Materials
singers
ICH Materials 151
Publications(Article)
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Small Epics as an Important Element of Oral Epic Creativitiy of the Kyrgyz PeopleThe rich folklore of the Kyrgyz people is an important historical and cultural phenomenon developing over many centuries and spiritually and artistically valuable. As an inexhaustible source of people’s wisdom, it reflects the history, life and social, political and spiritual ideals of the people. The oral folklore is the basis of our unique cultural heritage. Due to the harsh conditions of the nomadic life, endless clashes with enemies and invaders, and long distances of migration, the Kyrgyz people have not preserved their spiritual culture in the stone monuments of architecture, papyrus or clay writings but have preserved it in their memory for more than two thousand years of history. Memory proved to be good enough for keeping millions of lines of epic songs and works, which have been passed from generation to generation and reached the present day.Year2015NationSouth Korea
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Memory and ICH in KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan, a landlocked country the territory of which is more than 94 percent mountainous, is among the most attractive lands located at the heart of Asia on the ancient Silk Road trade routes. The cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz people has been greatly influenced by their nomadic history. Kyrgyz people occupy a unique cultural environment and have a rich ICH. The vitality of this cultural heritage is safeguarded and transmitted from generation to generation as collective memory, orally or through practice and expression.Year2021NationKyrgyzstan
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Masterpieces of Oral Tradition and Expression Kyrgyz Epic HeritageThe oral tradition of the Kyrgyz people is the basis of a unique intangible cultural heritage that reflects Kyrgyz cultural identity. Oral heritage, developed over centuries, depicts the history and culture of the Kyrgyz people. Their creativity has been proven to survive exclusively in an oral form for many generations. This oral tradition represents a unique layer of traditional knowledge, making it a valuable source of cultural and traditional values and evidence of the development of the sociopolitical history of the Kyrgyz people. Kyrgyz oral heritage takes a wide variety of forms, including songs, fairy tales, proverbs, and riddles. These can all be different in terms of content and structure. Depending on the genre, oral tradition can reflect history, legends, fairy tales, or lore, which can be important in educating younger generations about the value of peace, attitudes toward nature and people, and love for the motherland. Many traditional oral works portray the main characters as defenders of their native land, arousing a sense of pride, and also depict the rich nature of the Kyrgyz land, nourishing love for their home. Some elements of oral tradition such as songs and folktales tell the stories or the specificities and peculiarities of the everyday life of Kyrgyz people. Folktales also reflect the esthetic views of the Kyrgyz people and teach us to recognize beauty, rhythm, and skillful use of language.\nYear2020NationKyrgyzstan
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A Festival of Tribal Traditional Craft and Culture in IndiaIndia has been known for centuries for its living heritage, tradition, and culture. The Rajasthan region is especially famous for its rich tribal tradition and craftsmanship. Different tribal groups have carried these traditions on since ancient times as the living heritage of the region. This practice is exemplified by the Aadi-Mahotsav, a three-day festival, which was most recently held in Udaipur from June 14 to 16, 2019. The festival demonstrates a discourse between the region’s tribal artists and the urban population in this cultural jamboree. The festival has earned a special importance in the conservation, exposure, and promotion of tribal traditions. \n\nAadi-Mahotsav is held by Tribal Area Development (TAD) and the Tribal Research Institute (TRI) in partnership with Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandal, Udaipur. The Aadi-Mahotsav starts in Udaipur, Rajasthan, on the second Friday of June and lasts for three days. The festival participants are children from tribal schools governed and run by TAD, tribal artists, craftsmen, musicians, singers, and other carriers of the intangible cultural heritage of Mewar, India, and other nearby villages.