International “Sharq Taronalari”
Festival: “Melodies of the East”

Address by His Excellency:
Professor Michael Abiola Omolewa
President of UNESCO General Conference
Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria to UNESCO
At the opening ceremony of the Fifth
International “Sharq Taronalari”
Festival: “Melodies of the East”
Samarkand, Uzbekistan: 27 August, 2005

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Your Excellency, Mr. Islam Abduganievich Karimov,
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
Distinguished Governors of the Viloyatlars;
Worshipful Mayors;
Excellencies, Ambassadors and
Permanent Delegates;
Esteemed Members of the Jury;
Experts and Participants;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear fellow lovers of music
throughout the entire world!

It is a great honour and privilege for me to participate in the fifth international “Sharq Taronalari” festival “Melodies of the East”. I have been in Uzbekistan for just four days now – and yet I feel I have grown culturally and spiritually for being here. I am thus happily obliged to warmly congratulate you Mr President for having such foresight and vision for international peace and security through the promotion of music which has been so exemplary. President Karimov, as our host, you and the organizers of this truly unique event, are surely to be warmly congratulated!

I am pleased to bring to you all the heartfelt greetings of the Director General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, and the Chairman of the Executive Board, Hans-Heinrich WREDE, as well as warm greetings from all the Permanent Delegations to UNESCO. Before I begin, allow me to say a few words about the obvious determinedness of Uzbekistan for renewal and development through education, science and culture:

In this respect, cooperation with UNESCO plays an important role in achieving these goals. A great deal has been achieved since your membership in 1993, since the 155th session of the Executive Board (held in Uzbekistan) in 1998, since the Tashkent Declaration "Cultures of the world and activity of UNESCO in the member-countries" was signed. UNESCO shall continue to give your nation the place it deserves in all of its field of competence, including the strengthening of your historical and cultural heritage, as well as the the strengthening of your national values and identity - which also play an important role in the independent development of Uzbekistan without distinction of race, sex, language, social status or religion and respect for human rights. As you know, the Director-General of UNESCO like his predecessor has followed with keen interest the evolution of your nation. Shortly after he was nominated, he personally attended the International Conference on “World religions in support of cultures of the World” held in Tashkent in 2000 and has subsequently participated in several activities in your country or concerning your country within UNESCO’s field of competence. While I could go on, Mr. President, we are in fact here to celebrate another of your great achievements – as well as that of Uzbekistan – the International “Sharq Taronalari” Festival.

As you know, UNESCO is deeply committed to the preservation and promotion of the intangible cultural heritage of mankind. This festival not only contributes considerably to the cultural and spiritual enrichment between peoples from the various countries participating in it. It also reinforces UNESCO’s mission in affirming that the complementarities of civilizations are strengthened by the constant interplay and exchange of ideas and creativity in science, art, philosophy, ethics and spirituality.

Intercultural dialogue and sharing between cultures and civilizations is, undeniably, the highest aspiration in the promotion and enrichment of diversity between all civilizations. This is one of the reasons why UNESCO had encouraged the adoption of an international Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, as well as the Masterpieces Proclamation programme to promote and safeguard proclaimed masterpieces and the compilation of inventories stating their intangible heritage while paying homage to those who safeguard them. It is vital that countries ensure the speedy ratification of this convention to allow us at UNESCO to embark on its implementation with minimum delay - strengthening the lead role we have taken in promoting dialogue among cultures and civilizations and highlighting our unique role in building new bridges between peoples. The forthcoming draft convention on cultural diversity is a further demonstration of the determination of the Organization to continue to respect the mandate given to it 60 years ago to be the watch keeper of the world's cultural heritage.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Republic of Uzbekistan has been a strong supporter of UNESCO since it became a Member State on 26 October 1993. I have had the honour and great satisfaction of witnessing this continued co-operation since particularly by your visit to UNESCO in April 1996, you left valuable marks. Now, as President of the General Conference of UNESCO, I am, indeed, happy to be able to witness, first-hand, your unwavering coooperation with UNESCO in highly symbolic Samarkand. Samarkand the fabulous! Your birthplace and the venue for the opening ceremony of the International institute of UNESCO for Central Asian Studies.

The international “Sharq Taronalari” festival” Melodies of the East” –now in it’s fifth rendition – has proven to be a wonderful example of exchange and dialogue among peoples of the world. It is a great initiative and has since been concretised in the Agreement between the Republic of Uzbekistan and UNESCO which was signed in 2000. The Agreement established a UNESCO prize. The force of this festival is found in the comprehension and unveiling of the roots and origins of people, ethnic plurality and cultural diversity; and above all, through the celebration of creativity and greater awareness of cultural differences. I must say that the number five is an excellent omen and therefore this fifth festival can only surely demonstrate the sustainability of such a noble venture. This Fifth festival also defines the lasting significance that such cultural exchanges are about.

Please permit me to refer to the chief director of the festival’s grand celebrations, Bahodir Yuldashev, he wrote: “this unique international holiday of art serves to preserve, promote and develop unique samples of national music as art of the Eastern peoples”.

Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Uzbekistan is indeed blessed with enormous richness both intellectually and more; as a result the UNESCO World Heritage List has paid homage to a few, there-by reviving one of the World’s most ancient civilizations and underlining the richness and importance of objects of cultural and natural heritage within your nation. The Biosphere reserve of Uzbekistan “Chatkal” is also included in UNESCO's WorldNet of biosphere reserves. Please, allow me, then, to gladly join you and your country people in paying homage to the famous poet and thinker Alisher Navoi (also known as Navoiy, AliSher Navai, Ali ir Nevai, Nawoi 1441-1501), to whom this year’s festival is devoted. He was a foremost patron of arts in his time. We honour him for his contributions to the Turkic literary language, - the Chagatai - as you know, is considered to be the immediate ancestor of the modern Uzbek language.

Finally, allow me to pause for a moment on a separate, but closely interconnected event. Just as recently as last June, during the International Conference on Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations, held in Rabat, Morocco, it was proposed that “practical measures should be taken by all actors engaged in intercultural and inter-civilizational dialogue to tap the power of music and musical creativity.” Participants in that conference were convinced that “Live interaction between music, melodies, original instruments and artists is a promising, innovative approach to further the objectives of dialogue, which international and regional organisations should more systematically promote.” I think, therefore, that there is opportunity for the future of this festival. I am confident that favourable number five will be followed, in two years by the sixth International “Sharq Taronalari” Festival!

Once more, I wish to thank the government and people of the Republic of Uzbekistan for their warmth, hospitality and the vision to make a contribution in strengthening values by bringing together such a plethora of creative genius to Samarkand. I send my goodwill to all peoples of the world who choose to celebrate cultural diversity through music and the arts.

Thank you!

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