother insisted on before the wedding was her daughter's right to continue singing.
Merab, without hesitation, made a promise that he would not mind her career as a singer. They merried.
10 singers and a jealous husband
RIA Novosti/Vladimir Bogatyrev Keeping your promise to Merab was not easy. With all his love for Nani, the Georgian temperament did not allow him to accept that his wife was touring today in one city, and tomorrow in another. At the same time, ten incredible handsome men surround her on stage - the favorites of the public.
In the 60s, Nani Bregvadze became a soloist of the famous Georgian ensemble "Orera" - and the only singer in his team. All the other performers were men - young, handsome and temperamental men at that. There are few men who can easily put up with such a situation.
And Merab did not put up. As soon as Nani returned home from the tour, he began to quarrel and get annoyed over any trifle. Jealous of his wife even to their common daughter Eka and parents. But as soon as they went somewhere together, the husband became a different person.
“Friends said: “Nani, don’t think, Merab loves you very much.” And I didn’t need such love, I wanted respect, understanding, trust. I haven’t seen this,” the singer said about their marriage.
Once she could not stand it and invited her husband to leave for a while. He agreed. As soon as she took a breath after the incessant quarrels, new news came about her husband: Merab was arrested.
It turned out that he put his signature on some fake trade documents. The husband of the Honored Artist of Georgia was threatened with several years in prison.
Despite their difficult relationship, Bregvadze achieved the transfer of Merab from cold Estonia to her native Georgia. I personally asked for him from Eduard Shevardnadze, who was then the Minister of Internal Affairs: “Let him die, but on his own land!”.
Fortunately, Mamaladze did not die. A few years later, he reappeared on the threshold of her house.
Second try
Opening the door, Nani did not recognize her former husband. He lost weight, rethought a lot, began to practice yoga and seemed to have completely changed. But he still loved her - and asked to give him a second chance.
Bregvadze agreed.
For the first time, an idyll set in in their relationship: Merab accompanied her on tour, infected her with his passion for yoga, and even began to teach it to the entire Orera ensemble. This went on for several years - until the first serious family crisis.
Merab and Nani did not agree on the first husband of their daughter Eka: Mamaladze objected to her marriage. Quarrels and disagreements began again. Returning from a tour one day, Nani did not find her husband at home. It turned out that during her absence, he left for another woman.
“Of course, I was both surprised and upset, but at the same time it became so easy, as if a stone had fallen from my soul: “Thank God, I guessed it myself!”
Solo
TASS/Miklyaev Sergey Shortly before the departure of her husband, Nani Bregvadze began her solo career. It would even be more correct to say that her solo began in all spheres of life: on stage, in the house, in the family. A much bigger blow than a divorce from Merab for the singer was the death of her mother.
For many years, she was a reliable rear for her, no matter what troubles life would face.
After the funeral, Nani Bregvadze did not sing for a whole year - she could not bring herself to go on stage. She was brought back to life by her daughter and beloved grandchildren.
Now the legendary Georgian singer is already a great-grandmother: her youngest grandson Georgy gave her two great-grandchildren - Dmitry and Sandro. Daughter Eka and granddaughter Natalya followed in the footsteps of Nani - they also became singers.
Nani herself regularly takes the stage after 80. Every day of her life, she thanks fate for the fact that she has a favorite thing - singing.
Bregvadze Nani Georgievna (b. 1936) - Georgian and Soviet singer, performer of Russian and gypsy romances, music teacher, pianist. He has an excellent manner of performance and a voice with elements of elegy. People's Artist of the Georgian SSR also has the title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union. He is an honorary citizen of the city of Tbilisi.
Childhood and youth
Nani was born in 1936 on July 21 in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. The girl received her short, but such a melodic name not by chance. The father of the future singer, Georgy Efimovich, was a professional actor by occupation. Before the birth of his daughter, he starred in the film "Golden Valley" with his wife Olga Alexandrovna. It was a very touching love story of young people George and Nani.
On the set of the picture, several young couples formed in the film group, who recently got married and were just going to replenish their families with heirs. The women concluded an agreement that the first born girl would be called Nani, and the first boy would be named George. Nani Bregvadze's mother was ahead of her girlfriends, fulfilling the terms of the contract, and thus the girl received her name at birth. After her, a boy was born - Georgy Shengelaya. The third woman could already name her born child as she herself wanted, she had a girl who was given a name - Sofiko Chiaureli.
