Doctor of Medical Sciences, the Honoured Artist of Georgia Zurab Chikovani was born on 6, August, 1933 in Tbilisi, Georgia. After graduating Tbilisi №6 boys’ school with honours (a gold medal) and Tbilisi State Medical Institute qualifying as a psychiatrist he started working as a junior researcher and later as a senior researcher and head of the department of rehabilitation of psychiatric patients at the M. Asatiani Scientific Research Institute of Psychiatry. Thereupon, in 1974 Z. Chikovani worked as a Chief Psychiatrist of Tbilisi doing two jobs at a time, and in 1978 he was elected Head of the Republican Rehabilitation Centre at the Ministry of Healthcare of Georgia. He worked as the Chief Doctor and, later, as the Deputy Chief Doctor for expertise and rehabilitation at the Tbilisi psychoneurological hospital. He was the Chief Psychiatrist and Narcologist of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia until his retirement.
Zurab Chikovani is the author of more than fifty researches and essays of scientific and practical relevance on the issue of applying creative activity in the system of psychiatric rehabilitation. He has also studied the specific schizophrenia-related regularities of creative thinking in individuals with the pathology, interconnecting his researches with contiguous disciplines.
In 1969 Zurab Chikovani was awarded the academic degree of the Candidate of Medical Sciences by the Scientific Council of the Yerevan State Medical Institute for the dissertation work “Some Issues of the Dynamics of Spontaneous Creative Activity in Patients with Schizophrenia”. In 1976 he was conferred a title of the senior researcher. In 1979 Zurab Chikovani applied for the academic degree of the Doctor of Medical Sciences and his thesis was successfully approbated by the Commission for Problematic Issues of Scientific Council of the V. Bekhterev Psychoneurological Scientific Research Institute in St. Petersburg (former Leningrad).
In 2005 his monograph “Pathology and Human Resources. Creative Work – Psychosis and Personality” was published in Russian as a book. Together with the summary and the author’s preface the book includes all the reviews and assessments of both of his dissertation works, one for the degree of a Candidate of Medical Sciences and the other for a degree of the Doctor of Medical Sciences. The review to the book was written by the Association of Psychiatrists and Narcologists of Armenia stating that the book by Z. Chikovani is of high scientific value, being timely and topical and a significant contribution to the theory and practice of psychiatry and the disciplines related to it making up the deficiency in this field of researches to a significant degree. The book is intended for a wide range of readers and experts working in various fields.
At the same time, Z. Chikovani studied music at Z. Paliashvili School of Music for Exceptionally Gifted and later at V. Sarajishvili State Conservatory took a course of choral conducting. After graduating the conservatory he worked as a choral conductor of the opera studio. He participated in staging of a number of the opera performances, among which are Verdi’s “Traviata”, Mozart’s “The Barber of Seville”, Gluck’s “Orphee”, Paliashvili’s “Daisi”, et al. At the same time he led the amateur performances at Tbilisi State Medical Institute. He was the teacher of the choral class at Tbilisi D. Arakishvili music school №1. While studying at the Conservatory he formed a vocal ensemble the members of which are famous musicians and distinguished people now: Givi Munjishvili, the Honoured Artist of Georgia, professor of V. Sarajishvili State Conservatory and the supervisor of The State Choir of Georgia, Vano Jhgenti, professor of V. Sarajishvili State Conservatory, Tariel Beradze, the Honoured Teacher of Georgia, et al. They collected and popularized Georgian folk songs. The ensemble was a pioneer in this sphere.
But what made Zurab Chikovani most famous and celebrated was creating by him of the family vocal and instrumental ensemble, well-known not only in Georgia but beyond its borders too.
The family ensemble formed by Zurab Chikovani has been a success and enjoys love of the audience and respect of numerous admirers. Zurab Chikovani is the author of a few beautiful songs composed on the poems of famous Georgian poets G. Tabidze, A. Tsereteli, et al. He plays the piano skillfully too. His piano repertoire includes pieces by Chopin, Beethoven, Mashkov, et al. Being a passionate love of poetry he can recite poems by his favourite poets among which are Shota Rustaveli, G. Tabidze, Vazha Pshavela, M. Machavariani, et al.
Zurab Chikovani’s father, Grigol Chikovani, a forest engineer and an agronomist, went to Kutaisi Gymnasium for Nobility and Gentry and he also did a one-year course at the Medical Department of Petersburg University. It should be noted that in this branch of the Chikovani family the profession of a doctor was considered greatly honourable and respected. There have been many famous doctors in the family, since the times of the Tsarist Russian Empire. In 1937 Grigol Chikovani was repressed accused of “being a Trotskist and a former nobility”. Grigol Chikovani survived the repressions and the rest f his life he spent in Bagdati, a picturesque town in Georgia where he managed the forest industry. A passionate bibliophile, he enjoyed singing too, though he could not sing himself. The bust to Grigol Chikovani in Bagdati indicates to his wholesome and fruitful life.
Zurab Chikovani’s mother, Mariam Tskhakaia was a teacher. After graduating St. Nino Gymnasium for Noble Maidens she taught Russian in a primary school. Mariam’s family belonged to the clergy. The family had a deep-rooted tradition of love for poetry, art and literature. Mariam could sing and play the guitar. Many of her close circle of relations had to emigrate from Georgia in the 1920s, Mikheil Kedia, her cousin, a distinguished figure of his times being one of them.
Zurab Chikovani’s brother, Givi Chikovani, a famous therapeutist, a great lover of music and poetry is the author of some modest pieces of poetry too. Zurab Chikovani composed a song on one of Givi Chikovani’s poem “Shen Salami, Dilis Karo” later called the Chikovani family anthem in the family circle. Givi has a wife, two daughters and a grandson.
Zurab Chikovani’s sister Nana Chikovani graduated Tbilisi I. Chavchavadze State Institute of Foreign Languages and as a senior teacher taught pedagogics and foreign language teaching methods at the same institute. Like her brothers, she too is a great lover of music, art and literature. Her two books, collected verse called “Thoughts” and collected stories called “Unreal Reality” were published in 2002 and 2006, correspondingly. Nana has two children, a son and a daughter, and four grandchildren.