Materials
silver
ICH Materials 162
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Songket: Each Thread Embodies Passion
Songket is Malaysia’s traditional gold thread textile technique that creates certain motifs with gold threads woven into plain weaves. Alam Melayu, which is found in the songket pattern and refers to the concept of the Malay world, represents not only beauty but also a symbol of Malay identity and pride.\n\nThe process requires great dedication and absolute precision, while aesthetic beauty and weaving artistry represent a priceless legacy of the Malay community. This video shares the stories and thoughts of a scholar with decades of experience exploring Malay textiles, as well as a songket artisan and a business owner.
Malaysia 2019 -
Benediction
Benediction is a powerful expression of the miraculous capacity of words. It is one of the genres of Mongolian oral poetry that uses melodies. Benedictions propitiate people’s future happiness and well-being through skillfully composed and recited poems. It is unique in a way that minstrels sing the benediction completely from memory, and also by adding their own versions of words or improvising totally new verses to fit particular situations or events. By the invitation of people, a person who knows the order of feast and ceremonies well and mastered in the benediction and its melody says the benediction with use of the holly silk scarf, milk in the silver bowl, and Airag in bowl. The benediction is oral poetry which contains a beginning, main part and ending part.
Mongolia -
Circular breathing technique of the Limbe performance
The Limbe is a side-blown wind instrument, mostly made of hard wood or bamboo. It is considered as one of the valuable traditional musical instruments among Mongolians for its unique technique and characteristics such as hidden tune associated with circular breathing, and its performing techniques of skilful and delicate movements of fingers and tongue. The "Circular breathing" is a great achievement of nomadic Mongolians derived from their creativity, result of the exploration and necessity of their daily life. The origin and development of circular breathing is closely bound up with the skills and knowledge of ancient craftsmen or metalsmiths who specialized in gold and silver. Early Mongolian craftsmen used circular breathing techniques for crafting various decorative and ornamental items including valuable jewelleries.
Mongolia -
Gong Boun
The Gong khle or Gong Boun (four gongs) is a traditional instrument of the indigenous people, Bunoong living in Mondulkiri province. This instrument is performed for the purpose of entertaining during festivals or other occasions in indigenous villages. This form is in danger due to the lack of transmission. In response to the current situation, the Provincial Department of Culture and Fine Arts has been implementing a number of activities to support the promotion of indigenous peoples’ culture living in Mondulkiri. \nThe instrument is made of copper mixed with silver with a specific measure by the experts. These musical instruments are inherited from their ancestors and they do not know whether other indigenous groups play these instruments. Today, they cannot afford to produce it themselves.\n
Cambodia 2022
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Chal Rupa burasa
This song is a Ghasyari geet, which women sing while they cut grass. The lyrics here describe the burasa, which is the rhododendron. A girl calls out to her friend Rupa, who wants to become a rhododendron, fly away like a bird, or hide in the sky. It describes the Himalayas clad in silver snows, casting dappled shadows. It talks of the sorrows of the Ghasyaris whose hearts are sad and whose eyes are always thirsty. Ghasyari songs are often sad and yearn for an absent husband or lover. Recorded and collected by Ragini S. Deshpande
India 1983 -
Seeking for loyal friend
Mister Lữ goes fishing in the afternoon\nBut then the crocodile suddenly took him away\nIt is easier to find silver and gold\nBut to find a meaningful bond is rarer than most\n\nLullabies (Ru) within the family environment has a hypnotising function, where it's used to ease the child into sleeping. Southern Vietnam (Nam bộ) lullabies was formed and sustained through the many layers of Nam bộ culture. The environmental ecosystem and culture have given it a distinctive form that is expressed through lyrics, melodies, and rhytms.