\n\nThe festival attracts all kinds of visitors: urban and rural residents, tourists, and collectors, representatives of businesses and cultural organizations, and so on. The festival traditionally opens with a sober procession of all the tribal artists, craftsmen, and participants of the festival in their traditional costumes. The participating artists welcome the distinguished guests at Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandal, the festival venue in Udaipur. More than 400 artisans, craftspeople, and experts from different districts of Rajasthan participated in the festival. \n\nTribal artists and students from tribal schools performed each day in the evening programs, while craftspeople, painters, and traditional healers displayed their tribal and rural products in the craft fair. Various conferences and workshops took place during the festival. These included a conference on arts and crafts for livelihood, as well as demonstrations of traditions, customs, and folk dances within the program framework. In addition, exhibitions and competitions for students like a talent hunt were included. \n\nAt the conferences and roundtables, participants and subject experts discussed the issues related to the current state of tribal culture in the region and in India more widely. Topics included the preservation of intangible cultural heritage, intellectual property rights, regional cooperation in developing the craft market, and cultural and rural tourism. During the festival, the Tribal Co-Operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), an organization under the administrative control of the Indian government’s Ministry of Tribal Affairs, opened a permanent store at Lok Kala Mandal to promote and market tribal/rural traditional produce. \n\nAadi-Mahotsav, which demonstrates the idea of cultural and economic cooperation and harmony, contributes not only to developing tribal traditions, and the cultural and ecological tourism industry in the region but also to helping the tribal population to take active participation in the socio-economic development of India.\n\nPhoto : Aadi-Mahotsav, a three-day festival ⓒ Lokesh PaliwalYear2019NationIndia
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Communities Connecting Heritage: From West Bengal to WashingtonCultural exchange promotes cultural diversity and contributes to cultural sustainability. This was the key learning from the Communities Connecting Heritage (CCH) program supported by the US Department of State and administered by World Learning. Learning Together for a Brighter Future was a collaboration under this program, between banglanatak dot com, an Indian social enterprise working on culture and development, and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH) in Washington DC. Around twenty young cultural professionals from the USA and thirty-one young tradition bearers from the state of West Bengal in eastern India had varied exchanges on art, music, food, lifestyle, and globalization as well as the use of social media in popular culture. The Indian participants included traditional storytellers or patuas, who paint stories on long scrolls and sing them; artists practicing the ancient dokra metal craft; Baul folk singers; and theatre artists. There were also in-person visits to West Bengal and Washington DC by a five-member delegation from each side. The youngsters not only shared photos and videos explaining their culture but also discussed cultural sustainability; virtual workshops were held to develop skills in interviewing and recording, and effective storytelling. Finally, the Indian and American participants paired up to write blogs on shared interests and experiences; the subjects varied from discovering common concerns on raising a child to managing heritage sites. Commonalities were also found in the traditions, for example food items like sopapilla and luchi, and painting traditions like patachitra and retablo.\n\nDuring the CFCH delegation’s tour of West Bengal in February 2018, the Americans met the artists at the World Peace Music Festival Sur Jahan in Kolkata, visited cultural and heritage landmarks, and learned about community-based cultural industries. They also participated in a round table on heritage education for youth and an exhibition titled Through the Eyes of Young Americans that summed up their experience. From June to July 2018, the Indian delegation visited Washington DC. The city’s vivid cosmopolitan character, a mind-boggling array of cuisines, and a stunning nightlife mesmerized them. Engagement of community and the larger public in a weekend drum circle, weekly jazz concerts, DC Alley Museum, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival left a deep impression. The patuas painted a scroll on the story of rights campaigns at the National Mall; the audience loved it and the song narrating the story. On 13 August 2018, a webinar was held to share the participants’ experiences and insights. As the program drew to a close, it had succeeded in bringing the multicultural roots and ethos of America to the young Indians’ hearts and sensitized the young Americans about Bengal’s cultural traditions. For detailed information, please check the webinar below and the event’s blog.\n\nPhoto 1 : Learning scroll painting at Patua village ⓒ banglanatakdotcom\nPhoto 2 : Bauls discussing music on the move with Catalonian musicians ⓒ banglanatakdotcom\nPhoto 3 : Indian team at the Lincoln Memorial in the USA ⓒ banglanatakdotcomYear2018NationIndia