Nani's mother, Olga Alexandrovna Mikeladze, comes from noble princes who lived in the tiny western Georgian region of Racha, where vineyards grew, which gave the world the famous Khvanchkara wine. Olga played the piano wonderfully and sang. Despite the fact that she was a talented pianist, she went to study at the university at the Faculty of Geology. But after completing three courses, she got married and left her studies for the sake of her family.
Nani's father - Bregvadze Georgy Efimovich - studied at the theater studio, and after graduation he acted in films. But then fate so happened that he had to change the nature of his activity, he worked for a long time in Iran in a trade mission.
Grandparents on my mother's side are the wealthy noblemen Lordkipanidze and Mikeladze, who received an excellent education and had a salon where the most worthy people of that time gathered. Grandfather studied at St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Law. Great-grandmother Nani sang professionally, and her aunt, mother's sister, soloed in the Georgian Folk Choir.
The girl literally from the cradle was surrounded by an intelligent, creative, musical atmosphere. When Nani was only 6 years old, and she had just learned to speak Russian, her love for the Russian old romance immediately manifested itself. The little girl performed "Don't leave, my dear", "Gate", "Caravan" and many other songs. As relatives say, the girl did not just sing, but with great inspiration, goosebumps ran through her body from her songs.
Such an early love of the girl for singing and music was the reason that Nani was sent to study at a music school in the piano class. Everyone in the family wanted her to become a pianist in the future. Therefore, after seven years of study at a music school, studies at a music technical school for 4 years followed, and then a conservatory.
As the singer herself says, as long as she remembers herself, she sang so much. Although never in my childhood and adolescence did I have a desire to make this my life profession.
Nani's first listeners were her school friends, whom she entertained with her singing during breaks.
When the girl wanted to try herself on the stage, all the relatives were at first against her life path associated with the stage. But a strong and powerful mother delivered her verdict, which no one contradicted. She said: "Let him sing a little".
So in 1956, Nani got into an amateur variety orchestra, which was formed at the Georgian Polytechnic Institute.
Creative way to the top
Although you won’t surprise anyone in Georgia with good singing, it was hard not to notice Nani’s innate talent. And in 1957, Bregvadze went to the capital to participate in the Moscow International Youth Festival, where she became a laureate with the song “I put out the candle”. At the festival, the jury was Leonid Utyosov, he said the following words about Nani Bregvadze:
“If this girl connects her life with singing, she will become a brilliant singer.”
Arriving home, the girl continued her studies at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, her teacher was Professor Gayane Machutadze. In 1963 she graduated from an educational institution in the piano class. While still a student, Bregvadze began to earn extra money at the Tbilisi Philharmonic, she was a soloist with the Rero State Orchestra, which was directed by Konstantin Pevzner.
After graduating from the conservatory, Nani did not become a pianist, she decided to connect her life path with the stage. In 1964, Bregvadze invited the Moscow Music Hall on a joint tour to Paris, this was her first performance at the famous Olympia concert hall.
After that, she was offered to be a soloist in the Orera vocal and instrumental ensemble, with which the singer worked for a long 15 years and traveled around 80 countries on tour. In 1966, Vakhtang Kikabidze joined the band as a vocalist and drummer, and they became very close friends with Nani. In 1970, Kikabidze and Bregvadze starred in the musical film "Orera, full speed ahead!", which dealt with the journey and tour of the ensemble in Australia.
In 1980, the first solo concert of Nani Bregvadze was successfully held at the Moscow Variety Theater. It marked the beginning of a long creative collaboration between the singer and pianist Medea Gongliashvili. This wonderful duet is incredibly loved by the audience, lovers of romances. Medea accompanies, and Nani sings, and does it every time as if for the first time, all her works always sound in a new way and make listeners believe in good, kind, bright.
The best romances and songs performed by the artist are recorded on her minions and phonograph records:
- 1971 - "Nani Bregvadze sings";
- 1973 - Ensemble "Orera";
- 1995 - "Romance, romance";
- 1997 - "Concert in New York".
