REVIEW

Founded in 2014 by Zviad Gelbakhiani and Tato Getia, with the goal of becoming not just a fantastic techno club, but a space of tolerance and equality for people of all religious, ethnic and sexual backgrounds, the party at Bassiani starts well before you even enter the empty Soviet swimming pool-cum-dance floor beneath Dinamo Arena, Georgia’s national football stadium. If you want to skip the often massive queues outside Tbilisi’s most popular and best techno and electronic music venue, you have to register and become a verified user online. This is no ordinary verification process: your Facebook profile will undergo a thorough vetting by members of the LGBTQ rights NGO, Equality Movement. They check what you share and who your friends are in order to determine whether or not you are tolerant enough to be granted access to this temple of rave and beacon of progressive ideals, a club that provides a safe haven to those who are persecuted outside of its walls.

With even buying tickets at the door not a guarantee for entry as potential guests are subject to strict face control, coming from the West one might gawk at the severity of these rules and regulations. Unfortunately, it’s necessary in Georgia, a country where sexual minorities are subject to severe persecution from a conservative establishment, with 88% of people believing that homosexuality can never be justified. In Tbilisi, dance music is more than just a hobby: it’s the soundtrack to social change. All of this makes the dark charm of Bassiani even more magnetic, contributing significantly to the palpable euphoria on the dance floor.

I have only been there once, for their New Year’s party, but never have I felt freer in Georgia — and that’s saying something considering that as a westerner I live my life in blissful ignorance of most of the expectations of conformity hanging heavy on the shoulders of locals. Nor have I ever seen a more colorful spot anywhere in Tbilisi, even though the catacombs of Bassiani are shrouded in a dark smokey haze, penetrated only by a deliberately low lighting and the flickering of strobe lights whenever the beat drops. I entered a world entirely different from the one you see on the streets of Tbilisi: everyone was happy and smiling at each other, the music putting them in a trance with love and tolerance hanging thick in the air.

Caught up in that euphoria, I found myself emerging from the underbelly of Dinamo Arena at 5am, having to leave not out of a lack of desire to continue but because I was drained of energy, having raved and danced continuously for the previous four hours. I left overcome with awe, beginning to understand why this club is considered one of the best in the world. One normally associates night clubs with drugs and alcohol, and in my experience clubbing sober is usually a terrible idea. Yet, in Bassiani, the incredible aura of the place and energy released by a public free from the suffocating shackles of conservatism alone, provides ample stimulant to keep you raving until sunrise.

By Máté Földi 

Main photo: .wmagazine.com