After two years of the pandemic, the 15th International Culture and Tourism Festival “Roof of the World” is kicking off in the Central Park of Khorog city, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), today.
This year’s three-day Festival will be conducted in hybrid form both offline and online formats.
About 100 musicians from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, France, Austria, and the Netherlands will perform on the stage and in live stream format to show their unique traditional and fusion music performances.
During the three festival days, the organizers reportedly expect to welcome more than 10,000 spectators.
The festival aims to reflect the beauty of cultural diversity (of Central Asia and the world generally) and enhance mutual understanding through the expression of various art forms and different cultural backgrounds. It also promotes universal human values and peaceful coexistence in the region.
Within the Festival, professional artists will provide a series of master–classes for interested students, musicians, art critics, and local and international music admires.
The handicraft exhibitions and festival bazaar of the traditional cuisine by local communities will demonstrate the local cultural products, along with the displaying of thematic documentaries and videos.
This year, the main donor of the festival -the Government of Switzerland also marks its anniversary: the 30th year of the diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Tajikistan. As Richard Chenevard, the Deputy Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan noted: “The Roof of the World” festival became an important cultural and tourism event in Tajikistan, especially in Khorog. We are glad to support this vital initiative for a decade”.
The festival is also supported by: the local government of the GBAO, the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe, the Aga Khan Foundation, the Aga Khan Music Programme, and the French Embassy and “Bactria” Cultural Center.
Behind the entire organization of the festival is a team of dedicated specialists, and local volunteers, who have inexhaustible enthusiasm to celebrate and show annually on the Roof of the World the cultural identity and diversity of the traditions of the Central Asian peoples as well as other peoples of the world.