The song "Snowfall" became the singer's calling card. Interestingly, at first she refused this composition, telling the author that she did not know how to sing it correctly. To which the composer Alexey Ekimyan replied: “Sing simply, as you know how, in Bregvadze”.
Nani Bregvadze outside romances
In addition to singing, Nani took part in dubbing films, the heroines in the tapes speak in her voice:
- "Texel";
- "Melodies of the Veria Quarter";
- "The warmth of your hands";
- "Meeting in the mountains";
- "Shores";
- "Light in the window";
- "Flood".
Nani Bregvadze also showed herself as a good movie actress, she starred in several films:
- "Blue Cities";
- "Baker";
- "Necklace for my beloved";
- "Streets of Broken Lanterns";
- "Love with accent".
In the late 90s, Bregvadze joined the jury at the Moscow International Competition "Romansiada", where young performers sang romances.
In 1995, for her services to the Motherland, Nani Bregvadze received the title of Honorary Citizen of the city of Tbilisi, and in 1996 she was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the Spanish city of Banalmadena.
For her creative work, the singer deservedly received a lot of awards and titles:
| Awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR. |
|
| Awarded the title of People's Artist of the Georgian SSR. |
|
| Awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. |
|
| She was awarded the Georgian Order of Honor. |
|
| Became the owner of the State Prize of Georgia. Shota Rustaveli. |
|
| She was awarded the gold medal "For Patronage". |
|
| Awarded with the Russian Order of Friendship. |
|
| Received the Order of the President of Georgia "Radiance". |
In 1997, the singer became the founder and head of the Nani company, which is engaged in the support and development of young talented Georgian singers, and also organizes performances by foreign pop singers in Georgia.
Throughout almost all of her creative activity, Nani Bregvadze devoted a lot of time to public life. She was a member of such well-known organizations:
- Association "Women for Peace";
- society "Soviet woman";
- women's club "Metekhi".
Her image on stage is rightfully considered the most noble and elegant on the stage.
The singer was married, her husband Merab Mamaladze could hardly put up with his wife's frequent concerts and tours. The result of his jealousy still became a divorce.
In marriage, a daughter, Eka (Catherine), was born. The girl got married early - at the age of 17. She has three children - Levan, Georgy and Natalya, and Nani Bregvadze madly loves her grandchildren and is proud of them. The talented Eka Mamaladze, Nani's daughter, followed in her mother's footsteps and became a famous pop singer. After a divorce from her husband, Nani Bregvadze does not let anyone into her personal life and keeps it in the strictest confidence. She recently became a great-grandmother, her great-grandson Dmitry was born.
The Christian Dior cosmetics company entrusted Nani Bregvadze to become the face of their company, very often the singer receives gift sets of cosmetics from the company before the holidays, although she does not hide that she uses skin care products from other companies.
A few years ago, a very good friend of Nani's started growing vineyards and producing wine, and he asked permission to use the singer's name for the brand name. She gave her consent, she did not receive money for this, but she was presented with a vineyard as a gift. And now, when the singer has many relatives or friends, she has the opportunity to order free wines from this company.
Together with her family, Nani Bregvadze advertises the products of a pharmaceutical company. Before choosing a person to advertise their products, the firm conducted a survey among the population of Georgia asking: which celebrity do they trust the most? Nani got the most votes.
In 2000, a memorial star for the singer Nani Bregvadze was laid in Georgia. For many years, Nani has lived in two countries - she has a house in Moscow and Tbilisi.
Since 2002, for several years she has been teaching at the Moscow University of Culture and Art. Professor Nani Bregvadze was the head of the department of pop-jazz singing at the Institute of Music.
When Nani has free time, she simply loves to chat with friends, go to visit, and even more - to host people dear and close to her at home. She often gathers creative people - poets with musicians, writers with artists.
The singer rests by listening to classical music, watching old American films, reading books. Now her reference book is the Bible.
It is so interesting to look at your old photographs, these elegant outfits... How did they manage to look so elegant in the 1960s, and even more so in the 1940s?
Nani: It was very difficult, but how everyone tried! In Georgia, women have always dressed wonderfully. Tbilisi was called "little Paris". Sometimes they brought wonderful things from abroad, but much more often they sewed - both from tailors and themselves. In the years of my childhood, women wore hats and high heels, and my mother, Olga Alexandrovna, did not part with heels even at home - she was small in stature. Mom and my aunts were constantly inventing outfits, and I admired them from infancy. But when you touch beauty as a child, you gradually get an idea of harmony and taste, you develop. A small person needs to absorb beauty from everywhere - not only from music, painting, poetry.
