To celebrate the National Dombra Day, the Permanent Delegation of Kazakhstan held an event at the UNESCO Headquarters last week, attended by Ambassadors of UNESCO Member States and Kazakhs residing in France.
Welcoming the guests, Askar Abdrakhmanov, Permanent Delegate of Kazakhstan to UNESCO, reminded that this year marks ten years since the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, at its 9th session in Paris on 26 November 2014, inscribed the Kazakh Traditional Art of Dombra Kuy on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. “For Kazakhs, the dombra is more than a musical instrument, it is a powerful symbol of our identity and our enduring spirit,” he said.
“For centuries, the dombra has been a storyteller, carrying through its strings to our youth the legends, emotions and aspirations of our ancestors. The journey of the Dombra Kuy from the Great Steppe of Eurasia to the global recognition by UNESCO is a testament of the universal language of music and its power to bridge cultures and generations,” the Kazakh diplomat added.
The Ambassador stressed that in addition to the tradition of learning to play the dombra in families, the central and local government bodies in Kazakhstan also organise training courses in elementary and secondary schools, tertiary and higher educational institutions, numerous concerts, festivals and many other forms of encouraging the dombra to remain an integral part of the living heritage of our people, including, since 2018, annual celebration of the National Dombra Day on the first Sunday of July.
Vera El Khoury Lacoeuilhe, Chairperson of the Executive Board of UNESCO, also addressed the participants of the event. Thanking the Kazakh colleagues for the opportunity to hear again the sounds of this beautiful instrument, she noted that “for centuries, the dombra has been the heartbeat of the Kazakh nation, used to celebrate and to mark solemn moments, preserving the country’s rich traditions.”
Fumiko Ohinata, Secretary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, also addressed the meeting on behalf of UNESCO.
“I wholeheartedly congratulate the people of Kazakhstan on the National Dombra Day and the 10th anniversary of the inscription of the Dombra Kuy on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” she said.
Ohinata underlined that “the dombra kuy is a part of the social and cultural fabric of Kazakhstan, played at gatherings, holidays, and festive celebrations”.
Chingis Kuanbaev and Amirkhan Unlu, Kazakhs living in France, presented live dombra playing at UNESCO Headquarters.
Photo: Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry
