One of the grand projects of the Forum Foundation is the Asrlar Sadosi (Echo of ages) Festival of Traditional Culture, which presents all the diversity of the national traditions and customs, handicrafts and cuisine, unique oral and non-material heritage. Every year, «Asrlar sadosi» is held in different regions of Uzbekistan in historical or cultural centers as an outdoor fete with the participation of various experts, scientists and international guests.
In 2008, the festival took place near Shakhrisabz and in 2009 in Tashkent region. Since 2009 Asrlar Sadosi Festival of Traditional Culture is organized in association with the UNESCO. In 2010, the Festival took place at Ichan-Qala, a historical architectural complex in the heart of Khiva city. In 2011 Asrlar sadosi took place in Bukhara.
Competitions of folklore bands, folk tellers - bakhshi, traditional art-concerts and shows, national dress defiles take place on open-air stages. The Festival`s program also includes folk games, koupkari (Uzbek horse sport), demonstrative fights of kurash wrestlers, cock fights and performances of rope-walkers - darboz`s, competition of Uzbek national cuisine by the best chefs - oshpaz from different parts of the country. Festival is accompanied by the exhibition-fair of applied arts, where the best masters of ceramics, embossing, embroidery, miniature, textile and woodworking, national puppet makers and other artists demonstrate their works and the process of creating them.
Except folklore events the program of the Festival-2009 included scientific background. The first day of the Festival-2009 started with the scientist`s conference in Tashkent. It was devoted to the presentation of the book by famous scientist, academician Edvard Rtveladze "Civilizations, States, Cultures of Central Asia". The book covers the history and roots of Central Asian cultures, interchanges between East and West. It was awarded the State Prize for the best scientific research in Uzbekistan. The issue was published in English by the Fund Forum. In addition Festival continued in Kanka ancient settlement in Akkurgan district, where the first and ancient center of Tashkent oasis located in antic and middle ages. Master classes by prominent scientists of Uzbekistan, archeologists Gennadiy Bogomolov and Yuriy Buryakov were held there.
Among the gusts of the Festival-2009 - Caroline Sarkozy; Sandor von Habsburg-Lothringen, archduke of Austria, Prince of Toscana, inventor and philanthropist, founder of the Peace Flame Foundation; Herta Margaret Oefferl, President of Peace Flame Foundation; Francois Le Troquer General Manager of Cartier Russia and CIS; Benoit Toulin Vice-president of Chaumet; MHB SA`s president, Marie-Helene Berard; LLuis Gibert representative of ASAP company; Oskar Dalan General Manager of the Arredi Contract Design S.r.I, Italy; Shinobu Fujita President of «Strategic Consulting Firm»(Japan), as well as representatives from international media: Jean Pierre Partouche the Vice-President of Fashion TV; Gertrude Tauchhammer Editor-in-Chief, SOCIETY Magazine, Austria; Alan Friedman the executive chairman of FBC Media, correspondent of the Wall Street Journal; Ahn Sang-Kyu, Editor JoongAng SUNDAY Media Company; representatives of the «Tatler Russia» and the «Russia» TV channel.
The scientific part of the Festival-2010 included master classes and lectures by Uzbek scientists as well as a conference titled “Uzbekistan’s Cultural Legacy: the Art of Calligraphy and Architectural Epigraphy”, which brought together roughly 100 eminent scholars of Uzbekistan and foreign countries in Khorezm’s Mamun Academy, one of the oldest spiritual centres of world civilization. The conference focused on a presentation of the book “Samples of the Eastern Art of Calligraphy and Miniature”, published by the Fund Forum. The participants also made speeches on the results of research projects to create an “Archeological Map of Uzbekistan” and a “Catalogue of Archeological Monuments in Uzbekistan”.
The second day of the Festival-2010 started with a charitable osh (pilaf) event at the west gate of Khiva in honor of veterans of World War II. The charitable osh event fit in perfectly with the Festival Program, thereby confirming its status as a national cultural project which fosters in Uzbek people respect for traditions and history of their country.
Among the guests who attended the Festival-2010 were Countess Marta Marzotto (Italy); Regional Director of Sonosite Helmut Babler (Austria); General Director of Sothebys CIS office Mikhail Kamensky and Representative of the Auction House in Moscow Irina Stepanova (Russia); diplomat and independent consultant David Merkel (USA); an archeologist of Louvre Museum Rocco Rante (France); a representative of Branly Museum Leclair Madeleine (France); lecturer in Central Asian Studies at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies Professor Shirin Akiner (UK); representative of Casa Asia Eva Soms Bach (Spain); Cultural Affairs Director of Caixa Foundation Ignasi Miro Borras and his deputy Isabel Salgado Gispert (Spain); music expert, public figure and journalist Professor Han Meong Hee (Korea); Chairman of CKD ASSET Supervisory Board Libor Trubelik (Czech Republic); musician and producer Maksim Fadeyev (Russia); Head of cinema division of First Channel Anatoliy Maksimov (Russia); President of Conde Nast Russia Publications Karina Dobrotvorskaya (Russia); Editor of the Culture Department of Kommersant Publishing House Alexey Tarhanov (Russia); leading specialist of the Ministry of Education of South Korea Kim Bong Il; Manager of Wooil Architecture Company Kim Heorg Eun (South Korea); Russian producers Mikhael Shlikht and Alexey Kublitskiy; costume designer Anna Lazareva (Russia); LOfficiel correspondent Benjamin Eymère (France); Edtor-in-chief of Diva International magazine Marit Fosse (Switzerland); Editor-in-chief of Diplomatic News magazine Robert Blum (Switzerland); editor of Diplomat magazine Venetia De Blocq Van Kuffeler (UK); representative of the Korea Post Newspaper Min Keun-sik (South Korea); founder and editor-in-chief of the Bukharian Times newspaper, chairman of the Uzbek-American Cultural Foundation at the Bukharian Jewish Congress of the United States and Canada Rafael Nektalov; prominent photographer of Vanity Fair and Sette Massimo Gatti (Italy); editor of ART+AUCTION Russia Magazine Anna Aryutyunova (Russia); creative groups of Io Donna magazine (Italy); TRT TV channel (Turkey); President of Hachette Filipacchi Shkulev Publishing House and InterMediaGroup, and editor-in-chief of Elle magazine Yelena Sotnikova; editor of Travels section, editor-in-chief of ELLE-decor Alexey Dorozhkin; famous photographer Yaroslav Filippov; and journalist and director of HFS Publishing House St. Petersburg office Nadezhda Kozhevnikova (Russia) among others.
Almost 95 thousand spectators including diplomatic corps and international organizations representatives, culture and art workers, guests from USA, Israel, Austria, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, China, Bulgaria, Greece, Russia, Great Britain, Norway, the Czech Republic, Japan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan visited the event.
«Asrlar sadosi» Festival of Traditional Culture
