HOST: Greetings, creative viewers. Welcome to Enlightening Entertainment. Since the very first century, cultures across vast distances of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Mediterranean regions were connected through bustling trade, exchanges of goods and technologies, by land and sea.

For thousands of years, travelers on these ancient yet still-used routes also shared one another’s cultures. They were accompanied by vibrant music and dance, everywhere along the way.

Today, let us enjoy a modern-day exchange of the arts through the performances by artists from the beautiful countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and South Korea, where they gathered. South Korea was also a part of the ancient travel routes.

Artist delegations from the various countries, including the host country’s own traditional performing group, Sorinaru, paid tribute to the music and dances of Central Asia through a unique joint concert.

The collaborating Central Asian groups included: Sogdiana, Uzbekistan’s Chamber Orchestra of Folk Instruments; Miras, a nationally recognized traditional dance group from Turkmenistan; Sazgen, a talented folk ensemble formed by Kazakhstan’s Museum of National Instruments; the Zarafshon Ensemble, a leading musical collective from Tajikistan; and the Kyrgyz National Academy Opera-Ballet Theater.

Firuza Abdurahimova(f): This is a display of cultures of the world’s people, where all the people perform like brothers, understanding each other. And that’s why it proves, one more time, that art has no national boundaries.