Bidu Lensu Mutin is a typical traditional dance from the community of the village of Suai Loro, Covalima Municipality. This dance is performed in cultural occasions such as welcoming guests, inauguration of sacred houses, “sau batar” (corn harvest festival), and “tara bandu”. \n\nThe movement and every step of the dance is following-up by traditional arrangement of music. Using a kind of dry palm leaf to give the sound and rhythm, and traditional song with local dialect give harmonies to the dance. The dance have been passed from one generation to another and up to now it is still alive within the communities.

Bidu Lensu Mutin is a typical traditional dance from the community of the village of Suai Loro, Covalima Municipality. This dance is performed in cultural occasions such as welcoming guests, inauguration of sacred houses, “sau batar” (corn harvest festival), and “tara bandu”. \n\nThe movement and every step of the dance is following-up by traditional arrangement of music. Using a kind of dry palm leaf to give the sound and rhythm, and traditional song with local dialect give harmonies to the dance. The dance have been passed from one generation to another and up to now it is still alive within the communities.

Held from the 10th through the 15th days of the second lunar month, main foci of this festival are paying tribute to Guru Rinpoche and the performance of ritual prayers dedicated to Tshepamed (Buddha of Long Life) and local protective deities on the 10th and the 11th days. Events take place in community temples and are presided over by lamas and monks, and/or locally-based gomchens (Leymen). \n\nOn the 12th to 15th days, games and sports are organized, especially archery and Khuru (Traditional dart) are played. At night, the Blessing Round or Changkor (Wandering) takes place as a presiding lama or monk leads a group to visit every household in their respective villages and bless them with auspiciousness. The community members drink, sing and dance, and relish good foods during the period. The festival is not only meant to pay tribute to Guru Rinpoche and the protective deities but is also an occasion for community members to get together to relax away from the usual toils of agrarian life.

Held from the 10th through the 15th days of the second lunar month, main foci of this festival are paying tribute to Guru Rinpoche and the performance of ritual prayers dedicated to Tshepamed (Buddha of Long Life) and local protective deities on the 10th and the 11th days. Events take place in community temples and are presided over by lamas and monks, and/or locally-based gomchens (Leymen). \n\nOn the 12th to 15th days, games and sports are organized, especially archery and Khuru (Traditional dart) are played. At night, the Blessing Round or Changkor (Wandering) takes place as a presiding lama or monk leads a group to visit every household in their respective villages and bless them with auspiciousness. The community members drink, sing and dance, and relish good foods during the period. The festival is not only meant to pay tribute to Guru Rinpoche and the protective deities but is also an occasion for community members to get together to relax away from the usual toils of agrarian life.

Kun Lbokator is an ancient Khmer martial arts dating back to at least the Angkorian period, which aims to inculcate and develop mental and physical strength and discipline in its practitioners, by mastering self-defense techniques, while promoting the philosophy of non-violence. It is characterized and distinguished not only a martial arts form but also embodies a certain cultural aspect. For instance, the rituals and social practices observed in Kun Lbokator require that the practitioner possesses knowledge about nature and the universe. \nPractitioners are required to train and master striking and defense techniques relying on their bare arms and legs, and only once a student can demonstrate proficiency is weapons training introduced. Another essential aspect of Kun Lbokator is that it is to be practiced with an ensemble of elements including dance, music, natural medicine, sacred objects and/or amulets, tattoos, and weapons. Masters play a crucial role in the performing aspect of Kun Lbokator because they serve as mediators between the apprentices and the guardian spirits, and thus are responsible for introducing new apprentices to them and the surrounding nature, asking for the apprentices’ protection and safety in training. In return, practitioners are required to show respect to others and take a pledge to become good citizens. \nPresently, Kun Lbokator is still actively performed as part of ritual offerings to local protective deities, Neak Ta as well as in other festive events. Kun Lbokator is an intangible tradition widely practiced among Cambodians, regardless of their age, gender and educational backgrounds or statuses.\n