At one time it was said that children should not be well dressed, because they would deteriorate, they would think only about fashion and generally chase too much material things. I consider this stupidity. My mother never thought so and dressed me very well. We all lived in one big courtyard - my parents and I and my aunts, my father's and mother's sisters, and on Sundays my mother or aunt took me to the opera. And for each exit, they sewed a new dress for me! I remember well how the door of the locker with my outfits opened, and I chose: today I will go in this, no, it’s better in this. I wanted to wear everything. She especially loved the burgundy dress of the now fashionable style: sleeveless and all made of light elegant frills. It was sewn from silk that dad sent from Iran (Georgy Bregvadze was an actor, but in the 1940s he worked in Iran in the trade mission. - Approx. "TN"). He served there for a very long time and, since nothing was sold at all in our stores, he sent us clothes in bales, as well as patent leather shoes on a rubber platform and the same socks for these shoes - to me and my mother.
Performance of the ensemble "Orera" (1966). In the foreground - Nani Bregvadze, behind the drums - Vakhtang Kikabidze. Photo: From the personal archive of Nani Bregvadze
- Who sewed outfits for the opera for you?
Nani: Aunt, who was a real craftswoman, or mommy - she also knew how to sew well. She was talented in everything. She knew mathematics very well, she graduated from high school with great marks and entered the university to study as a geologist, but when she got married and gave birth to me, she left everything. I always grieve, thinking that for me she gave up her education, an interesting job. But the mother herself did not regret that it turned out this way. She said that this is happiness - if you invest all your energy, love, interest in children, and the children justify the investment. When I grew up, got married and gave birth to Eka, my mother already invested herself in her upbringing - after all, I toured a lot.
- Eka, did your grandmother continue the tradition of Sunday trips to the opera with you in a new dress?
Eka: I was taken to theaters and concerts all the time, but I'm not sure that this happened exactly once a week. They also dressed up not so punctually - but in what amazing things! To this day I remember a black velvet dress with a purple bow. My grandmother on my father's side had a sister who lived in Paris, and it used to be that we received parcels with outfits from her. In 1966, my grandmother was able to visit her and brought me from France a creamy-white puffy coat, which we have never seen before, and white boots to go with it. And Nani did not return from the tour empty-handed.
Nani: For performances abroad, we received a little, and, having collected all the kopecks, I could buy one thing for myself and one for sure for Ekochka.
Eka: When I was 6 years old, Nani brought from France a large doll with the appearance of Brigitte Bardot, and several outfits for her. I almost went crazy with delight, did not part with her, even when I grew up. We changed apartments several times, and I always carried Brigitte with me.
With husband Merab (1962). Photo: From the personal archive of Nani Bregvadze
Nani: I already bought the doll during my second tour in Paris. And the first time I visited there was in 1964 with the Moscow Music Hall. Imagine, the first foreign tour - and immediately in Paris, I perform in the Olympia Hall together with such masters as Lyudmila Zykina and Yuri Gulyaev! I myself was then a student at the conservatory and an aspiring singer, and in order to be hired, I went from Tbilisi to Moscow for a casting. Everything seemed to be going well, but one day the deputy director of the Music Hall called me and said that they decided to take another artist. I replied: “How grateful I am to you! I can go home tomorrow!” He went crazy, called the director: “What a funny girl we have appeared - she doesn’t want to go to Paris.” It turns out that he wanted to play a joke, scare me before saying that they were taking me. And I really wasn’t really eager for this tour: I loved my home, family, friends so much, and I didn’t even imagine how I would leave my four-year-old daughter for two months. I couldn't live a moment without her. But I was noticed and offered the most prestigious trip. Yes, it was difficult to combine love for the family and for singing, for the stage.
But when I got to Paris, I fell in love with it so much that I forgot about Tbilisi, family and friends. I didn't even miss my daughter! And I fell in love with the French language, I began to understand it a little in two months. She returned and asked her relative, who was born in France, but moved with her family to Tbilisi, to study French with Eka.
