Children play assyk aty at a village street.\nKazakh traditional Assyk games are an ancient tradition in Kazakhstan. Each player has their own set of ‘Assyks’, traditionally made out of the talus bone of a sheep, and a ‘Saka’ dyed in bright colours. Players use their Assyk to knock out other Assyks from the field, and the focus is on the position of the bone. The community concerned comprises most of the population of Kazakhstan, including members of the Federation ‘Assyk Atu’ Game as well as the larger community of practitioners, mainly children aged between four and eighteen. The element is an outdoor activity that helps develop children’s analytical thinking and physical state, fostering friendship and social inclusiveness. It is also a good model for positive collaboration, uniting people regardless of their age, ethnic background or religious affiliation. It is widely practised at festive celebrations and gatherings, and the community plays a key role in safeguarding the practice, as well as in popularizing it among other ethnic groups in Kazakhstan, turning it into a national symbol of childhood. It is transmitted from older boys to younger ones through observation, as well as through radio and TV documentaries aimed at encouraging children to play Assyk and acquainting people with their cultural heritage.

Tari Asyik is a Kelantanese court dance that traces its roots to the Sultanate of Pattani during the reign of Ratu Kuning (Yellow Queen) in the 17th century. The Hikayat Patani narrates that the court of Ratu Kuning cultivated a group of twelve dancing maidens, known as Asyik. Legend has it that Asyik dance was created to comfort the grieving Ratu Kuning over the loss of her favourite bird. It is also said to have been the most beloved dance of the legendary Kelantanese princess, Puteri Saadong. Over time, the dance became popular among common people and is now used as folk entertainment during festivals and marriages. The dance costume is a piece of sarong tied above the chest, with a belt and small tiara. The main dance move is sitting down with both legs folded to the side with movements that depict ‘a bird’, ‘sea wave’ and ‘ an elephant in delivery’. Nowadays, there are changes in this dance that are the dancers are fully clothed, and from sitting down with both legs folded to the side to a little body rise position. The musical accompaniment for Tari Asyik usually consists of gendang (double-headed Malay drum), serunai (Malay oboe) or rebab (spike fiddle), canang (brass percussion), kesi (cymbals), and gong

Tari Asyik is a Kelantanese court dance that traces its roots to the Sultanate of Pattani during the reign of Ratu Kuning (Yellow Queen) in the 17th century. The Hikayat Patani narrates that the court of Ratu Kuning cultivated a group of twelve dancing maidens, known as Asyik. Legend has it that Asyik dance was created to comfort the grieving Ratu Kuning over the loss of her favourite bird. It is also said to have been the most beloved dance of the legendary Kelantanese princess, Puteri Saadong. Over time, the dance became popular among common people and is now used as folk entertainment during festivals and marriages. The dance costume is a piece of sarong tied above the chest, with a belt and small tiara. The main dance move is sitting down with both legs folded to the side with movements that depict ‘a bird’, ‘sea wave’ and ‘ an elephant in delivery’. Nowadays, there are changes in this dance that are the dancers are fully clothed, and from sitting down with both legs folded to the side to a little body rise position. The musical accompaniment for Tari Asyik usually consists of gendang (double-headed Malay drum), serunai (Malay oboe) or rebab (spike fiddle), canang (brass percussion), kesi (cymbals), and gong

Khalfa is a woman-performer of folk songs and instrumental music, a poetess in Khoresm Oasis, who embodies traditions of oral folk art. In terms of activity, there are the following types of khalfas: khalfa sozi (khalfa-musician), who performs folk instrumental melodies; khalfa yodoghiy (khalfa-singer and khalfa-poetess), who performs folk songs at wedding ceremonies and festivities, while accompanying her singing by playing on a musical instrument; khalfa kitobiy (khalfa-book lover), who reads old books of religious themes during commemoration and rituals events ("mushkulkushod" – literally "relief"); khalfa dostonchi (khalfa-narrator); khalfa raqqosa or khalfa oyinchi (khalfa-dancer).\nIn Khoresm two directions of khalfa performance became widespread, i.e. ensemble performance and solo performance. In ensemble performance it is possible to see a leading woman-performer, who sings songs under accompaniment of accordion (i.e. Russian diatonic accordion, which has been existence in Khoresm since XIX centure and which is called "qol soz"), doira player (who accompanies singing by playing on doira; sometimes she can act as a dancer as well) and dancers (who accompany singing with their dances; they usually dance with kajraks (castanets), or sometimes, sing along and play on doira).

Inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2018\nLkhon Khol Wat Svay Andet is practiced in one community surrounding a Buddhist monastery. The art portrays episodes from Reamker, a Cambodian version of the Indian Ramayana. The purpose of the performance is to honor and seek the favor of the Neak Ta, the guardian spirits of a place and its people, with the intention of protecting the community, promoting prosperity, and ensuring a fruitful harvest. During the Lkhon Khol performance, spirit mediums play a role in facilitating communication and connections between the Neak Ta, performers, and villagers. This practice serves significant ritualistic purposes, primarily associated with the seasonal cycle of rice farming and the needs of farming communities. Lkhon Khol today is performed by men wearing masks with the accompaniment of pin peat, a traditional orchestra, and melodious recitation. Three of the key roles are not masked; instead, their faces are painted white, indicating that they are neither mortals nor \ngods.

Mongolian traditional folk dance “Bii Biyelgee” is an outstanding form among traditional performing arts of Mongolia, and unique and distinguished art expression which has embodied and originated from the nomadic living style of Mongols. Bii Biyelgee expresses the customs, traditions and spiritual practices through dancing elements, and its movements are typically confided to small space inside the Nomad’s dwelling-ger. Biyelgee is performed while half sitting or cross-legged sitting, coupled with fist and hand opening and waving, stiff and swift movements of chest and shoulders, shrugging and shaking them, crossing legs, steps and walks, as well as flexible body movements involved in prevalence. In doing so, biyelgee performers imitate the expressions of their lifestyle, household activities, courage, love, prides and livestock to the accompaniment of morin khuur, ikel khuur, tovshuur, tsuur, coupled with ethnic costumes.\n

Mongols have traditionally shown a great respect for the horse, honoring it in their national standards and symbols (flags and emblems) and in their folk songs. Morin khuur clearly belongs to this symbolic tradition. Morin khuur, so named for the ornamental horse-head carving at the top of its neck, is a unique two-stringed musical instrument developed by the nomadic Mongols. The strings of both the bow and fiddle are made from the hair of a horse’s tail. Most significantly, there is a tradition of playing the morin khuur at all ritual and ceremonial events. No discussion of the morin khuur would be complete without having considered the folk ‘long song’, for which it provides the principal accompaniment. Besides Bii Biylgee and folk long song, many other folk artistic forms such as Ülger (tales), Tuuli (epic), Yörööl (benediction), Magtaal (ode) and others can always be performed with morin khuur.

Mongol Tuuli is an oral tradition comprising heroic epics that run from hundreds to thousands of lines and combine benedictions, eulogies, spells, idiomatic phrases, fairy tales, myths and folk songs. They are regarded as a living encyclopedia of Mongolian oral traditions and immortalize the heroic history of the Mongols. Epic performers are distinguished by their prodigious memory and skills, combining singing, vocal improvisation and musical composition coupled with theatrical elements. Epic lyrics are performed to musical accompaniment on instruments such as morin khuur and tovshuur. Epics are performed during social and public events, including state affairs, weddings, a child’s first haircut, naadam and worship of sacred sites. Epics evolved over many centuries, and reflect nomadic lifestyles, social behaviors, religion, mentalities and imagination. Epic performers cultivate epic traditions from generation to generation, learning, performing and transmitting techniques within kinship circles, from fathers to sons.

Sa lệch chênh belongs to the Sa lệch melody system in Chèo. This melody is lyrical. In addition, the Sa lệch melody system consists of Sa lệch bằng and Sa lệch xếp. The Sa lệch melodies often have a common feature, syncopation, which starts as soon as the beginning of the singing sentence. This act introduces the Sa lệch chênh melody through the solo of the nhị two-string fiddle.

Thảm trần tình was sung by character Thị Phương in a Chèo play called “Trương Viên”, which is about Thị Phương’s difficult circumstance when she had to take her mother-in-law back to her hometown while her husband was in the battle. Therefore, this melody has the features of grievance and mournfulness. Those emotions were expressed through the skillful and inspiring nhị instrumental music of artist Minh Nhương.