In the communities of Viqueque, particularly among the Tetun-Terik-speaking people, fai-akar—the production of sago flour from the akar palm—is not merely a method of food preparation; it is a cultural ceremony that blends labor, rhythm, and collective identity. At the heart of this tradition is the Tali-Bole dance, a dynamic performance woven seamlessly into the act of pounding sago, transforming a daily task into a vibrant expression of heritage.\n\nThe process of making fai-akar begins with harvesting the inner pith of the akar palm tree, which is then ground and washed to extract starch. This labor-intensive task is done in groups, mostly by women, using long wooden pestles to pound the fiber in large mortars. But what sets this practice apart is the way pounding becomes performance: the coordinated movement of the pestles rises and falls to the beat of chanting and drumming, and the Tali-Bole dance emerges from the rhythm of the work itself.\n\nDancers move in synchrony with the pounding, often stepping in and out of the work line, twirling or waving cloth, and responding to sung verses. The term tali-bole can be interpreted in various ways—some connect it to the image of “binding cords,” others to the swinging motion of the pestles themselves—but in all meanings, it emphasizes connection, unity, and the shared pulse of community labor.\n\nSongs sung during the pounding and dancing are passed down orally and are rich in metaphor and memory. One of the most well-known verses, Lakaleok, is sung toward the end of the session, signaling closure and expressing gratitude. These lyrics often tell stories of ancestors, landscapes, and social values, ensuring that cultural knowledge is preserved even in the most practical of activities.\n\nTraditionally, fai-akar and Tali-Bole were performed during rites of passage, funerals, house inaugurations, and communal feasts. Participation was seen not only as a contribution of labor but as an affirmation of cultural belonging. The rhythmic beat of the pestles and the voices of the singers created a space where work, ritual, and performance blended into one.\n\nAlthough the practice remains alive in some villages, it faces growing challenges. The availability of processed food, the decline of communal labor traditions, and the migration of youth to urban areas have all contributed to its reduced presence. Yet, in places where it continues, fai-akar and Tali-Bole are embraced as sources of pride, often featured at cultural festivals and heritage events to showcase the strength and creativity of traditional life.\n\nTo witness Tali-Bole is to see cultural memory in motion—where hands work, feet dance, and voices carry the wisdom of generations. In every stomp and song, the community reaffirms its bond with the land, its past, and one another.

Kathak is a beautiful and elegant dance which expresses stories through elaborate hand movements and steps. It can be performed by both male and female dancers, and it is called the ‘dance of love’ as it is often performed together by men and women. Dancers wear ghungroo (bell instrument worn on the ankles) on both ankles and dance to the tabla (small drums played in pairs) and sitar (traditional stringed instrument with 18-21 strings). The relentless rhythm of the ghungroo heightens the excitement in the atmosphere, while the quick steps called ‘tatkar’ and spins executed to the fast paced rhythms are elaborate, sophisticated and full of energy.\n\nIn ancient Hindu temples, storytellers used to tell legends through song, music and dance. The name 'Kathak' is derived from the sanskrit word ‘katha’ which refers to the professional art of storytelling, and ‘karhakas’, which means ‘storyteller’. Kathak originated in Northern India in the 3rd to 4th century BC, and was transmitted as a form of puja (prayer ritual) until the 15th century, when it developed into a dance for court banquets under the influence of Persia and the Mughal empire.\n\nCharacteristics:\n∙One of the 8 major traditional dances recognized by the Indian government\n∙Uses the ghungroo (a bell instrument worn around the ankle)\n\nPerformed by Amit Khinchi\nChoreographed by Amit Khinchi

Rooted in the ancestral traditions of the Fatumea and Fohorem communities in Covalima Municipality, Tebe Otas-Uluk is more than a dance—it is a collective act of memory, identity, and reverence. The name itself combines “tebe” (a traditional line dance) with Otas (ancestor) and Uluk (first or origin), signaling a ritual expression dedicated to those who came before.\n\nTraditionally performed by the elders of the community, this dance takes place during important communal gatherings such as ceremonies of healing, protection, thanksgiving, or agricultural celebration. Participants often wear traditional attire and move in side-by-side formations, linked by hands or shoulders, stepping rhythmically in unison to the beat of local drums, gongs, or the babadok (a hand-held percussion instrument). The dance circle forms a symbolic space where the living and the spirits of the ancestors meet.\n\nWhat sets Tebe Otas-Uluk apart is its solemn and purposeful character. The movement vocabulary is simple yet powerful: synchronized steps, grounded footwork, and fluid arm gestures that flow with the communal rhythm. Songs are chanted throughout the dance in the Tetun-Terik language, often carrying metaphorical meanings related to the land, family, and the ancestors’ wisdom. The lyrics function as oral archives, preserving knowledge and history that is not written but remembered through voice and motion.\n\nBecause of its deep spiritual roots, this dance is only performed on specific occasions, often after traditional leaders conduct consultations with spiritual entities or conduct rituals to prepare the ground. Each gesture, each chant, is believed to activate a connection to the ancestral realm—inviting blessings, healing, or protection for the community.\n\nIn recent years, however, the practice has become increasingly rare, with fewer young people learning the movements or understanding the embedded meanings. Despite this, dedicated elders continue to lead and teach the dance, ensuring its survival as a living heritage. For them, Tebe Otas-Uluk is not simply a performance—it is a prayer in motion, a ceremony that anchors the community to its origins and affirms its cultural continuity.

Southeast Asia ICH Video Documentary (Philippines)\n\nThe environment surrounding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is changing rapidly in the face of waves of rapid urbanization and globalization. In the face of such changes, documenting actual scenes of ICH in video form presents one of the most effective ways of identifying trends in ongoing developments and raising the profile of ICH. However, achieving this requires robust support and coordinated efforts due to the relative inadequacy of the conditions for producing such documentary material in the Asia-Pacific region.\n\nThe International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP) shines a light on the ICH of Asia-Pacific and introduces its value to the public through video projects depicting ICH. ICHCAP conducts joint projects with member states to portray real-life scenes of ICH alongside experts, communities, NGOs, and other stakeholders in various countries. As a result, it has produced fifty videos on the ICH of Central Asia through the phase-one joint project on Central Asia and an additional fifty videos through the phase-two video project on the ICH of Southeast Asia. These videos are being screened through broadcasting companies and at film festivals in each country, in addition to distribution via YouTube and other\nchannels.\n\nVideos represent the most accurate method of capturing ICH as it exists in the real world, as well as being effective tools for communicating with the public. ICHCAP will endeavor to continue vividly documenting the scenes of ICH that are hidden across the Asia-Pacific region with the aim of raising the profile of ICH elements as treasures of humanity and introducing them to the public.\n\nThis collection includes 10 ICH videos produced by the NCCA in collaboration with ICHCAP.\n\nBuklog: Thanksgiving Ritual System of the Subanen\nPiña Handloom Weaving / Hab\u0002Eon Nga Piña\nThe Feast Of Our Lady Of Peñafrancia\nIfugao Mud Dyeing: The Traditional Dyeing Process Of The Ifugao In Northern Luzon\nParul Sampernandu: The Giant Lantern Tradition Of San Fernando City, Pampanga\nIgal: The Traditional Dance Of The Sama In Tawi-Tawi\nLepa: The Traditional Boat Building Of The Sama In Tawi Tawi\nPoong Nazareno: The Feast and Traslacio of The Black Nazarene Of Quiapo, Manila\nMoryonan: Penitential Ritual Of Marinduque\nMoryon: Mask Making In Marinduque

