Among the Newa community, Tamrakars are one of such communities, who follow Buddhism. Gunla is one of many festivals celebrated in Kathmandu valley. It is the tenth month in Nepal Sambat lunar calendar, in which devotees from all around Kathmandu valley visit Swayambhu Stupa that is also one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The festival of Gunla last for one whole month. In addition to this, devotees also take a visit to different Buddhist courtyards called Baha-bahi and other stupas and chaityas. The devotees in the process recite Holy Scriptures and play devotional gunla music. Music groups from different communities take part in the procession. Like other numerous communities, Tamrakar community also has the musical group named “Tamrakar Gunla Baajan Khala” who have been taking part in playing gunla music and reciting Holy Scriptures from time immemorial.

The Rai communities of the eastern hills of Nepal celebrate the Siruwat festival during April and May, on the Nepali first full moon day of the year. Siruwat is celebrated to mark the season of plantation, also called dhule puja, which means worshiping the earth or soil. It is believed that the deities travel to the Himalayas after they are worshiped to avoid the summer. The festival is also called Ubhauli, referring to deities’ movement towards the upper hills/Himalayas. Every Rai household practices this ritual. Deities are offered eggs, alcohol, chicken, water, and freshly harvested rice. There is a belief that if people do not perform this ritual, they will get sick and go mad. Therefore, even people who live far away or are traveling make efforts to return to their village to perform this ritual.

The Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies (IPNGS) was established under the Cultural Development Act, passed by the Papua New Guinea House of Assembly on 14 October 1974. Papua New Guinea had become self-governing from Australia almost a year earlier, but independence was still about another year in the future. Today IPNGS is a national cultural institution under the National Cultural Commission Act. It moved to its present location towards the end of 1976. The distinctive welded sculptures on the outside walls and gates depict the Orokolo story of Aru Aru and his journey to the moon, as told by Sir Albert Maori Kiki.\nAlthough laws, governments, ministries, and even the location of the Institute have changed over the past four decades, the main focus has remained constant: the documentation, archiving, and promotion of Papua New Guinea cultures. Overseen by the Director, IPNGS is divided into departments for its present three main functions: Music (5 staff), Ethnology (3), Literature (1). There are also two staff in administration, and five casual workers. nResearch staff members under take research in villages and towns, or at festivals. Such research might be on specific topics, such as clan origin stories or the variety of dances performed at a particular festival, or more general survey work, such as documenting musical traditions in a particular village. While the primary focus is on traditional expressions, attention is also given to more recently developed expressions of culture, such as those performed in church or as part of widespread popular forms.\nThe Ethnology Department is responsible for documenting the many myths, legends, and other oral traditions found in the country. Publications have been produced in English as well as local languages, both to promote the maintenance of this important body of knowledge and to encourage vernacular literacy.\nFor many years, the Literature section was responsible for promoting creative writing, especially through the running of the annual National Literature Competition. Many submissions were made for categories such as novels, short stories, poetry, radio plays, essays, etc. The results appeared in our journals such as Gigibori, Bikmaus, and Sope, or as separate publications. We hope to revive the National Literature Competition in the near future.\nIPNGS Music Department has strived to develop its music archive to reflect all music-related research that has been done in the country. Although the collection can always be expanded, to a large extent this goal has been achieved.\nThe Music Archive presently contains about 12,000 hours of recordings on reels of tape, cassettes, discs, films, videos, CDs, and DVDs, with over 10,000 photos and 4,000 books, articles, and theses. These materials are a mixture of things collected by IPNGS staff, other researchers, commercially produced items, and historical recordings of PNG music from other archives around the world.\nAs with the other sections of the IPNGS, the Music Department has issued numerous publications. Presently, there is a series of cassette and disc recordings, a monograph series (Apwitihire), and a journal (Kulele). Our publications are widely used in the school system and have been well received overseas.\nIn total, IPNGS has produced about 250 publications, printed, audio, and films/videos. It has also played an important role in making materials published in languages such as German, Japanese, and local languages accessible through translations in to English or Tok Pisin.

\nThe Finnish Folk Music Institute Is a Centre for the Research and Presentation of Finnish Folk Music and Dance. Its premises are in the Folk Art Centre at Kaustinen, Central Ostrobothnia. The extensive archive and reference library are accessible for any user. The material consists of audio and video recordings, photos, literature and a newspaper clipping collection of over 100 000 pieces.\nThe Folk Music Institute is also a significant publisher: the album collection features archive collections as well as contemporary folk music, and the range of books consists of sheet music and scientific publication from the field of folk music and tradition.\nFinnish Folk Music Institute supports Finnish folk music and folk dance communities in safeguarding their intangible cultural heritage by: documenting living folk music and dance traditions; publishing recordings, books and notes on Finnish folk music, educating children in folk music and ICH; educating academic folk music students, advancing research of folk music and dance; participating in organizing the biggest folk music and dance festival in Finland; networking nationally and internationally with other folk music and heritage organizations; and promoting the interests of folk music and ICH in national cultural politic.

