Over the past ten years, DJ and producer Giorgi Kancheli graduated from drumming in the Tbilisi Jazz Band to becoming a techno stalwart in his hometown. Part of the Bassiani crew, Kancheli will be taking residency with HVL, Zitto, and NDRX as part of CTM 2019’s opening night at Berghain.
As well as being a resident at the renowned Bassiani club, Kancheli also hosts Stare At The DJ and is a member of the Artist Union in Tbilisi. Along with the rest of the crew, Kancheli was opened up to a global audience thanks to Resident Advisor’s “In Residence” feature on Bassiani, which features a one-hour mix by the producer. For Kancheli, "[b]eing a resident of the club like BASSIANI is not easy, when the listener is listening periodically, it always looks great from you, and in that time you try to make each of your set different and very special."
Persisting amidst a tumultuous political climate, Bassiani have earned a formidable reputation in the worldwide club scene for their excellent music programming, for uniting a passionate community that strives to counter injust politics, and for creating one of the rare spaces for the LGBTQ community in Georgia. After being shut down by local authorities for politically motivated reasons, the club became the catalyst and center of widespread protests that brought tens of thousands of young people to the streets, and garnered an international solidarity campaign and extensive press coverage that went so far as to positively affect the country’s restrictive politics.