International symposium and festival of Central Asian epic to run

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A second international symposium and festival themed "Central Asian Epic II" will run August 5-7 in Ulaanbaatar. They will be co-organized by Mongolia’s Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, the Center of Cultural Heritage, the Institute of Literature at the Academy of Sciences and the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO. The events are supposed to form in a society a respect for the epics, to deepen studies on epics, to advertise epic masters of all generations, to help save traditions of singing and of poetry of epics. The symposium and festival are expected to attract some 100 scholars and researchers from Mongolia, Russian Buryatia, Tuva, Kalmykia and Yakutia, also from Chinese Xinjiang Uyghur and Inner Mongolian Autonomous Regions, USA, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Congo. A famous epic singer from Kalmykia Tsagaanzam and a Yakutian singer Olonkhoch will participate in the events. The very first international symposium and festival took place in 1997 with participation of epic masters from Central Asian countries.