Villagers in Kubachi Russia Defy Odds with Ancient Arts
KUBACHI, RUSSIA (REUTERS).– The cacophony
of hammered silver reverberates through the sole school of this tiny
village
nestled in the lush and craggy Caucasus mountains of Russia’s deeply
turbulent
Muslim region of Dagestan. Villagers in Kubachi, whose population is a
mere
2,300, boast that every man, woman and child has mastered the ancient
tradition
of delicate silverwork, first brought to the region by Persian traders
almost
two millennia ago. Perched 2,000 metres (6,560 ft) in the Caucasus
overlooking
steep mist-covered valleys and ramshackle farms, Kubachi is 90 km (56
miles)
south of Makhachkala, the Caspian Sea capital of Dagestan, a Russian
region home
to over 40 ethnicities.