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Art Council of Mongolia, Culture Naadam Project

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, 2016 Navruz is celebrated in Iranian cultures such as Tajikistan. As it is a happy festive day to welcome the spring after the long winter, the children enjoy various games. This video shows the children at play. Girls wear traditional Tajik costumes, and boys wear formal clothes while playing games like pebꠓble tossing and catching, kite flying, stick tossing, skipping rope, hacky sack, arm wrestling, swinging, breaking eggs. They also sing, allowing viewers to also feel cheerfulness of a festive day and become quite comfortable.\nLabchang, a musical instrument known from ancient times, received its name because it is placed between the lips and is played by a finger. Some old people in a few areas of Tajikistan continue to play labchang, so the art of playing has almost disappeared. The young generation generally doesn’t even now about the instrument. This film is dedicated to the methods of play on various types of labchangs in different parts of Tajikistan.\nVarious dance forms are performed in relation to nature throughout Tajikistan. The dances are varied, mainly having an imitating character. Performed by folk artists, the dances are transferred from generation to generation. Some of the rare dances are gone with their performers. The Pamiri people perform a rare mourning dance that is currently performed only in Bartang Valley and is on the verge of disappearances. Other dance forms are being revived day by day.

The Kaiui—also known as fui or be’u in different regions—is a traditional bamboo flute of Timor-Leste, cherished for its gentle, evocative sound that once echoed across rice fields, hilltops, and quiet village evenings. Long associated with solitude, emotional expression, and storytelling, the Kaiui is more than just a musical instrument—it is a vessel of memory and connection.\n\nTraditionally crafted from au-fafulu, a specific type of bamboo, the Kaiui features seven tone holes and is often about the length of a forearm. A key part of its design is the use of a corn cob or similar material to block part of the internal chamber, modifying the flow of air and shaping the distinctive tone. The player blows across the top opening while controlling the pitch with their fingers, producing melodies that are haunting, meditative, and subtly expressive.\n\nFor generations, the Kaiui was used by boys tending livestock in the fields, especially in the early mornings or during midday rest. It was played to pass the time, soothe animals, or simply to ease loneliness. Others used it to express feelings of longing—especially in matters of love, separation, or remembrance. In many communities, the flute is considered a deeply personal instrument, capable of giving voice to emotions that are otherwise difficult to speak.\n\nThe art of playing Kaiui is learned informally, typically by observing and mimicking older siblings, parents, or elders. There is no standard notation; the music lives through imitation, memory, and improvisation. Songs vary from region to region and even from player to player, with some tunes tied to seasonal rhythms or traditional events like sau-batar (harvest ceremonies) or rites of passage.\n\nThe Kaiui also plays a role in certain rituals and ceremonies, where its sound is believed to create a space of calm, welcome ancestral spirits, or accompany reflective moments. Its simple construction and natural materials reflect a worldview grounded in harmony with the environment—a flute made entirely from what the land provides, played under the open sky.\n\nToday, however, the practice of making and playing the Kaiui is increasingly rare. As younger generations turn to electronic music and imported instruments, the quiet music of the bamboo flute is fading from everyday life. In some communities, it survives primarily as a cultural demonstration during festivals or heritage programs.\n\nEfforts to preserve the Kaiui are now underway through workshops, school projects, and intergenerational exchanges. In these spaces, the flute is not only played but celebrated—as a living symbol of Timor-Leste’s musical heritage and a gentle reminder of how sound, memory, and identity are woven together in the simplest of forms.

DVD2_NEPAL'S HEREDITARY MUSICIAN CASTES\n\nThe four hereditary musician castes of Nepal are Damai, Gandharba, Kapali, and Badi. The most visible of these are the Damai and the Gandharba musicians. The Kapali are temple musicians and the Badi are drum makers. Damai are required to play for the goddess of the ruling class and also to play at all types of ceremonies and rites of passage, such as weddings and Bratabhandha. They perform in a group known as a panchai baajaa, which is composed of nine musicians playing seven different musical instruments representing the five universal elements of earth, water, fire, air, and sky, of which all matter and living things are composed. The tyamko represents earth, the damaha represents water, the jhurma represents fire, the dholaki represents air, and the narasingaa, sahane, and karnal represent the sky. Panchai baajaa music is believed to keep the elements in balance and harmony and to result in therapeutic musical healing. The Gandharba or Gaine caste musicians traditionally travel from village to village and door to door singing bhajan (hymns), songs from the great Hindu epics, and karkha (historical songs of heroes and bravery), but also bring news. They accompany themselves by playing saarangi.

