Yuri Bashmet
Photo: Boris KUDRYAVOV
Musician Yuri Bashmet is extravagant in his choice of jewelry. The master’s jewelry has long haunted journalists and fans. During a TASS press conference, the musician spoke about the famous medallion, which he invariably wears on his chest over his clothes.
Yuri Abramovich admitted that this is not just an ornament, but a talisman received from the Georgian patriarch Elijah. A few years ago, Yuri Abramovich found himself in an unpleasant situation in Tbilisi: after a concert, a crowd of protesters surrounded him. The people demanded that the musician be imprisoned for three years and fined $75,000 for violating the law in the occupied territories and having a stamp in his passport about crossing the border with Abkhazia. Bashmet managed to escape the outraged crowd, but the evening was hopelessly ruined. Patriarch Elijah saved the day. Unexpectedly, he invited the musician to his house and restored the reputation of Georgian hospitality.
At the end of the evening, Ilya presented Bashmet with an expensive gift – a handmade gold medallion with the image of George the Victorious. “Wear it only over your clothes,” the patriarch strictly chastised.
Since then, Yuri Abramovich has not parted with the medallion, although he more than once noticed a strange feature of the gift.
– More than once it happened that if the Georgians are next to me, they will definitely run, kiss the medallion and run away, – the master admitted.