Suliko

Suliko (Georgian: სულიკო, romanized: sulik'o, pronounced [sulikʼo]) is a Georgian unisex name meaning "soul". It is also the title of a love poem written in 1895 by Akaki Tsereteli, which became widely known throughout the Soviet Union as a song performed with music composed by Akaki's relative Varinka Tsereteli (in 1895), at the former's request. In that form it was often performed on radio during Joseph Stalin's rule, reputedly because it was his favorite. It was translated to and performed in multiple languages including Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, English, German, Basque, Chinese, and Hebrew. Due to Tsereteli’s close affiliation with the Georgian national liberation movement, Suliko is also imbued with his wish of an independent Georgian homeland, a manifest of the existential search of Akaki. As well as this, Suliko has also become a symbol, taking on a variety of interpretations by scholars throughout the decade. According to Akaki Bakradze, the sequential imageries of the rose, the nightingale, and the star trace a vertical ascent in search of God and "The Lost Paradise" that mankind was exiled from. Emzar Kvitaishvili expands on this idea, arguing that the search for Suliko as the embodiment of Supreme Love is associated with the search for God. Besides religious interpretations, Suliko is also a symbol for the ethereal, unattainable dream that occupies the vision of every listener, be it a pursuit for self-reconciliation, or the discovery for one's position in life. Poet and folklorist Eter Tataraidze tells a story she heard in Tetritskaro Region village Toneti, according to which, Akaki has dedicated this poem to Suliko Samadashvili from Toneti; Akaki was friend with Samadashvili’s brother and was shocked by his tragic death; Suliko, who went to the town to buy clothes for the wedding was killed by wild animal in the forest and the...