Stakeholders
song
ICH Stakeholders 4
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Gandharba Community
Bhansar Village in the Tanahun District, 140 kilometers west of Kathmandu, is home to the Gandharba Community, a musician caste of Nepal. The community is made up of 26 Gandharba houses and 150 residents. Nepal has a few musician castes that use song and music as their hereditary occupation. The Gandharba’s uniqueness comes from their use of the sarangi, a four-string instrument played with a bow, and their broad repertoire of songs. For centuries, the Gandharba played the sarangi as a tradition and profession. As a consequence of relying on the instrument for their livelihood, they were able to preserve their culture, art, and heritage since ancient times. The Gandharba musicians traveled throughout the country playing their music, and through their music, they sang messages of the people and kings and about heroic deeds. The Gandharba musicians were messengers of the nation. In fact, in many ways they still are, as they are the only conveyors of news and messages from times long past.\nIn Bhansar, people have their own culture, rituals, traditions, and lifestyles, with the majority of adult men relying on making and selling sarangi. In addition to selling instrument to locals and foreigners, they also seek out opportunities to perform. The elder men still wander from place to place trying to make a living as well as spreading the news and stories of the past. Other men of the younger generation make a living by singing on highway buses to entertain the passengers. However, the most interesting aspect of this village community is the creative thought and work of the Gandharba women.
Nepal -
Buryat Ethnic Group
Yohor, a singing round dance of the Buryat ethnic group in Mongolia, the Buryat Republic of the Russian Federation, and the People’s Republic of China (Shineheen Buryats), is a complex synchronized expression of poetry, melody, and movement. Yohor is performed in the traditional manner with vocal singing and the modern way with playback music. Elders generally opt for the traditional way and have rich repertoire on Yohor songs. They say that the old way of singing is very important in the traditional way of dancing Yohor and that song can also affect the way of dancing.\nthe Yohor dance reflects a cultural uniqueness and a unity of Buryat people in three countries. Separated because of a long history and complicated political situations, Buryat people’s culture, tradition, and language changed. The Buryat language, an official dialect of Mongolian, has already been included in the category of severely endangered languages by the 2010 UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. With this language loss, the number of elders who know the song narratives and old Yohor song repertoire are decreasing, and this brings the Yohor dance under the risk of disappearance as its complexity of song and movements but also of language. The annual and biennial cultural festivals, such as Altargana, Yohor, Night Yohor, and Global Yohor, show how Buryats have been trying to revive the traditional culture and art for long time. Even though, the collective memory and living experience of Buryat people is under the risk of disappearance due to rapid modernization and globalization with language loss.
Mongolia
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CAMBODIA LIVING ARTS
In 1998, Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) began working in the country with a mission to revive and develop traditional arts. Today, our aims have broadened—CLA operates as a cultural agency supporting the development of the arts sector, from education, to policy, cultural exchange, and festivals. We have two centers, one in Phnom Penh, from which we operate national programs and have a strong focus on leadership and creativity. Our second center is in Siem Reap, and we position this as the Heritage Hub.\nThe Heritage Hub is a center for the practice, research, and development of Cambodia’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). It works together with all our other programs to ensure there is always a dimension related to ICH. Its aim is to support the continuity of Cambodia’s artistic and cultural heritage, a theme that cuts across all of our work. The Heritage Hub is based in Siem Reap because of the area’s rich history of artistry and the depth of knowledge held by the many traditional musicians and cultural experts living in the province. Siem Reap is well-known as a city of immense tangible heritage because of Angkor Wat, but its intangible heritage is sometimes forgotten.
Cambodia -
Prabartana
Prabartana is a social enterprise, working since 1986 with the artisans related to handloom for market linkage and revival of Tangail Taant shaari. The organisation provides training to the weavers with improved technical enhancement like documentation of pattern in computer instead of manual style of Jacquard patter design. As a safeguarding action they are involved in artisans’ exhibition and workshop for cultural exchange, audio-visual documentations and publications of books, social media based promotions and audience development with the use of website, webpage, newspaper articles and festival relevant brochures. Resource mobilisation is done through individual investments and collaborations with Government organisations for tourism and craft. The initiatives have helped ICH practitioners to acquire skills and enhance livelihood opportunities. Most of the beneficiaries are women from the marginalized communities living in the remote villages. They are now working for the revival several near lost performing folk art forms like Banbibir Pot (Sundarban), Chunaibibir Gaan (Chittagong), Song Jatra (Tangail), Meyeli Geet (Tangail, Kishorganj & Mymensingh) and Alkap (Chapai). They are also working on the crafts and musical instruments of Monipuri community.
Bangladesh