Viet Nam October, 2021
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THE METALLIC THREAD OF MALAY EMBROIDERYHistorically, Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula) was known as the Golden Chersonese, and in the past, Malay populations lived in riverine and coastal settlements, which were some of the most important trading hubs in Southeast Asia. The Malay maritime empire was once a large kingdom, stretching from the coast of Vietnam and Cambodia to Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra, Riau, Sulawesi, and Southern Philippines. Across the Malay-speaking world, fabrics embellished with gold were for the rich and powerful, such as the ruler of the kingdom. Besides the golden fabric, songket, Malay embroideries were mostly used by nobility and royals. In the fifteenth century, the Melaka Sultanate instituted sumptuary laws governing the types of ornaments and colors for interior and soft furnishings, such as curtain fringes, bolster ends, cushions, prayer mats and other items. Across the Malay world, the numbers of dais, bolsters, and layers of siting mats, were associated with a certain hierarchy, varying across the regions.Year2018NationSouth Korea
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Uzbek Culture and Traditions Associated with ChildbirthThe customs and rituals associated with childbirth and the period of chilla (forty days after childbirth) constitute the oldest layer of family and everyday rituals of Central Asians. Rites and traditions related to the birth of a child, along with the ancient mythical and magical beliefs, are still followed with the help of ancestors.\n\nFrom the first days of a child’s life, a sense of loyalty to the family and parents is of great importance and is observed in a number of customs and superstitions after the birth of a child in Uzbekistan.\n\nFeeding. Particular importance is attached to the first feeding of the child; it is associated with a number of customs and beliefs. Immediately after the birth, the mother feeds the child with colostrum, which is considered the most useful for the baby.\n\nFeeding newborn baby should start by applying the child to mother’s right breast so that the child would become right-handed. If a mother’s milk was a lot, she would not be allowed to speak about it to protect from jinx. If a mother had to pump extra milk, it could not be poured into a dirty place or place where animals could reach, to avoid the disappearance of mother’s milk.\n\nBabies are usually fed in a cradle, and mothers do not feed their child in the presence of her father-in-law or other male relatives of the husband. In general, to bare breasts for feeding even before women in daylight is not permitted because it was believed that breast milk could be lost.\n\nAzan. One of the important customs and traditions of the Uzbeks associated with the birth of a child is reading azan by old people in the presence of the child’s father and grandfather immediately (or after some time) after the birth of the child to his right ear and reading Ikamah to the left. This ritual is very important because sacred words should be the first to reach the hearing of the baby. Azan can be spoken by the child’s grandfather, father, or an adult Muslim. The child’s name must also be pronounced in the right ear during this ceremony. It is believed that after the azan, the child’s perception of sounds begins to function.\n\nBeshik to’y. In Uzbek families, the birth of a new child is always a great event that is always accompanied by a beautiful ritual—beshik to’y (the first laying of the baby in his own cradle). This event is usually conducted on the seventh, ninth, eleventh, or fortieth day from the birth. On this day, the relatives of the mother bring a cradle (beshik) with necessary accessories as well as traditional cakes, sweets, and numerous toys for the new child. All gifts are wrapped in a festive tablecloth (dastarkhan). Men are not allowed to attend; this is a purely women’s gathering. The sounds of traditional folk instruments (karnay, surnay, and drum) begin the celebration. Guests congratulate each other at the festive table. In a separate room, the young mother surrounded by aunts learns the first swaddling and placing the baby in the cradle.\n\nUnder the baby’s pillow, a knife (wishing to be brave) and a piece of bread (wishing to be provided with bread during his life) are put before the baby is put in the cradle. While the mother was nursing her baby, she is given bread, and this bread is taken by children around her. Various sweets were scattered next to the cradle, and the children eat them with the intention that the newborn’s life will be sweet and abundant.\n\nAqiqa. One of the most important traditions in Uzbekistan as a sign of gratitude to the Lord for the newborn child, it is desirable, if there is a material opportunity, to sacrifice a sheep. As mentioned in holy hadith, the sacrifice is best made on the seventh day after birth. The meat of al-‘akyq is distributed as follows: part is used by the parents, who sacrificed the animal, part is distributed as a charity, and the rest is shared among relatives.\n\nHair cutting. On the seventh day after the birth, it is desirable (according to Sunnah) to shave the child’s head. After that, hair should be weighed and corresponding to the weight of the hair amount, the silver is given as alms to the poor and needy people. Shaving the head strengthens the hair and scalp and improves vision, smell, and hearing, and the distribution of alms (sadaqah) helps support those in need; this is a manifestation of social solidarity among Muslims.\n\nAll the rituals and traditions related to childbirth in Uzbekistan are of paramount importance for a child to become a perfect person.\n\nPhoto 1 : Uzbek tradition associated with childbirth ⓒ Nosirbek Yusupov\nPhoto 2 : Uzbek tradition associated with childbirth ⓒ Nosirbek Yusupov\nPhoto 3 : Uzbek tradition associated with childbirth ⓒ Nosirbek YusupovYear2019NationUzbekistan