On 12 and 13 November 2020, ICHCAP and the ICH NGO Forum virtually held the 2020 ICH NGO Conference entitled “ICH and Resilience in Crisis.” The fifteen participants, including eleven selected presenters from ten countries around the world, discussed various cases and activities of each country applied under the Corona-era, and proposed solidarity for the resilience of ICH for a ‘New Normal.’\n\nSession 1: In the Vortex: COVID-19 Era, Roles of NGOs to Safeguard ICH\n\nSpecial Lecture 1: 'Resilience System Analysis' by Roberto Martinez Yllescas, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Mexico\n1. 'Uncovering the veil of immaterial cultural heritage towards and autonomous management of well-being as well as cultural and territorial preservation' by Carolina Bermúdez, Fundación Etnollano\n2. 'Holistic Development Model of Community-Based Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yuen Long District in Hong Kong of China' by Kai-kwong Choi, Life Encouraging Fund \n3. 'Indigenous Knowledge System as a vector in combating COVID-19' by Allington Ndlovu, Amagugu International Heritage Centre\n4. 'Enlivening Dyeing Tradition and ICH: The initiative of ARHI in North East of India' by Dibya Jyoti Borah, President, ARHI\n\nSession 2: Homo Ludens vs. Home Ludens: Changed Features COVID-19 Brought\n\n1. 'The Popular Reaction to COVID-19 from the Intangible Cultural Heritage among Member Cities of the ICCN' by Julio Nacher, ICCN Secretariat, Algemesi, Spain\n2. 'Innovation for Arts and Cultural Education Amid a Pandemic' by Jeff M. Poulin, Creative Generation\n3. 'Promoting Heritage Education through Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Kalasha Valleys of Pakistan' by Ghiasuddin Pir & Meeza Ubaid, THAAP\n4. 'Shifting to Online Activities: Digital Divide among the NGOs and ICH Communities in Korea' by Hanhee Hahm CICS\n\nSession 3: Consilience: Prototype vs. Archetype for Educational Source\n\nSpecial Lecture 2: 'Geographical imbalance: the challenge of getting a more balanced representation of accredited non-governmental organizations under the 2003 Convention' by Matti Hakamäki, Finnish Folk Music Institute\n1. 'Crafting a Post Covid-19 World: Building Greater Resilience in the Crafts Sector through Strengthening Ties with its Community’s Cultural System' by Joseph Lo, World Crafts Council International\n2. 'Arts and Influence: Untangling Corporate Engagement in the Cultural Sector' by Nicholas Pozek, Asian Legal Programs, Columbia University\n3. 'ICH in the South-Western Alps: Empowering Communities through Youth Education on Nature and Cultural Practices' by Alessio Re & Giulia Avanza, Santagata Foundation for the Economy of Culture\n\n

ICH Video Production in the Asia-Pacific Region : Central Asia\n\nRapid urbanization and westernization are changing the environments in which intangible cultural heritage is rooted. The importance of documentation that traces the effect of social changes on intangible cultural heritage is being emphasized as a safeguarding measure. Quality video documentation is an important resource that enables the conservation and transmission of existing intangible cultural heritage and raises its visibility.\n\nVideo documentation is the best medium to record intangible cultural heritage in the most lifelike manner, using the latest technologies. It is also an effective tool for communicating with the public. However, conditions for video production in the Asia-Pacific remain poor, requiring extensive support for quality video documentation.\n\nICHCAP has been working to build the safeguarding capabilities of Member States and raise the visibility of intangible cultural heritage in the Asia-Pacific by supporting the true-to-life documentation of intangible cultural heritage as this heritage is practiced and cooperating with experts, communities, and NGOs in related fields.\n\nSince 2010, ICHCAP has hosted annual Central Asian sub-regional network meetings with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia to support the ICH safeguarding activities of Central Asia. Through their collaboration, ICHCAP has supported projects involving collecting ICH information, producing ICH websites, and constructing ICH video archives.\n\nAt the Sixth Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in Jeonju in 2015, ICHCAP, four Central Asian countries, and Mongolia adopted a second three-year cooperation project plan on producing ICH videos to enhance the visibility of ICH in Central Asia.\n\nICHCAP developed guidelines and training programs for the project and invited video and ICH experts from the participating countries, and held a workshop in November 2015. After the workshop, focal points for the project were designated in each country, and each focal point organization formed an expert meeting and a video production team to produce ICH videos.\n\nInterim reports were submitted to ICHCAP in February 2016, and the first preview screening was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, during the Seventh Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in May 2016. Since then, each country has carried out the project according to the project plan. ICHCAP met with each country between October 2016 to February 2017 to check on the project progress.\n\nAfter the final preview screening during the Eighth Central Asia Sub-regional Network Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2017, final editing process took place in each country, and fifty ICH videos were completed by October 2017.\n\nAll photos introduced on this page along with fifty ICH videos are from the exhibition 'Living Heritage: Wisdom of Life' held in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the Republic of Korea. Designed for introducing various ICH in the five countries, this exhibition shows photos on representative twenty elements in each country collected during the process of on-site survey and documentation for ICH Video Production Project in Central Asia by experts participated in the ICH video production project.\n\nICHCAP will continue its ICH documentation projects in the Asia-Pacific region for the next ten years by expanding the scope from Central Asia and Mongolia to Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and the Pacific.\n\n\nPartners\nMongolian National Commission for UNESCO • National Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic for UNESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO • National Commission of the Republic of Tajikistan for UNESCO • Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage Mongolia • National Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage under the National Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan for UNESCO and ISESCO • School of Fine Art and Technical Design named after Abylkhan Kasteyev • State Institute of Arts and Culture of Uzbekistan • Tajik film • Tajikistan Research Institute of Culture Information • Korea Educational Broadcasting System • Asia Culture Center\n\nSupporters\nUNESCO Almaty and Tashkent Cluster Offices • Cultural Heritage Administration • Panasonic Korea • Turkish Airlines

