Heritages are pride of nations, which helps people to find their roots in the past besides giving evidence of their past and helping to elaborate their culturally enriched life style.
Unfortunately, the Wakhis living in upper Hunza (Gojal) have been fast loosing material evidence of their cultural identity and history. The Wakhis happened to be one of the culturally rich people of the region, but globalization and the fast pace of change has pushed the Wakhi culture to the verge of extinction. It is pertinent to mention here that the Wakhi language- spoken in Pakistan, Tajikistan, China and Afghanistan - Sadly UNESCO has listed Wakhi as severely endangered language.
Bulbulik Heritage Centre Gulmit, known as Bulbulik Music School is the first Wakhi/Pamirian folk music School in Gojal valley. Bulbulik is a project of the Gulmit Educational & Social Welfare Society (GESWS), initiated with an aim to preserve and promote the rich but endangered heritage of Wakhi people living in Gojal valley. This Project is funded by USAID-Pakistan through SGAFP-NRSP.
During the entire project period Bulbulik aims to provide trainings on Rubob, Ghazxek, Sitor, Tutek, Surnaye, Gabi and Dorya to 70 Male and Female folk artist of Gojal valley.
Apart from training element, the researchers of Bulbulik are documenting the vanishing folksongs, which will be compiled and published at the end of the project.
To enrich the reading and writing skills of young Wakhi speakers, Bulbulik has organized Orthography workshops, apart from this, Bulbulik organized writers workshop for the writers of Gojal valley, who have been playing their part in language promotion.