Monday's mp3: What's Georgian for "Wow"?

I'm a little tempted to post this song without comment, letting you listen and guess its origin. But I won't, if only because it's worth getting this group's name in your head. Not to be confused with The Shins, the group The Shin is a trio of Georgians living in Germany. "Shin" is Georgian for "The Way Home," though it's not a strictly traditional path they take to get there.

Zaza Miminoshvili (guitars, panduri), Zurab J. Gagnidze (electric and acoustic bass, vocals), and Mamuka Gaganidze (vocals, percussion) are stellar musicians who play the way stellar musicians do: with confidence and daring. They take bits of Georgian vocal polyphonies and traditional instruments and mix them up with jazz and long guitar jams and other unexpected flavors.

The music is desperately difficult to categorize, but easy to enjoy whether you're coming at it from a world music angle or a prog-rock background. Honestly, it's that interesting.

Check out this track if you don't believe me.

[mp3] The Shin: Dansa Caucasia
from the album Many Timer

The Shin website: www.theshin-music.com
The Shin myspace: myspace.com/shinthe
Read more about The Shin here
And a video from The Shin

The group has a new album out called EgAri, which I haven't had the pleasure of hearing yet.