According to statistics data in 2009, the Cao Lan people (known as Sán Chay) in Vietnam had a population of 169,410 people, residing mostly in Tuyên Quang province. The Cao Lan ethnic minority has a treasure of poetry, folk music, and dance such as sình ca (unique folk singing), múa trống (drum dancing), múa xúc tép (small shrimp catching dancing), múa chim gâu (cuckoo bird dancing), etc. The musical instruments of Cao Lan people are various, including thanh la (small knobless gong), não bạt (small cymbals), drums, bells, and wind instruments. Kèn is a wind instrument performed in festivals and ritual forms. Kèn consists of four parts: the body, the bell, reed stake, and the reed. The body is a cylindrical hollow tube made of hard wood about thirty centimeters in length. On the body, there are seven pressing holes on the front and one hole on back near the stake. The instrument bell is made of a frustum-shaped thin wooden piece. The smaller of the bell is attached to the big end of the tube. The stake is attached to the small end of the tube. The reed is made of a reed pipe or worn nest attached to the stake. Its sound is strong, a little discordant at high pitches and a little cracked at the low end. The register of the instrument is two octaves. Kèn is played by men only. This track is a medley of extractions that are often played in the rituals, such as hành quân (army operation), kèn Khắp, and đưa Phật (Buddha greeting).

This is an extract from the Paddana of Koti-Chennaya, a long epic that is popular in Tulunadu. It tells the story of twin heroes Koti and Chennaya, describing their heroic deeds, and finally their deification as daivas (local gods). Selected portions of Koti-Chennaya are sung in different contexts: a) while performing “Agelu Seve” at the shrines of Koti-Chennaya, b) during ritual performances, specifically the annual festival in front of the shrines (Baidarle Nema), c) while tapping toddy from palm trees, d) while transplanting paddy seedlings, d) in the wedding ceremony during the traditional decoration with colors (Madarangi), e) in a satirical theatrical performance called the Purusha Dance, f) during a marriage or funeral ceremony, g) while peeling dry areca nuts, and f) during leisure time for the purpose of relaxation. However, the major portions of the epic are performed during the Baidarle Kola, the ritual performance with Koti and Chennaya as mythical heroes.

According to the census data of 2009, the Thái ethnic minority in Vietnam had a population of about 1.5 million people, making them the third populous group in Vietnam, mostly residing in Sơn La and Điện Biên provinces. Thái people have a rich treasure of folk culture such as myths, poems, hát khắp folk songs, xòe dance, and bamboo pole dance. The tính tẩu is a typical musical instrument of Thái people. The tính tẩu is used to accompany the ritual singing, especially in the Then ceremony of the ethnic minorities like the Thái, Tày, and Nùng. In addition, the tính tẩu is also used to accompany love-exchange songs and the xòe dance of Thái people. The tính tẩu is a plucked stringed instrument made up of a head, neck, resonator, surface, bridge, and strings. The neck and the head are made of a piece of wood with a total length of about eighty to ninety centimeters. There are two tuning pegs. The round and thick resonator is made from the cover of an old gourd. The instrument surface is covered with bamboo. The bridge is a piece of bamboo with grooves for the strings to fall into. The tính tẩu has between two and three strings depending on each region and on musical functions.

CD1_BHAJANS OF NEPALI FOLK CULTURE\n\nA bhajan is a spiritual chant in traditional Nepalese culture that is performed mainly in temples. The lyrics typically recount the good deeds of various gods and goddesses. It is believed that the performance of a bhajan brings about peace and prosperity and an improved quality of life for all living beings. Bhajans of Nepali Folk Culture This CD includes examples from four distinct categories of bhajan, namely Devi Bhajan, Dafa Bhajan, Khainjadi Bhajan, and Usha Charitra Bhajan.

