― 26 августа 2024 г.

13th International Music Festival featuring "Songs of the Orient"

The 13th International Music Festival ‘Songs of the Orient’ started with an opening ceremony held on the historical Registan Square. The event, which will be held between  August 26th-30th in the ancient and unique city of Samarkand, known as the ‘Pearl of the Earth’, was inaugurated by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and gathered guests invited from all over the world.

Nearly 400 artists from 80 countries who took the scene on the first day of the event received standing ovations  for their brilliant  performances.

The event which TURKSOY is one of the stakeholders of  is known as one of the biggest festivals of Central Asia. This year, the festival  which was organised in 1997 for the first time will feature its thirteenth edition . 

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev: “Songs of the Orient have become songs of the world”

In his opening speech, President Mirziyoyev underlined that due to the pandemic, the Festival could not be held for the last 5 years, and added that it would not be wrong to call the Festival “Songs of the World” as the event has now covered almost the whole world.

Stating that this festival and many other events of similar magnitude held in Uzbekistan should be described as Uzbekistan's call to the peoples of the world for peace, friendship and unity, President Mirziyoyev further said: “This call has an extremely important meaning today. Because today, before our eyes, our world is being reshaped. Conflict and hostility, antagonism and insecurity are increasing among various countries. Spiritual decadence is taking root in societies. In an unsettled and dangerous period, it is becoming increasingly difficult to protect our ancient values. In such a complex situation, real art, music and literature, which glorify humanist ideals that transcend the boundaries of time and space by drawing strength from our ancient civilisation, must come to the stage as a saving force. Our world can only flourish and develop with peace and friendship. Solidarity between people, peoples and states will be strengthened primarily by well-intentioned artists like you, people with whom we share the same feelings and literary-cultural cooperation.”

Referring to the 8th Congress of the International Society for the Study, Preservation and Dissemination of the World Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan, organised with the contribution of TURKSOY, which was held just before the start of the festival, President Mirziyoyev said: “Our people have long lived with love and respect for art; they consider music as the divine power of the human soul. Great Eastern thinkers have created great works on the science and history of music, the art of maqam, instruments. We are all heirs of such an immortal cultural heritage. Therefore, it is our most important task to study this great heritage together and to promote it widely, to pass it on to future generations. In this context, the recently held international scientific congress on the study, preservation and dissemination of the cultural heritage of our country with the participation of world-renowned scientists and cultural figures on the unique Samarkand territory was an important step. We are pleased that new ideas and initiatives, valuable suggestions and recommendations on the development of the activities of the Centre of Islamic Civilisation in Uzbekistan were presented at this event. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the honourable members of this Congress, true friends of Uzbekistan, who attended today's ceremony, for their high respect and attention to our homeland and our people.” 

Secretary General Sultan Raev: ‘While introducing our cultural heritage to the world, we raise the voice of peace, brotherhood and unity together."

TURKSOY Secretary General  Sultan Raev, who participated in the opening ceremony of the festival and took the floor after the opening ceremony said that the Festival of Oriental Songs  is a very important event. Mr. Raev further added that the participation in the festival was at a high level and said: ‘Today, I am very pleased to be in the presence of our President with distinguished guests at the International Music Festival featuring  “Songs of the Orient” in the historical city of Samarkand. This festival does not only introduce our rich musical heritage to the world  but also raises the voice of peace, brotherhood and unity which is actually what our world needs the most at the moment. TURKSOY  will be proud to be a member of the International Friends' Group as proposed by our President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to introduce the Festival of Oriental Songs to a wider audience. We are determined to further carry out our activities to convey our message of  unity and solidarity to  the world.

The event, which is considered one of the biggest festivals of Central Asia, was organised for the first time in 1997 with the participation of 31 countries. In 2009, the number of participating countries reached 75 and this year more than 300 people from 80 countries participated in the festival. Besides academic events, the festival also features competitions organized in different categories.