Alisher Navoi 580th Anniversary and how it was celebrated in the United Kingdom.
Monday, 8 February 2021 marked the 580th anniversary of Uzbekistan's national poet and cultural hero, Alisher Navoi. British-Uzbek Society celebrated this event along with the Uzbekistan embassy to the UK and an illustrious panel of international experts during a two-hour online forum, featuring Navoi's poetry readings, analyses and wonderful musical performances.
In addition to the Embassy of Uzbekistan and the British-Uzbek Society, sponsors of the event included: Uzbekistan Ministry of Culture, the Committee for Interethnic Relations, BBC News Uzbek, Conservative Friends of Eurasia, Maximum Exposure and ThoburnsBelgrave.
The event started with the Opening remarks of Sherzod Asadov, Deputy Foreign-Minister of Uzbekistan; Caroline Dinenage MP, UK Minister of State for Digital and Culture, and Kamola Akilova, Deputy Minister of Culture of Uzbekistan followed by video footage by BBC Uzbek about the life and heritage of Alisher Navoi. The online audience enjoyed a display of recordings of Navoi’s poems in English, read by the UK politicians.
Dr. Michael Erdman, Curator, Turkish and Turkic Collections presented the highlights of the British Library research on the works of Alisher Navoi.
The apotheosis of the event was the enchanting and astonishing performance of maqoms by the Uzbek ensemble «Ustazoda» followed by the closing remarks of Said Rustamov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to the UK.
It was a truly magical event thoroughly enjoyed by all present at the event!