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Online BharatanatyamBharatanatyam is the oldest classical dance traditions among the eight classical dances of India. It has its origin in the southern parts of the country. The art form has its beginning as a temple tradition and later evolved on to the proscenium stages. The history of Bharatanatyam is as vibrant as the cultural traditions of south India, especially Tamil Nadu. The sculpture, fine arts, music, and every other art tradition is interlinked with this age-old art form which successfully retains its significance until today.\n\nTraditional Bharatanatyam follows a seven-part presentation, which is called margam. The art form generally includes a solo dancer and musicians along with on or more singers. The music and vocal performance and the dance movements trace back to the ancient Natya Shastra, and many other Sanskrit and Tamil texts.\n\nThe solo Bharatanatyam dancer wears a dress that resembles a Tamil Hindu bridal attire. She wears a brightly colored sari, specially designed for the dance to accommodate the dancer’s movements. Her body is also adorned with jewelry—on her ears, nose, and neck that outlines her hair.\n\nGiven our current situation with COVID, much of world is going digital, and performing arts are also adapting. However, online Bharatanatyam sessions are offered by Aiswarya Lakshmi. The sessions allow participants to have a similar learning experience from a mentor or teacher. Having gotten her Bharatanatyam training from the prestigious Kalakshetra Foundation, India, her sessions follow the dancing and teaching methods of the school. The focus on the Bharatanatyam vocabulary and basics of dance textual traditions will sculpt a participant into an artist themselves and a better connoisseur of classical Indian arts.\n\nFor further information, send Aiswarya Lakshmi a message at lakshmi.aiswaryaa@gmail.com\n\nPhoto 1 : Dear All, Image courtesy of Prateeba Mayuran, Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer, Dance photographer, Chennai, India\nPhoto 2 : Handful of Flowers, Image courtesy of Prateeba Mayuran, Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer, Dance photographer, Chennai, IndiaYear2021NationIndia
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Ganggangsullae Public Event, a Play under the MoonlightThe Ganggangsullae public event was held on the morning of May 22 at Unrimsanbang Square in Jindo-gun. Ganggangsullae, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and Korea’s National ICH, presents performances to the general public every year, sponsored by the National Intangible Heritage Center and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation. Ganggangsullae bearers and the members of the preservation committee performed at the event.\n\nGanggangsullae is a song, a dance, and a game. The basic composition of the song is that the lead singer sings the chant, followed by a group of people singing ‘ganggangsullae’. It was important to sing with good lyrics. Sometimes the singers quoted lyrics from pansori and folk songs, but also wrote lyrics about what he/she saw and experienced in his/her daily life. A good lead singer was so important that he/she was called from various villages during the Ganggangsullae season.\n\nThe basic dance with singing is to go round and round in a circle. Start by holding hands with the people on either side and skipping counterclockwise in a circle. Sometimes a person enters a circle and dances, forming several small circles, straight lines, and curves.\n\nThe exciting dance soon leads to play. The formation is moved between the round ganggangsullae, which is called sullaenori. Ganggangsullae and sullaenori together are called ganggangsullae.1. The game encourages the spectators to make a louder sound, and the yard is filled with people’s excitement through the round circles made by joining hands.\n\nTherefore, Ganggangsullae can be called a festival in name and reality. A big festival was held on the full moon in January, Baekjung in July and Chuseok in August, centering on the Southwest Sea coast, and a crowd of young people from the village led the game of Ganggangsullae. It was mainly led by women, but men and women performed together.\n\nPeople gathered in the yard of the wealthy noble men, the sandy beach, and the riverside sand. The villages were officially united to play, and there were people who climbed the mountain and crossed over to visit other villages. Ganggangsullae was a festival that excited young people to the point where they went on an expedition by hiking at night.\n\nPlay induces improvisation. In the past, there was no set order, nor formation, and people played however they wanted to play. Every little thing that they saw and experienced in their daily life became the lyrics of a song, and it became a song by adding melodies. The lyrics to sing along were different for each region. In this village, it was called ‘Ganggangsullae’, while in other villages it was called ‘Ugwangganggangsullae’, ‘ganggangdosullae’, ‘sullaeyaha’, and ‘gwanggwangsullae’.\n\nHolding hands can only be accomplished with someone else. The same goes for dancing and playing to the beat. In Ganggangsullae, a person can experience becoming a member of a community. Because we played together between people, generations, and villages, the things that were there and those that didn’t exist flowed and mixed with ease. It can be inferred that ‘Ganggangsullae’, which everyone sings together, has the power to give diversity and a sense of belonging.\n\nPicture 1: Ganggangsullae © Daejeon Metropolitan City, Korea Open Government License Type 1, Source\nPicture 2: Ganggangsullae of Haeundae Daeboreum © Busan Metropolitan City, Korea Open Government License Type 1. SourceYear2022NationSouth Korea