CD2_HISTORICAL RECORDINGS FROM THE 1930S OF ARNOLD BAKE VOL. II: EVERYDAY SONGS\n\nThe recordings by Dutch ethnomusicologist Arnold Adrian Bake in India in the 1930s and later are one of the earliest examples of what may be called “ethnographic” recordings. Arnold Bake and his wife Corrie spent a long time in Bengal but travelled all over India, recording the music, sounds, and other forms of intangible culture of the people. These recordings cover an immense range of music and recitations that are part of people’s everyday lives, such as work songs, devotional pieces, and ritualistic performances, and include a high number of women’s songs and cultural expressions. Bake’s first field trip was in 1925 and his last was in 1955. During that time, he travelled not only to India but also to Nepal and Sri Lanka. Collections of Bake’s recordings are held in archives in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. Recordings from 1925 to 1929 were on cylinders, and those from 1938 to 1939 were recorded on a machine called Tefifon. The collection that has been digitized for this project consists of the recordings made in 1938 and 1939. \n\nThe Tefi recordings were transferred to spools and deposited in ARCE in 1982. During those two years, Bake travelled from Sindh, the Gujarat coast, to Kerala, and thus the recordings are from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala. There are also recordings made in the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Thus, the selections presented on these albums are largely from the Southwest Coast of India. These recordings were chosen because they carry great historical value yet were not easily accessible until now. NB: The titles given by Arnold Bake have been retained. However, in the notes, places and names have been changed to reflect current designations – e.g. Canarese was changed to Kannada. Place names have also been modified to follow current spelling conventions.\n\nEveryday Songs - The everyday lives of people are what make up the core of intangible cultural heritage (ICH). This selection includes rituals, work songs, devotional and religious songs, as well as common songs that express joys and sorrows. In addition to songs, some tracks include cries and noises, reflecting the wide variety of sounds that Bake recorded.

CD6_WOMEN’S VOICES FROM THE MOUNTAINS\n\nThe women performing here are not professional musicians. These songs are part of the everyday life of women. Women’s songs are often work songs sung while grinding, threshing, and pounding, as a way to while away the tedium of long laborious tasks and provide a rhythm as well as companionship. Women play a key role in rituals, singing narratives and ballads as well as life cycle songs for events such as birth, marriage, and death. Wedding songs form a large part of the repertoire of women in India. This important part of the intangible cultural heritage of India is disappearing with urbanization and migration to cities, and with mechanization that takes away the need for grinding and pounding. Moreover, recorded music and television are taking the place of song. Thus, the recording and documentation of these traditions become more important. Namely, recordings of the voices of the woman in the home and in the fields, who carry out the rituals for their families and the gods who protect them, hold immense value. This is a compilation of women’s songs from the foothills of the Himalayas, Kangra in Himachal Pradesh (the “land of the snows”), and from high up in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand (the “northern land”). Though not connected, there are similarities in the themes between the ghasyari songs and khuder of Garhwal and the pakaharu of Kangra. Women sing about their hardships, such as their daily struggles with marriage, absent husbands, and about the friendship among women. These songs do not have any instrumental accompaniment. The songs are from the research conducted by two wo men researchers: Kirin Narayan and Ragini Deshpande. The songs from Kangra are those recorded and collected by Kirin Narayan, who has worked in Kangra, studying women’s songs and stories for many years. The selection presented here is from 1990 to 1991. Ragini Deshpande recorded and collected women’s songs in Chamoli, Garhwal, from 1981 to 1989. As Sangita Devi says quoted by Kiri Narayan, “Everyone can sing, but only when you know pain can you understand the song.”

The northern mountainous regions are the residential land of the Kinh people and twenty-eight out of fifty-four ethnic minorities in Vietnam. This land has diverse forms of folk culture in general and folk music in particular. The CD, Folk Music of Some Ethnic Minorities in the Northern Mountainous Regions of Vietnam introduces some repertoires of folk music that were recorded in 1959 (tracks 1, 2, 5, and 7), in 1964 (tracks 10 and 15) and in 1970 (tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 16) and performed by folk artists from minority ethnic groups, such as Thái, Tày, Nùng, Cao lan, Phù lá, Hmông, of the northern mountainous regions. Although the sound quality of the recordings isn’t that good, the materials will be valuable to history and art researchers and those who love folk music. The recordings allow listeners to compare folk art of a time that was almost isolated with the outside world with folk art of our time—the time of Internet.

