Joseph Jordania (

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

იოსებ ჟორდანია, born February 12, 1954 and also known under the misspelling of Joseph Zhordania) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

–

ethnomusicologist and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

ary

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

and professor. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

and the Head of the Foreign Department of the International Research Centre for Traditional Polyphony at

Tbilisi State Conservatory Tbilisi State Conservatoire ( ka, თბილისის სახელმწიფო კონსერვატორია, ''Tbilisis Saxelmc̣ipo Ḳonservaṭoria'') is the State Conservatoire of Georgia, located in the capital Tbilisi ...

. Jordania is known for his model of the origins of human

choral singing A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

in the wide context of

human evolution Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of '' Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development o ...

and was one of founders of the International Research Centre for Traditional Polyphony in Georgia. Jordania’s academic interests include study of worldwide distribution of choral polyphonic traditions, origins of

, origins of

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

, origins of human

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

and behaviour, cross-cultural prevalence of stuttering, dyslexia and acquisition of

phonological Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

system in children, study of the cognitive threshold between animal and human cognitive abilities. His primary expertise is Georgian and Caucasian traditional music and vocal polyphony.

Career

Jordania was born in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

(former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

). He received a BA degree in ethnomusicology from

in 1978. During 1979–1983 he was elected as the President of the Board of Creative Youth of Tbilisi. In 1982 he received his PhD degree in musicology– ethnomusicology from Tbilisi Theatrical Institute, and served as lecturer, senior lecturer, assistant professor, and professor at the Department of Georgian Traditional Music at

. For one year (in 1984) he served as a dean of the Faculty of Musicology. In 1991 he received the title D.Mus from

Kiev Conservatory Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine ( uk, Національна музична академія України імені Петра Чайковського) or Kyiv Conservatory is a Ukrainian state institution of higher music e ...

. From 1988 until 1995 Jordania was the head of the Musical Sector of the Centre of the Mediterranean Studies at the Tbilisi State University. He published his first monograph on choral polyphony in 1989. In 1984 he was instrumental in organizing the conference "Problems of Folk Polyphony". This conference became the beginning of the series of biannual international conferences (1984, 1986, 1988, 1998, 2000) and symposia (2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020) on traditional polyphony, and led to establishing the International Research Centre for Traditional Polyphony at Tbilisi State Conservatory in 2003. In 2009, in recognition of "his contribution to systematic analysis of folk polyphonies of the world, proposing a new model for the origins of traditional choral singing in a broad context of human evolution" Jordania was awarded the

Fumio Koizumi Prize for ethnomusicology The Fumio Koizumi Prize ( ja, 小泉文夫音楽賞) is an international award for achievements in ethnomusicology, presented annually in Tokyo, Japan. The prize is awarded by the Fumio Koizumi (小泉文夫) Trust each April 4, the date of Fumi ...

Bibliography

Books

* ''Georgian Traditional Polyphony in the International Context of Polyphonic Culture (the Problem of Origins of Polyphony)'' Tbilisi State University Press (in Russian with English Summary. 1989) * ''Who Asked the First Question? The Origins of Human Choral Singing, Intelligence, Language and Speech'' (Logos, 2006) * ''Why do People Sing? Music in Human Evolution'' (Logos, 2011) * ''Tigers, Lions and Humans: History of Rivalry, Conflict, Reverence and Love'' (Logos, 2014) * ''Choral Singing in Human Culture and Evolution'' (Lambert Academic Publishers, 2015) * ''Behind Jim Corbett's Stories: An Analytical Journey to 'Corbett's Places' and Unanswered Questions'' Together with Priyvrat Gadhvi, Preetum Gheegawo, Manfred Waltl, and Fernando Quevedo de Oliveira (Logos, 2016). * ''A New Model of Human Evolution: How Predators Shaped Human Morphology and Behaviour'' (Lambert Academic Publishers, 2017) * ''Behind Jim Corbett's Stories: Volume 2'' Together with Preetum Gheerawo, Manfred Waltl, Ali Akhtar, Priyvrat Gadhvi, Fernando Quevedo de Oliveira (Logos, 2020) * ''The Human Story Behind Scientific Discovery'' (Logos, 2020)

