Nino sings not only in Georgian language, but also many songs have no words – it’s just the voice, a nonexistent language. However the sensation transferred by the singer is clear to everyone.

“Everything depends on people who come to listen to my music. Anywhere I come, I come with love and it’s the music I bring. Music is serving for the good and my mission is to reveal it.”

Georgia, a country with a big heart and rich folklore, gave its best to Nino’s music and has increased greatly due to her expressive talent. As a result it creates a stunning ethno-mix with a jazzy rhythm.

“Once my elder friend said to me ‘Ninochka, there are only two ways: the first one is I love and the second one – I want.’ I had no other choice but love. Music does not accept you unless your heart is filled with love.”

Nino Katamadze

“Of course there are questions that bother me and are painful to me, as I live in Georgia. In my head I can still hear the sounds of planes flying over the city while I was at home with my little son. But I try to stand above that and to continue living truthfully and to help myself to be true. I need to be strong to fight bad people,” Nino says.

Anywhere she comes with her band, people adore them. The musicians say they get the warmest welcomes in Russia. “When I was on Siberian tour it was as warm as it was physically cold. People met us with presents, flowers, instruments. It was amazing!”

She is popular in Russia and Georgia, and the whole world is still ahead. “Oh those borders,” says Nino. She plans international tours and has already had several concerts abroad, but as she says “people that are home to you differ from foreigners.”

Popularity came instantly to Nino. Neither frequent airings, nor flashing on the TV were needed to make her career as a singer a success. It was enough for her just to sing to be heard. Tickets for her concerts are instantly snatched up and any performance is a full house.

“Being popular is sometimes very hard, as you don’t always want to be a good person, you know,” Nino says to journalists as if they were her best friends. “But when I come home [to Georgia] I never take bodyguards with me, though sometimes I have to. I always visit public markets and other places where average people go. I don’t want to walk away from the real life as otherwise I won’t have anything to tell people. Where lots of diamonds and Bentleys are you have nobody listening to you. The warmth and the good come to those whose hearts are open.”

Diana El-Bakri, RT