Eka: A relative created a small kindergarten right at home, four or five of us went to her, and she, playing, taught us the language.
- During your mother's first Paris tour, you were four years old. After them, Nani was invited to the Orera VIA, and she had even more concerts in different cities and countries ...
Nani with mother Olga Alexandrovna and father Georgy Efremovich (1945). Photo: From the personal archive of Nani Bregvadze
Eka: I always looked forward to Nani from the tour. What a holiday it was when she returned! Under my grandmother's guidance, I always learned a new song for her arrival. I sang from the age of 3, studied music from the age of 6 and dreamed of performing on the big stage. True, my parents categorically did not want this, so I did not tell them about my desire. Having learned the letters, she began to write letters to her mother. I remember a funny message: "I'm very well behaved, listen to grandma, please bring gum, but don't tell grandma." For some reason, she did not allow me to chew it - she probably considered it harmful. When my holidays coincided with Nana's tour of the Soviet Union, she took me with her. There was nothing interesting in small towns and poorly adapted hotels for life, but how wonderful it was to be near my mother!
- Mom was a holiday, but did your grandmother bring you up in severity?
Nani: I spoiled, but I was also strict - I partially continued my mother's line.
Eka: I grew up as a free person, there was only one firm condition: practice your three hours a day on the piano and take a walk or receive guests.
Nani: Mom loved the guests! I had a real salon from a young age. Friends could come to me at two in the morning, at least ten people, at least twenty - she set the table, I played, we all sang, danced ... However, the next day at eleven in the morning I had to sit down to study. Even more strictly than playing the piano, she followed the behavior - did not lose her vigilance with me, and then with my daughter. Eka, tell me about the newspaper!
Eka: I was 15 years old, my grandmother and I arrived in Moscow on winter holidays - Nani had tours here. We stayed at the Rossiya Hotel. And several of my classmates also came to Moscow and came to visit us in the room. Granny herself offered to call them: she loved to have fun and sing with the youth. So, we were drinking, and my grandmother was reading a newspaper in the corner. And suddenly someone noticed that holes were pierced in the newspaper at the level of her eyes: the granny kept order. How we laughed!
Nani: I couldn't live a minute without my girl! It was difficult to combine love for the family and for singing, for the stage. With daughter Eka. Photo: Arsena Memetova
Nani: This is a comical case, but, you understand, it was impossible for us to walk along the avenue twice with the same young man so that rumors about you did not spread. I have been in Georgia for six decades feeling great love and attention to myself - and God forbid I make a mistake, do the wrong thing. When I started singing in the Orera ensemble, there were a lot of rumors about me, but I went through life very correctly. And my mother was the controller. I am grateful to her for this, although in my youth I was angry that she was depriving me of my freedom.
After all, when Merab, Ekin's future father, proposed to me, I was not sure that it was worth accepting. But my mother decided that it was worth it. And when we separated many years later and I never remarried, it was also partly because of my mother. So, when my daughter was a teenager, I thought that it was necessary to take into account "separate excesses in the field", and told my mother: "You raised me in strictness, and leave Eka alone - let her live as she lives." If a person sees normal relations between decent people, he himself will grow up decent and choose good relationships.
Eka early fell in love with a boy from a wonderful family, he fell in love with her, and we did not interfere with their feelings. By the way, my mother was the first to get married. She said, it’s better to let them get married than to start quarreling now, reconciling, breaking up again, getting carried away by others. And Eka got married at the age of 17, gave birth to two sons - Levan and George, and she had a wonderful family. Unfortunately, her first husband soon passed away ... Fortunately, then she did not start living only in the past and caring for the boys and me, but got married again, gave birth to Natalia.
Eka accompanies daughter Natalia (2005). Photo: From the personal archive of Nani Bregvadze
- Natalia, probably, was given even more freedom?
Eka: Yes, take at least a story with music. Natalia is a singer. Nani started singing at the age of 2, me at 3, and my daughter later. I didn't know she could sing until one day, when she was 4 or 5, I heard her playing with dolls and talking to them, changing her tone. Then I thought: it seems that she will have a good voice ... So, Natalia graduated from a music school in piano, played beautifully, and we thought that she, like Nani and I, would enter the conservatory in piano. But the daughter wanted to become a singer.
