Projects

UNBURNED was a collaborative project by Quemmekh and Guram Matskhonashvili, bringing together live music, theatre, performance, and choreography in a large-scale production at Factory Tbilisi.

Held across two consecutive days, on 25 and 26 September 2026, the show welcomed approximately 4,000 people, marking Quemmekh’s return to the stage after an extended hiatus.

Developed and produced independently, UNBURNED was an ambitious undertaking in the context of Georgia’s independent music scene. The project brought together a large creative team and a complex production process, demonstrating the scale of what an independent collective could organise outside the traditional structures of the music industry.

The performances were preceded by a four-month campaign that extended beyond conventional concert promotion. From promotional videos and visual storytelling to ticketing and audience engagement, the campaign treated UNBURNED as a complete cultural project rather than a series of live shows.

On 13 October 2024, Quemmekh released its self-titled album, Quemmekh. The album’s musical material was written and produced entirely by the band’s frontman, Sandro Kerauli.

The cover features a silver cross bearing the Quemmekh identity, which later became a physical item available at Chaos Concept Store in Tbilisi.

The album was introduced at Left Bank, where the tracks were played through a DJ set, giving the audience their first opportunity to hear the record together. Hidden and scattered throughout the venue were physical copies of the CD, turning the release party into a search for the album itself.

The event’s setting combined religious symbolism with the unexpected atmosphere of a children’s entertainment centre: Quemmekh brought in professional mimes and a magician, while the space was decorated with cross-shaped balloons and Quemmekh flags.

Following the release of Nostalgia, Quemmekh brought the album to life with a special live performance at the Holoseum Museum, where the band premiered Mtatsminda for the first time.

Spanning all three floors of the museum, the event transformed the entire building into an immersive Quemmekh experience. Rather than opening its doors only for the concert, the collective welcomed audiences several hours before the performance, inviting them into the world behind the music.

Screens throughout the museum presented archival footage from Quemmekh’s history, tracing the band’s journey alongside fragments of Georgia’s own past. The archive offered a glimpse into the collective’s inner world, creating an intimate atmosphere in which music, memory, and national history intersected.

The result was more than a live show. By turning a museum into an extension of its own creative universe, Quemmekh created a space where audiences could experience not only the music, but also the history, ideas, and cultural context surrounding it.

Between 2022 and 2023, Quemmekh brought its specially developed live set to some of Georgia’s most prominent club spaces, including Left Bank, Tbili Orgia, TES, and Kibe in Batumi.

Combining the band’s distinctive sound with the energy of the club environment, these shows created a new kind of live experience for local audiences. Each performance was supported by a dedicated promotional campaign, building anticipation around the shows and turning Quemmekh’s club appearances into events audiences knew they could count on for an intense, unforgettable night.

Held at Haraki Theatre in Tbilisi, Cult of Ambition marked Quemmekh’s first independent public live show and its first-ever sold-out performance. Organised and built entirely by the Quemmekh collective, the show took place shortly after the private Maudi performance, bringing the collective’s renewed live vision directly to an audience for the first time.

The project also introduced a new approach to concert promotion. Quemmekh pioneered the production of dedicated promotional videos for its live shows, introducing a practice that was uncommon among Georgian bands at the time and has since become a standard part of concert promotion across the local music scene.

The venue stood on one of Tbilisi’s main avenues, which the municipality excavated just two days before the show, making access to the theatre difficult. Quemmekh responded by laying down a giant red carpet that stretched from the street to the venue entrance, transforming an unexpected obstacle into part of the spectacle.

At the heart of Cult of Ambition was a simple proposition: if the space doesn’t exist, build it yourself. Ambition was not merely the show’s subject, but its operating principle — a statement to audiences and fellow artists that creative independence means taking responsibility for the conditions in which your work can exist.

The night became Quemmekh’s first sold-out show and its first direct encounter with a growing audience. Remembered as one of the most remarkable live performances in the Georgian music scene, Cult of Ambition established a defining principle of the collective: never wait for permission, infrastructure, or opportunity. Create them yourself.

Quemmekh made its first major public appearance in 2018 as part of Tsivsiskhliani (Cold-Blooded), a multidisciplinary theatre production written and directed by Paata Tsikolia and presented at the Tbilisi New Drama Festival.

The production brought together theatre and live music, with members of the Quemmekh collective performing alongside the actors at Digomi Film Studio. Rather than serving as background accompaniment, the music became an integral part of the performance, interacting directly with the dramatic action and contributing to its intense, immersive atmosphere.

Exploring the lives of neglected and disillusioned youth, Tsivsiskhliani created a space where sound, movement, and dramatic expression converged. Through their live performance, Quemmekh became an active part of this multidisciplinary work, establishing an early connection between their musical practice and the performing arts.

This collaboration marked the beginning of Quemmekh’s public journey as a collective operating as a multi-disciplinary art syndicate rather than just a band.