Yangi Avlod Festival wraps up in Tashkent`s Istiqlol Palace

November 18, 2009

On September 17, Tashkent’s Istiqlol Palace hosted a grand gala-concert of Yangi Avlod (New generation) Festival of Children’s Creativity presented by the Fund Forum and Kamalak (Rainbow) children’s organization with the support of the UNICEF. The performers included the laureates of the Festival, world-famous Cesaria Evora with her music program, prominent footballer Samuel Eto’o with his project to support young Uzbek footballers and art and culture workers of Uzbekistan.

The gala-concert started with a welcome letter sent by UNICEF Executive Director Anne Veneman congratulating the guests and participants. Young talents then took charge of the stage. Each performance told of a story of children’s joy and victories, where bright and dynamic singing perfectly blended with electrifying dances.

Children’s songs were performed along with adult hits such as I met a girl, Lasciate me cantare, Unusual eyes, etc. Unparalleled talents were also demonstrated on national music instruments by the kids.

Besides, the concert was adorned with bright performances as ballroom dances to Bésame mucho; dance potpourri, boys clothed in Caucasian costumes, girls in traditional Chinese costumes with fans, girls dressed as gypsies in fluffy skirts and those clothed in traditional Spanish dresses with red roses…

The little winners were awarded by Chairperson of the Board of Trustees Gulnara Karimova and the Yangi avlod jury members, among whom are People’s Artist of Uzbekistan Abdukhoshim Ismailov, Director of Uspenskiy Music Lyceum Dildora Jamalova, singer Ravshan Namazov and world-famous Portuguese singer Cesaria Evora. In 2009, Yangi avlod Festival brought out 102 laureates all told. The grand prix to three participants was given by Cesaria Evora.

New project for athletes

The surprise part of the gala concert was world-famous footballer Samuel Eto’o handing awards to two youth football teams of Pakhtakor and Bunyodkor football academies for sporting achievements. The new children’s project will lend sponsor support to children’s and youth teams and football fans across the country. It will include master classes with world-famous footballers, which would help raise a generation of well-trained footballers. The Fund Forum started the project in cooperation with Samuel Eto’o, who handed the first sponsor packages to the young players of Uzbekistan’s football academies.

Concert by the “Barefoot Diva”

Accompanied by stormy applause, the happy children gave the stage to Barefoot Diva – Cesaria Evora. In Tashkent, Evora gave a concert for an Uzbek audience which lasted an hour and a half. Her songs, a combination of Latin American and African rhythms, won people’s hearts over 20 years ago. She sings about love, about life, and about sadness. Her singing is magic that beggars description. Even though she sings in the Cabo Verde Creole dialect of Portuguese, their meaning can be understood to everyone, because she sings with heart and soul, making her songs understandable on some nonverbal level.

Evora has won the prestigious Grammy and Victoire de la Musique awards. She was also bestowed with France’s Honorary Legion Medal. Evora is also noted for her charitable activities. Specifically, in her country she finances the entire system of primary education and is en envoy of the UN World Food Programme.

On the whole, Yangi Avlod festival is one of the biggest charitable projects developed by the Fund Forum in Uzbekistan. It seeks to encourage talented Uzbek children. Year after year, the project expands its boundaries attracting more and more interested people. As in the previous Sting concert, the bulk of those attending the event are children, participants of the Festival’s selection stages, their teachers and parents, jury members, children from orphanages, laureates and active participants of Fund Forum projects, the youth, art and cultural workers as well as media representatives. As many as three thousand people attended the Festival free of charge.