Nhịp đuổi is one of the melodies in a Chèo play, called “Trấn thủ lưu đồn”. This melody was performed through the solo of the nhị two-string fiddle by Meritorious Chèo artist Minh Nhương,a Chèo troupe artist of Thái Bình province who was born in Khuốt village.Thái Bình is the sole place preserving the ancient folk Chèo at community houses.

This is song tells part of the Ramayana story when Sita is exiled to the forest. It is accompanied by chikara, a three- string fiddle played in many parts of North India. The chikara is usually used as an accompaniment to singing.

CD7_MUSIC OF BASTAR AND CHHATISGARH\n\nThe indigenous tribal communities of India belong to various language families. This selection of music comes from the region of what was known as Bastar and its surroundings but is today divided into the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. \n\nThis album presents some samples of the music of the Maria, Muria, and Pardhans. These subgroups are part of the larger Gond family. Gondi and the related languages belong to the Dravidian family. It provides a glimpse into the intangible cultural heritage of the tribes of Central India. \n\nThese recordings were made between 1978 and 1982 by ethnomusicologist Roderic Knight. They provide a glimpse into the tribal communities, which are fast changing.

The southwestern provinces of Guangxi , Guizhou , and Yunnan make up a mountainous region with the greatest cultural diversity in China. The Zhuang people who live in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region enjoy singing shange in pairs or groups of five to six people. While majority of shange are about love between a man and a woman, some narrate epic tales. They can also be improvised in surprising ways to match the situation.\n\nThe Miao people, characterized by the unique hairstyles of the women, are scattered around Guangxi Province, Guizhou Province, and other parts of southwestern China. They have a unique singing technique that involves drawing out a single note as long as possible. Using this technique, they sing feige that sounds like flying birds and jiuge . The lusheng music played by men is also worth a listen.\n\nThe Kam (Dong) people live in Guizhou and are well known in China as the most vocally gifted tribe. Each village has several singing groups comprised of several dozen people, organized by gender and age. These groups sing dage , which are traditional polyphonic songs. The gulou and dage are such famous symbols of the Kam people and are used in tourism programs as well.\n\nAlthough there are many ethnic groups in Yunnan province, the Yi people are well known for their singing. Yi women sing songs with extremely high pitches to the accompaniment of yueqin played by the men. The Yi are also famous for their mass dances and singing parties during summer bonfire festival.

The Central Highlands include five provinces: Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Đắc Lắc, Đắc Nông, and Lâm Đồng. This place is the residence of many ethnic minorities speaking two languages, Mon-Khmer and Malayo Polinesian. Ba na, Xê đăng, Mnông, and Xtiêng speak Mon-Khmer while Ê đê, Gia rai, and Raglai speak Malayo Polinesian. Local people in the Central Highlands have a very rich treasure of folk music. In religious festivals, music plays a significant role. The instruments such as gongs, after being played in festivals, are stored. They are considered sacred instruments and the properties that reflect the wealth of a family. In addition to religious music, folk music for daily life is equally as rich and includes music for love exchange, music played on fields, or music played in community houses. Indigenous people of the Central Highlands have innate musical talent. It is supposed that every person can become a singer and an instrumentalist. They are able to make instruments skillfully from bamboo, leaves, and stones, and they can perform music naturally, simply, and purely. The CD, called Folk music of some ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands, Vietnam, introduces some folk musical acts performed in daily life. These acts were recorded between 1977 and 1978 (track 1, 5, 11) and between 1997 and 1998 (the rest of tracks) and performed by local folk artists from ethnic minorities Ê đê, Gia rai, Xê đăng, Mnông, and Ba na in the Central Highlands.

In 2015, ICHCAP with the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO and the Fine Arts Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan released the CD collection Melodies from Uzbekistan as part of its cooperation project to restore and digitize analogue resources on ICH.\n\nThis selection of audio resources are aged audio recordings stored at the Fine Arts Institute of the Academy of Sciences that have been restored and converted into a format suitable for storage and playback in media used today. The audio tracks in the collection consist of folk music recorded from field research conducted in Uzbekistan and border regions from the 1950s to the 1980s as well as studio recordings made from the 1930s to the 1970s. The eight CDs contain Uzbek songs related to work, animal rearing, rituals, and other important parts of day-to-day life in the region; instrumental music featuring various traditional Uzbek musical instruments, such as the dutor and g'ajir nay; and important Islamic oral traditions, such as maqoms and dostons.\n\nAlthough the traditional music of Central Asia may be unfamiliar to listeners from other parts of the world, the CDs come with information booklets in Uzbek, English, and Korean to provide an engaging experience for people from outside the region.\nThe selection represents the diverse and rich musical traditions of Uzbekistan and will be invaluable resources in the field of ICH education and promotion.

