The surviving popularity of the komuz as a living instrument, rather than a museum artifact, and the flourishing tradition of Kyrgyz folk music is in no small way thanks to Malik Alikeyev, who died on January 17.
Vakhtang (Buba) Kikabidze, a Georgian singer and actor universally loved across the former Soviet Union, has died at the age of 84, drawing the curtain on an era.
Amid rising local and international demand, Georgia seeks to start new energy projects and revive old ones. But will they survive the usual controversies?