This is a developing story. We are updating as we receive more news – scroll to bottom of articles for updates.
Famed club Bassiani has exposed a series of circumstances that currently threaten the club with closure. In recent weeks five young ravers have died from an unknown substance, resulting in Bassiani coming under fire by right-wing groups.
The club accuses these groups of exploiting the situation to force the techno institution to close down, and is calling on the entire international community of electronic music fans, rights groups and organizations to help fight this unjust oppression.
It originally opened in 2013 at the city center, albeit in a temporary space. The owners struggled at first to find a permanent space, but the club was able to find a home by 2015 in a unique location. Its new home would be in the premises of Dynamo stadium, the home of Georgia’s national football (soccer) team. Specifically, Bassiani relocates inside the stadium’s old swimming pool, where the club’s founders would spend their days swimming when they were younger. That’s right, Bassiani is a club located inside a swimming pool underneath the football stadium of the country’s national team.
The club was started by Tato Getia, Zviad Gelbakhiani and Naja Orashvili as a political and activist statement of sorts. Being opposed to Georgia’s extremely strict drug policies and rampant homophobia, the founders made the club a venue where people can express such beliefs in a lively and a more free environment. It was to be a space for tolerance and equality regardless of sexuality, ethnicity, and religion. As such, the parties in the club became a form of expression themselves as techno became the music of protest in the process. No placards needed as the environment and the parties being held there speak for themselves.
This stance, Bassiani explains in the Facebook statement, has left the club susceptible to attacks and smear campaigns from right-wing groups. Bassiani states that these groups have attempted to directly link the deaths with the club’s activities and the music movement it represents, and have accused it of breaking Georgia’s strict drug laws.
6AM stands with and supports Bassiani in this struggle.
Read the full Facebook statement below:
We hope this gets resolved very soon.
