Ca Tru art/ Ca Tru. Ca Tru has many different names such as hat a dao, hat cua dinh, hat cua quyen, hat co dau, hat nha to, hat nha tro and hat ca cong..., is a type of art with a strong "chamber" character, with a smooth and high-level coordination between poetry, music and sometimes dance and performance.\nCurrently, Ca Tru art is present in 14 provinces and cities in Vietnam including: Hanoi, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Ho Chi Minh City.\nMao Dien commune's ca tru club currently has 9 members, gathered and introduced from people who know how to practice ca tru in other communes. Key members participating in practicing ca tru include: Ms. Ninh Thi Chinh (born in 1956, Club President); Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Hai (born in 1964); Ms. Nguyen Thi Chuyen (born in 1965); Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngát (born in 1977); Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thu (born in 1967); Mr. Nguyen Van Khoi (born in 1957).\nCa Tru is a long-standing, unique art form with special significance in the Vietnamese music treasure. In the past, Ca Tru was tightly organized into guilds and guild teachers, managed by guild leaders and quan giap. Participating in a Ca Tru performance, there were at least 3 singers: "dao nuong" or "ca nuong" - singing in spoken style and beating clappers to keep the rhythm; a "kep dan" - playing a stone instrument and a "quan vien" - playing the Chau drum.\nCa Tru began to flourish in the 15th century and has had ups and downs throughout history, even at times facing the risk of being forgotten and lost. After 15 years, since UNESCO recognized Ca Tru as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Protection (in 2009), Ca Tru art in Hai Duong province in particular has initially overcome the risk of loss. However, Ca Tru still faces many difficulties and challenges to affirm its strong vitality. Preserving the art of Ca Tru is very difficult due to the nature of the profession, which is kept secret according to the traditional oral tradition of the ancient artisans. In Hai Duong province (now Hai Phong city), up to now, the traditional art of Ca Tru has not attracted the attention of young people. Maintaining teaching and performing at Ca Tru clubs also has difficulties and limitations.\nThe project proposes to implement measures to protect and promote the heritage of Ca Tru art through a case study of "Ca Tru Club of Mao Dien commune, Hai Phong city" for the following reasons:\n(1) The Ca Tru Club of Cam Giang district was established in 2003 with 20 members, but up to now, most of the seniors have passed away, many old and weak people cannot follow.\n(2) After 21 years, the club currently has 9 people participating in learning to sing, play, practice, perform and teach the art of Ca Tru. In particular, the club director has only practiced less than 10 ca tru songs, the players and the drum officials have not yet mastered them. Other members aged 50 to 60 are also learning to sing 1 to 2 songs. The next generation, the youngest member of the club, born in 1977, has also passed middle age, and has not yet found young talents, especially students in the district who are passionate about learning to sing ca tru. The Cam Giang district ca tru club is still facing the risk of fading away and being lost.

CD8_ĐỜN CA TÀI TỬ, A CHAMBER MUSIC OF SOUTHERN VIETNAM\n\nĐờn ca tài tử is a special traditional genre of chamber music of the Việt people in southern Vietnam. In comparison with other forms of traditional musical performances in Vietnam like Ca trù (Ca trù singing), Ca Huế (Hue singing), etc, the art of Đờn ca tài tử was a late traditional form. According to many musical researchers, Đờn ca tài tử came into being in the mid-nineteenth century from the musical context of the ceremonial music nhạc Lễ of southern Vietnam and the chamber music nhạc Huế. Historically, nhạc Lễ played a very important role in the cultural life of southern Vietnam. The repertoire was divided into two styles played by a martial ensemble phe võ and a classical ensemble phe văn. The phe võ is composed of drums, cymbals, and the Vietnamese oboe kèn bầu. The phe văn consisted of stringed instruments, particularly four types of the cò (two-stringed fiddles, such as the cò, the cò chỉ, the cò tre, and the gáo fiddle), and percussion instruments such as the trống nhạc (drum), and a trống cơm (a small cylindrical drum).\n\nThe two ensembles are invited to play at major village festivals. But for less important occasions such as weddings, birthdays, and housewarmings, a smaller phe văn group is called in, which includes the stringed instruments without percussion instruments. This ensemble is called đờn cây. For the need of artistic entertainment, other stringed instruments progressively joined this ensemble such as the đàn tranh (sixteen-string zither), the kìm (moon-shaped lute) and the very small wooden song lang. Music gradually escapes the solemn nature of rituals to serve daily life. It can be considered the initial foundation of Đờn ca tài tử, but it was not yet the Đờn ca tài tử. In 1885, when the Huế capital fell, the immigration of instrumentalists of the Nguyễn court from central Vietnam to the southern region made significant influence on the development of Đờn ca tài tử. At this time, Đờn ca tài tử was actually shaped after acquiring Huế chamber music in both repertoires and performance styles. The emergence of Đờn ca tài tử has received great support and favor of the majority of people in the southern Vietnam.