In 2015, ICHCAP with the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO and the Fine Arts Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan released the CD collection Melodies from Uzbekistan as part of its cooperation project to restore and digitize analogue resources on ICH.\n\nThis selection of audio resources are aged audio recordings stored at the Fine Arts Institute of the Academy of Sciences that have been restored and converted into a format suitable for storage and playback in media used today. The audio tracks in the collection consist of folk music recorded from field research conducted in Uzbekistan and border regions from the 1950s to the 1980s as well as studio recordings made from the 1930s to the 1970s. The eight CDs contain Uzbek songs related to work, animal rearing, rituals, and other important parts of day-to-day life in the region; instrumental music featuring various traditional Uzbek musical instruments, such as the dutor and g'ajir nay; and important Islamic oral traditions, such as maqoms and dostons.\n\nAlthough the traditional music of Central Asia may be unfamiliar to listeners from other parts of the world, the CDs come with information booklets in Uzbek, English, and Korean to provide an engaging experience for people from outside the region.\nThe selection represents the diverse and rich musical traditions of Uzbekistan and will be invaluable resources in the field of ICH education and promotion.

Audio and Video Materials Collected from the Onsite Survey in the Ferghana Valley_2012 Uzbekistan-ICHCAP Joint Cooperation Project of Producing Digital Contents on ICH\n\nThe glorious intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of Ferghana Valley encompassing the state of Ferghana, Andijion, and Namangan in Uzbekistan includes oral traditional, performing arts, traditional rites and festive events, and traditional crafts. However, this heritage is largely unknown to the public in the nation and abroad, and it is fading out even more rapidly due to the young generation’s lack of interest.\n\nSince 2011, the four Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan, have been implementing a three-year project, Facilitating ICH Inventory-Making by Using Online Tools for ICH Safeguarding in the Central Asian Region as a Central Asia–ICHCAP cooperative project. In the framework of the project, the countries have collected ICH information and tried to build an online system for managing the collected information.\n\nIn Uzbekistan, the Republican Scientific and Methodological Centre of Folk Art, under the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in collaboration with the National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO, implemented the three-year project. They collected information on ICH elements in the Ferghana Valley (Andijan, Namangan, and Ferghana regions), Zarafshan Oasis and Southern Uzbekistan (Jizzakh, Samarkand, Kashkadarya, and Surkhandarya regions), and the Republic of Karakalpakstan (Navoi, Bukhara, and Khoresm regions) through onsite surveys from 2012 to 2014.\n\nIn 2012 when the first onsite survey was concluded, Uzbekistan and ICHCAP selected representative materials among collected videos, audios, and photos on ICH elements and ICH bearers, and compiled the materials as a ten-CD/DVD collection. Also, booklets in English, Uzbek, and Korean were made to spread related information to a wider audience.\n\nFerghana Valley is also home to Tajikistan, Uighers, and Turkistan. In the other words, different traditions co-exist in the same place. ‘Katta Ashula’, which integrates arts, songs, music, and epics, is one Uzbek cultural heritage representing the identities of the diverse people live in the valley\n\nThe collection could preserve the disappeared and disconnected ICH and encourage increased mutual understanding and communication by spreading the information widely from the experts to the people.

ICHCAP published the book Living Heritage Series – Traditional Martial Arts in collaboration with UNESCO International Centre of Martial Arts (ICM). The Living Heritage Series is a serial publication on regional/national transmission and safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage elements. It focuses on a different topic each time, discussing the relevant intangible cultural heritage of various regions to raise the visibility of cultural diversity emphasized by the UNESCO.\n\nLiving Heritage Series-Traditional Martial Arts showcases creative and historical traditional Martial Arts from around the world through contributions from 19 writers in various countries.

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 4 is 'ICH AND ORAL TRADITIONS'.

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 12 is 'ICH AND SHAMAN HERITAGE'.

This book introduces the tug-of-war traditions of Korea and the three Southeast Asian countries mentioned as well as the tugging traditions passed down in Japan, Thailand, and Ukraine. The book presents studies showing various conditions and perceptions of tug-of-war in each country. So, it will be valuable research material for those interested in tug-of-war.