Articles and essays

*
Zhordania, J. (1984) ''Georgian Folk-Singing: Its Sources, Emergence and Modern Development'' (International Social Science Journal, Paris, UNESCO, 1984, volume 36, #3, Migration. Pages 537–549. In English, French, Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, Russian)
* Jordania, J. (1985) ''Problem of Emergence of Three-Part Drone Polyphony in Georgian Folk Music'' In J. Jordania (Ed.), Problems of Traditional Plyphony. Pg. 21–24. ''Problems of Traditional Polyphony'' Tbilisi: Sabchota Sakartvelo. (in Russian with English summary) * * Jordania, J. (1988) ''Origins of Polyphony and the Problem of Geneses of Articulated Speech'' In J. Jordania (Ed.) Proceedings of the conference ''Problems of Traditional Polyphony''. Pg. 21–24. Tbilisi State University Press (In Russian with English summary) * * Jordania, J. (1989) ''Re-assessment of Musical Traditions of Ancient Middle Eastern Peoples: The Problem of Polyphony'' In I. Zemtsovsky (Ed.) ''Folk music: History and Typology''. Pg. 75–80. Leningrad: Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema Press (In Russian) * Jordania, J. (1992) ''Problem of Indo-Europeans in the Light of Musical Data'' In Matsne, Bulletin of the Academy of Science of Georgia, Serial of History, ''Ethnography and Arts History'', 3:42–55 (in Georgian with Russian summary) * Jordania, J. (1997) ''Perspective of Interdisciplinary Research of Part-Singing Phenomenon'' In Christoph-Hellmut Mahling and Stephan Munch (Eds.) ''in Ethnomusicology and Historical Musicology – Common Goals, Shared Methodologies?''. . Tutzing: Verlegt Bei Hans Schneider * Jordania, J. (2000) ''Question Intonation, Speech Pathologies, and the Origins of Polyphony'' In Rusudan Tsurtsumia (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Conference “Problems of Traditional Polyphony”, held in Tbilisi, Georgia, 10–15 November 1998. Pg. 143–155. Tbilisi State Conservatory (in Georgian with extended English Summary), * Jordania, J. (2000) "''Georgia''" and "''North Caucasia''" In Timothy Rice, James Porter and Chris Goertzen (Eds) Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Vol. 8 Europe. Pg. 826–849, and 850–865. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. * Jordania, J. (2001) ''The Incidence of Stuttering among Chinese: Preliminary Investigation'' In Speech, Language and Hearing Association News, volume 5, Issue 2, April–May, pg. 2–3, Singapore, 2001. * Jordania, J. (2001) ''Moral Models and Ethics in the Study of the Origins of choral Polyphony'' In Rusudan Tsurtsumia (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Conference “Problems of Traditional Polyphony”, held in Tbilisi, Georgia, 10–15 November 1998
Sheree Reese with Joseph Jordania (2001). ''Stuttering in the Chinese Population in Some South-East Asian Countries: A Preliminary Investigation on Attitude and Incidence'' (American Speech Pathology Association online conference)

Jordania, Joseph (2005) ''Interrogo Ergo Cogito: Responsorial Singing and the Origins of Human Intelligence''
(proceedings of the International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony, held in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2004). International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony of

Jordania, Joseph (2010). ''Music and Emotions: humming in Human Prehistory''
(proceedings of the International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony, held in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2008. International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony of Tbilisi State Conservatory * Jordania, J. (2010). ''Georgian Traditional Polyphony in Comparative Studies: History and Perspectives''. In Rusudan Tsurtsumia & Joseph Jordania (Eds) Echoes from Georgia: Seventeen Arguments on Georgian Polyphony. Pg. 229–248. New York: Nova Publishers, Nova Science
Brown, Steven, and Joseph Jordania. (2011). ''Universals in the world’s musics''. ''Psychology of Music''. Published online on December 15th, 2011

Jordania, J. (2011). "Sexual Selection or Natural Selection?
''Kadmos'' 3:400-411. * Jordania, J. (2012). ''Social Factor in Traditional Polyphony: Definition, Creation, and Performance''. In: Ignazio Macchiarella (ed.), ''Multipart music: A specific mode of musical thinking, expressive behaviour and sound''. Materials of the ICTM Polyphony Study Group conference, held in Sardinia, Italy, in 2010. Pg: 163-175 Nota, Udine () * Jordania, J. (2015)
">''New Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of the Origins of Traditional Polyphony"''
''Musicology: Journal of the Institute of Musicology of SASA (Serbian Academy of Science and Arts),'' Vol 18, Belgrade, Pg. 77-9. * Jordania, J. (2020). "Distribution of Singing in Arboreal and Terrestrial Species, with Implications for the Origins of Singing Behavior among Humans" ''Academia Letters'' 202

* Jordania, J. (2021). "Can there be an Alternative Evolutionary Reason Behind the Peacock's Impressive Train?" Academia Letters, September, 2021,

References

External links

Short biography of Joseph JordaniaJoseph Jordania short CV
* ttp://www.josephjordania.com/ Joseph Jordania Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordania, Joseph 1954 births Living people Musicologists from Georgia (country) Tbilisi State Conservatoire alumni Tbilisi State University faculty Tbilisi State University alumni