CD6 CA TRÙ SINGING\nCa trù singing has other names such as hát ả đào, hát cửa đình, hát nhà tơ, hát nhà trò, or hát cô đầu. According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (The Complete Book on the History of Đại Việt), Ca trù appeared in the Lý dynasty (1010-1025) under the name Ả đào singing. Many Ả đào singing contests were held in the village communal houses. In that time, village notables often played the praised drum while enjoying the performers singing and threw reward cards to the singers who performed well. That card was call “trù”. Gradually, the way of rewarding the singers with cards became known as Ca trù. This name is found in the poem namely “Nghĩ hộ tám giáp làm giải thưởng cho cô đào hát” (“On Behalf of People from Eight Hamlets to Write the Rewarding Rule for Awarded Singers”) of Lê Đức Mao in 1500. Ca trù is a popular genre of traditional singing and dancing of the Kinh people in the northern and the central Vietnam. The key members of a Ca trù band include one đàn đáy (three-stringed lute instrumentalist) (the đàn đáy is the only musical instrument for accompanying Ca trù), one singer who both sings and plays the phách clappers, and one praise drummer (known as quan viên cầm chầu) player.\n\nCa trù can be performed in a wide variety of places. Ca trù was born to serve as worship singing. From serving as worship at the village communal houses and ancestor worship, Ca trù has changed into singing for entertainment at private houses, restaurants, or cabarets. In addition to these main performance environments, Ca trù was performed at the royal palace and the palaces of mandarins. At present, Ca trù is sung as traditional music. In each performance environment, Ca trù has some changes in terms of the repertoire, musical nature, or performance styles. The CD Ca trù singing (Hát Ca trù) introduces some songs that which were performed for worship and for entertainment. They were recorded in 1970 (tracks 5, 6, and 7), in 1982 (tracks 1 and 4), and in 1997 (tracks 2 and 3) and performed by the three most famous Ca trù folk artists.

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.

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.

The 2016 Sub-Regional Meeting for Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in Southeast Asia: Enhancing Viablity in Intangible Cultural Heritage Community, jointly organized by ICHCAP and George Town World Heritage Incorporated, was held on 18 and 19 September 2017 in George Town, Penang Malaysia.\n\nThis report is composed of twenty presentation papers delivered at the meeting by national representatives, NGOs, UNESCO Office in Bangkok, and facilitators of UNESCO Capacity Building Workshop. In addition, the outcome document of the meeting is also affixed to put it on record the adopted recommendations of the participants in moving forward together.

The book describes different elements of Bhutanese intangible culture under five chapters. Learning, studying, promoting and transmitting the Bhutanese culture, and its essence — the intangible cultural heritage — is a sublime obligation for each and every Bhutanese today. This book will not only serve as a basic manual for the study of the ICH of Bhutan for the future generations, but also inspire them to renew and share their awareness of (and engagement in) the research of our culture and traditions.