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CELEBRATING ART AND EMPOWERMENTBanglanatak dot com is a social enterprise working with a mission to foster pro-poor growth using culture-based approaches. The Art for Life (AFL) initiative of the organization has led to socio-economic empowerment of 4500 folk artists in two eastern Indian states, West Bengal and Bihar. AFL aims at revitalizing traditional skills in arts and crafts by using these skills to augment livelihood opportunities and develop creative enterprise. The organization has worked with traditional folk singers, dancers, theater groups, painters, and artisans to revitalize their skills. Textual and audio-visual documentation aimed at safeguarding and promoting living heritage have also been undertaken.Year2013NationSouth Korea
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BAKHSHI ART FESTIVAL TO REVIVE SILK ROAD CULTUREA wide range of festivals are held in Uzbekistan to generate public interest in intangible cultural heritage. This includes the recent International Bakhshi Art Festival, which was held for a week from 5 April in the ancient city of Termez. Bakhshi is a multi-genre art form that brings together singers, musicians, and performers of Doston, a Central Asian oral epic. Teams from seventy-five countries took part in this festival, which featured not only a wide range of performances but also an enlightening international conference.Year2019NationSouth Korea
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Dondang SayangDondang Sayang is a Malay traditional music and song that is well-known in the State of Malacca and still practised by four communities such as the Malay, Baba Nyonya, Chitty and Portuguese. The performances are accompanied by violin, rebana, gong and accordion and sing by two singers of the opposite sex, who sing in quatrains. It has received UNESCO’s recognition as a Representative List of The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 29th November 2018.YearNationMalaysia
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Quan họ Bắc Ninh folk songsQuan họ Bắc Ninh folk songs that have been created and supplemented for generations, are alternating response songs between male and female singers who have resided on the two banks of the Cầu River in ancient Kinh Bắc region.\nOn September 30th, 2009, Quan họ Bắc Ninh folk songs were inscribedon the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the Intergovernmental Committee for 2013 UNESCO Convention on Safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, taken place in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.\nYearNationViet Nam
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Pala Gaan: A Popular Traditional Bangladeshi Performing Art FormPerformed by singers in rural areas of the greater Mymensigh region and greater Dhaka region, Pala Gaan is a theatrical experimentation using a combination of indigenous references and timely rhetoric. Typically the shows begin with Guru Bandana (an artistic expression of showing respect to God and then to the mentor from whom the Bayati learned the performance). It is followed by Ashon Bandana (an artistic expression that pays tribute to the audience).\n\nThe lead singer of Pala Gaan is called bayati, who narrates stories, tales, and legends through music incorporating dance and dialogues. After a short musical prelude, the bayati starts narrating the tale. A group of choristers helps the bayati in the entire performance. During the narration, the bayati enacts different characters such as king, queen, prince, rural maiden, ghost, and animal using limited props. Pillow and scarf are typically seen as the props used by the bayati. Dohar, a member of the choir, helps the bayati by giving cues during the act. In an open stage performance, the bayati singer takes the center of the stage while the choir sits aside.\n\nIn Pala Gaan, the narrative is thickened by improvisation to make it relatable, giving the audience a time to think through it. As a result, a tale may have multiple versions depending on the taste of who performs it. Though ancient texts are central to Pala Gaan narratives, serious issues such as love, position of women in a patriarchal society, discrimination, and oppression can also be addressed. And when a show is held for an urban audience, urban issues, even the ones taken from global politics, can also be artistically twisted. Charming narrations and realistic portrayals of characters are special features of Pala Gaan, enriching the use of dialects and folk rhythms.\n\nPhoto : Islamuddin Palakar from Mymensingh, presents a Pala Gaan © Mumit MYear2017NationBangladesh