Sounds that Run in the Vast Grasslands of Mongolia_Oral Traditions and Performing Arts in Mongolia\n\nSince the early 1950s, the Institute of Language and Literature at the Academy of Science (ILL) has been sending survey teams one to three times a year to research and gather data on oral literature and local dialectics. These activities set the groundwork for officially establishing a new archive with written documents and magnetic audio tapes that could be used for research purposes and be maintained. Preserved on magnetic tapes are languages and dialects that have gone extinct, have lost their distinctiveness, or have been adsorbed into other languages or dialects.\n\nHowever, most of the magnetic tapes being kept at the ILL are more than sixty years old, and the expiration date on many tapes has already lapsed. Also, improper storage conditions have caused some tapes to dry out, cling to one another, or fracture. For these reason, it would be hard to transmit to the next generation. Accordingly, since 2008, efforts have been made towards restoring and digitizing superannuated magnetic tapes within the internal capability and capacity of the ILL. The lack of training, finance, and proper tools and technical equipment has, nevertheless, created several obstacles and the digitizing results have not been very successful.\n\nAt this crucial state, the ILL introduced a cooperative request to the Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage (FPNCH), and the FPNCH proposed that ICHCAP continue the joint project and take measures for restoring and digitizing superannuated magnetic tapes and distributing and disseminating the data among the general public. According to the above decision, the FPNCH and ICHCAP implemented the Joint Cooperation Project of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage by Using Information Technology from October 2011 to April 2012.\n\nAs the first stage of the project, the Expert Meeting for Safeguarding ICH by Using Information Technology was held in the Republic of Korea to exchange information with experts for digitizing and restoring the analogue data. The experts of Mongolian National Public Radio, the ILL, and the FPNCH started the project after sharing restoration and digitization knowledge with the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) of Korea, the National Archives of Korea, and the Korea Film Council.\n\nAs the main outcome of the project, a total of 715 hours of superannuated magnetic tapes including epics, folk tales, tales accompanied by the morin khuur, traditional arts, khuumei, chor, long and short folksongs, and traditional customs were restored, digitized, and categorized. Among them, 128 audio clips were selected and reproduced in a ten-CD collection called Sounds from the Mongolian Grasslands. The collection also includes a twenty-page handbook in English or Korean. Through this project, the general public’s, involved organizations’, and domestic and international experts’ awareness about Mongolian ICH increased, and the archive and music contents of regional ICH were strengthened.

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.

The 2019 Sub-Regional Meeting for Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in South Asia: ICH in Education: Towards Joint Collaboration for Promoting ICH in Formal and Non-Formal Education jointly organized by ICHCAP and UNESCO Dhaka Office, was held from 24 to 26 June 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.\n\nThis report is composed of nineteen presentation papers delivered at the meeting by national representatives, NGOs, and UNESCO Offices in Bangkok and Dhaka. 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.

This Book is the outcomes of the 2021 Expert Meeting for Building Network on Maritime ICH, which is held on 29 October 2021.\n\nThe expert meeting was co-organized by ICHCAP and SPC under the theme of Maritime Living Heritage: Coastal Communities in the Asia-Pacific Region and Their Traditional Food System.\nThis meeting consisted of two sessions with the different approaches to the costal communities and their traditional food system; ecocultural approach and socio-cultural approach. This book contains nine case studies of experts and scholars.

ICHCAP, in collaboration with UNESCO Bangkok Office, held the Intangible Cultural Heritage Webinar Series from June to August 2020 with a total of four sessions. Beginning with the first session discussing the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) during COVID-19, the 23 speakers from 18 countries met with the public to grapple with alternative practices and emergent modes of delivery in various areas such as heritage education in the universities, networking amongst educational institutions for ICH safeguarding, development of ICH curricula in times of crisis, as well as inter-regional cooperation for cross-cultural instruction and learning.\n\nThis collection includes the programs and presentations of all the four sessions of the ICH Webinar Series.

In 2011 and 2012, field surveys were conducted to examine the intellectual property issues that could arise in the process of ICH information building and sharing. The survey was conducted in eleven countries—Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam. The purpose of the surveys was to highlight the IP-related problems that ICH-related organisations may encounter while conducting ICH information–related activities, such as identification, documentation, digitisation, etc., and promoting the groundwork for a guide to protect IP-related aspects of ICH in the process of information building and sharing.