Nani: That's when I wanted something, my mother could well not allow me, and Natalia has complete freedom of action.
Eka: I tell her: "First, do the piano, and then do vocals." And she replied: “Why should I waste these years if I have a voice and I can immediately learn vocals?”
Nani: Her brain works well.
Eka: And she is determined! She understood what she needed, and went to the goal in a short way. She immediately entered the vocal department, and now continues her studies in New York. Usually people from Georgia go to study vocals in Germany or Italy, but this particular school in the USA was highly praised by the son of friends, and Natalia liked the recording there so much that she was taken to study almost for free. My daughter has been in America for three years now and will be back soon. Of course, it was hard to let her go so far ... In the first year I went with her, rented an apartment for her, I furnished it, hung new curtains, changed the lamps - I love doing such things!
Nani: I also really liked to bring beauty to the house. But now my back sometimes hurts, and Eka and his sons have completely removed me from all housework, so I sit like an old stump.
Eka: Nani, not like a stump, but like a queen!
- I noticed that you call your mother not your mother, but Nani ...
Eka: Yes, since childhood I liked to call my mother, father, grandmother and all my relatives only by their names.
Nani: One day, little Eka asked: “Can I call you mom?” - "Please!" A minute later, she once turned to me "mother" - and that's it! That was the end of my existence as a mother. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren call me only Nani. What else would they call me? Grandmother, great-grandmother?
Eka: In Georgian, "great-grandmother" - "dideda", literally translates as "big grandmother".
Nani: An amazingly beautiful word with a deep meaning, but I can’t imagine that they will call me one. No, it’s better to stay like this for all Nani ...
Nani Bregvadze
Family: daughter - Ekaterina (Eka) Mamaladze, singer; grandchildren - Levan (39 years old), doctor; George (38 years old), architect; granddaughter - Natalia (26 years old), singer; great-grandchildren - Dimitry (11 years old), Sandro (9 years old), Nikoloz (3 years old)
Education: Graduated from the Tbilisi Conservatory. Sarajishvili in piano
Career: As a student, she began to sing in the Tbilisi State Variety Orchestra "Rero", then became a soloist of the "Orera" ensemble, since 1980 she has been giving solo concerts. People's Artist of Georgia, People's Artist of the USSR
Eka Mamaladze
Education: graduated from the Tbilisi Conservatory in piano
Family: children - Levan, George, Natalia; grandchildren - Dimitri, Sandro, Nikoloz
Career: performs songs in Georgian and Russian romances solo, in a duet with Nani Bregvadze or in a trio with Bregvadze and her daughter Natalia Kutateladze
She was born in 1938 in Tbilisi. Father - Georgy Efremovich Bregvadze (born in 1909), an actor by profession. Mother - Olga Alexandrovna Mikeladze (born in 1913), was from a noble princely family. Spouse - Mamaladze Merab Grigorievich (born in 1937). Daughter - Mamaladze Eka (Ekaterina) Merabovna (born in 1960), a popular and beloved singer in Georgia, joins and records a lot.
In the family of Nani Bregvadze, everyone sang. Great-grandmother and aunt were professional singers, and mother and her five sisters and brother sang in a magnificent ensemble. As a very young girl, somewhere at the age of 6, Nani already sang "Kalinka", "Caravan" and other old Russian songs and romances with the guitar.
After graduating from a music school, she entered a musical college, and then became a student at the Tbilisi State Conservatory named after V. Sarajishvili in piano (1958-1963).
While still a student, she began to sing in the Tbilisi State Orchestra "Rero" of the Georgian State Philharmonic. One of the strongest impressions of that time was a tour with the Moscow Music Hall in Paris in 1964. Then Nani performed for the first time in the world-famous Olympia hall. After arriving from Paris, she was invited to the Orera ensemble, in which she worked as a soloist for 15 years.
Since 1980, Nani Bregvadze began performing solo concerts. To this day, she tours in many countries of the world. Her repertoire includes hundreds of songs and romances widely known and loved by the public: "Waiting" (music by N. Vatsadze, M. Potskhishvili), "Lost Love" (music by V. Azarashvili, lyrics by M. Potskhishvili), "Where have you been you, my beloved" (music by G. Chubinishvili, lyrics by I. Chavchavadze), "I met you by chance" (music by G. Ponomarenko, lyrics by V. Dyunin), "Oh, this red rowan" (music by S .Zaslavsky, lyrics by A. Sofronov), "Two Rings" (music by B. Prozorovsky, lyrics by A. Bektabekov), "I remember the waltz sound" (music by N. Listov), "Only once in a life there is a meeting" (music by B. Fomin, lyrics by P. German), "Gas Kerchief" (music by B. Prozorovsky, lyrics by M. Kozyrev), "I Dreamed of a Garden" (an old romance), "Cranky, Stubborn" (an old romance ), "Give me, dear friend, for good luck my hand" (music and lyrics by K. Lucic), "Don't leave, you're my darling" (an old romance), "Sing my guitar" (music by A. Kruchinina, lyrics A. Bashkin), "Viburnum is bitter" (music by V. Zubkov, lyrics by N. Kondakova), "Come back" (music by B. Prozorovsky, lyrics by V. Lensky), "Snowfall" (music by A. Ekimyan , lyrics by A. Rustaikis), "Gate" (music by A. Obukhov, lyrics by A. Budischev), "Go away, completely go away" (music by F. Driso, lyrics by V. Vereshchagin), "But I I still love "(an old romance), "Dry Willow" (music by G. Sorochan, lyrics by G. Levin), "Charming Eyes" (old romance), "Guitar Ringing" (music, lyrics by N. Zhemchuzhny) , "Song of Tbilisi" (music by R. Lagidze, lyrics by P. Gruzinsky), "Star of Happiness" (music by N. Gabunia, lyrics by D. Gvishiani), "To you, beloved" (music by G. Chubanishvili, lyrics by V. Pshavela), "Apple tree" (music by V. Orlovetsky, lyrics by N. Besedin), "I loved you" (music by B. Sheremetyev, lyrics by A. Pushkin), "Ivushka" (music by G .Ponomarenko, lyrics by V. Alferov), "I loved you so much" (music by B. Prozorovsky), "Waltz for you" (music by M. Kazhlaev, lyrics by B. Dubrovin), "Romance about romance" (music .A. Petrov, lyrics by B. Akhmadulina), "And in the end I will say" (music by A. Petrov, lyrics by B. Akhmadulina) and many, many others.
Many of them were included in the records and minions recorded by the singer: "Nani Bregvadze Sings" (1971), "Orera Ensemble" (1973), "Romance, Romance" (CD, 1995), "Concert in New York" (1997) and others. She voiced a number of musical and feature films: "Melodies of the Veriyskiy quarter" (dir. G. Shengelaya, comp. G. Tsabadze, lyrics by M. Potskhishvili), "Meeting in the mountains" ( dir. N. Sanishvili, comp. R. Lagidze, lyrics by P. Gruzinsky), "Shore" (dir. G. Lordkipanidze, comp. B. Kvernadze), "Flood" (dir. G. Mgeladze, comp. A. Kereselidze ), "Light in the Window" (dir. G. Mgeladze, comp. J. Kakhidze), "The Warmth of Your Hands" (Sh. Managadze, comp. R. Lagidze), "Texel" (dir. Sh. Managadze, comp. R. Lagidze), and also starred and sang songs in the films: "Orera, full speed ahead!" (dir. Z. Kakabadze), "Baker" (dir. Z. Kakabadze), "Necklace for my beloved" (dir. T .Abuladze).
Nani Bregvadze - People's Artist of the USSR (1983), People's Artist of Georgia (1974), Honored Artist of Georgia (1968), Laureate of the State Prize of Georgia (1998); was awarded the Order of Honor of Georgia (1997), is an honorary citizen of Tbilisi (1995), Benalmadena (Spain, 1996) and other cities.
In 1997, N.G. Bregvadze created and headed the company "Nani", the purpose of which is to support beginner singers in Georgia, as well as to organize performances in the republic by foreign performers. Nani Bregvadze is a member of the "Women for Peace" Association, "Metekhi" women's club, was a member of the "Soviet Woman" society.
In her free time, Nani likes to chat with friends, receive guests and feel like a hostess. Her house often resembles a salon where very interesting people gather - poets, writers, musicians and artists.
Lives and works in Tbilisi.