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

This is a kirtana in six beats. The lyrics, Tulasī-dalamūlacē santōṣamuga, translated from Telugu mean “I worshipped you with tulasī leaves, Śrī Rāma.” The first track is an extended performance in the important, traditional and popular rāga māyamālavagauḷa, which is traditionally the rāga in which beginners learn their scales and other technical exercises. It is a subtle rāga whose notes do not take much oscillation without spoiling the mood and identity of the rāga. As is the way with the periya mēḷam tradition, this performance starts with the tavil player followed by the nāgasvaram player exploring the rāga in an extended improvisation. It’s important to note that, though the drummer plays along with the nāgasvaram player, the latter plays completely unmetered melodic passages. This juxtaposition of metered and unmetered playing is an aspect almost unique to the periya mēḷam, though singers and other instrumentalists sometimes indulge in this. At the Navaratri music festival in Trivandrum, in particular, singers and players of melodic instruments are required to perform ālāpana with a drummer.

Jagar, from the word jag, means “awake” or “awoken.” Those who sing jagars are Jagariyas. Jagars are akin to ballads and come in many different forms that exist in many parts of India. Their purpose is to wake up deities. The spirits of gods and deities are invoked by singing about them, their deeds and exploits, and by asking for blessings and favors. The Nanda Devi jagar is a religious narrative associated with the Nanda Devi pilgrimage. The pilgrimage of Nanda Devi happens every few decades when the idol of Nanda Devi is carried in a palanquin to her husband Shiva’s abode. This pilgrimage entails a long and arduous journey through a rough terrain and fields of snow. The Hindu goddess Nanda Devi is worshiped in the former Western Himalayan kingdoms of Garhwal and Kumaon, which together make up the modern Indian state of Uttarakhand. During Nanda Devi’s annual festival, in the Hindu months of Bhadrapad and Shravan, her songs are sung by women throughout the state. The jagar of Nanda Devi is an example of a religious ballad that lasts for several hours and can go on through the night. This extract is the very beginning of a commissioned recording made by William Sax in 1981. The original version is six hours long. The performers are the women of Nauti village, District Chamoli, Garhwal, Uttarakhand. This initial part is a local cosmogony in which female forces and goddesses play the major roles, and are summoned. They are followed by the story of the goddess Nanda, a local version of the myth of the goddess Parvati.

CD4_FOLK MELODIES OF NEPAL\n\nIt has been estimated that Nepal's repertoire of folk melodies once numbered more than sixty thousand. The country’s landscape features rivers, hills, mountains, plains, and streams, as well as an extremely rich flora and fauna, which have all inspired Nepal's folk musicians. In the past, communities were more isolated from one another due to the difficult terrain and the lack of roads and transport. Thus, every small village developed its own melodies. For example, it is said that the call of the bharedwaja bird inspired at least 128 different rhythms.

CD9_KARTATAK CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC – NAGASWARAM PERFORMANCE BY KOTTUR RAJRATHNAM PILLAI\n\nKottur N. Rajarathnam is a master of the south Indian conical-shaped reedpipe with a double reed known as the n ā gasvaram (Sanskrit; Tamil spelling: n ā kacuram ) or n ā dasvaram . He leads an ensemble of musicians known as periya m ēḷ am (Tamil, “the big ensemble”), which for centuries has been producing auspicious music ideal for offering to the gods and for enabling a joyous ambiance at weddings and other important life-cycle events. Indeed, at weddings and the events surrounding the actual wedding ceremony, the periya mēḷam is expected to accompany women who sing traditional songs for the each stage of the wedding. The ensemble is at its best when performing at night on the streets surrounding the major temples, as the instruments are ideal for an outdoor setting. Temple musicians and a visiting ensemble often perform as part of temple activities and all-night street processions, and indoors for concerts and at weddings and other life-cycle events. \n\nPlayers carefully modulate their tone to suit the acoustics of indoor spaces. Accompanying Kottur Rajarathnam is a second nāgasvaram player, shadowing his playing and helping to maintain the continuity of the performance. He is a skilled master drummer, who plays the tavil (sometimes known as tavul ). He plays this double-skin barrel drum with a beater in the left hand and the four fingertips of the right hand covered by thimbles, producing a characteristically bright, sharply percussive range of sounds. The tavil matches the nāgasvaram in brightness of sound, volume, and penetrating tone. The t āḻ am (small hand cymbals made of bell metal) marks the rhythmic cycle being performed and a free-reed bellowspumped drone box, the curutipe ṭṭ i (Tamil, “drone box”), produces the necessary tonal reference for the nāgasvaram. Since the mid-twentieth century, the instrumentation of the periya mēḷam has undergone changes. Perhaps most significantly, the pitch of the nāgasvaram and of the tavil has been lowered. The nāgasvaram and tavil became larger to produce a deeper sound. In this recording, Kottur Rajarathnam and his ensemble play four rāgas, including four kirtanas (a devotional song genre) and three kinds of improvisation characteristic of Karṇāṭak music. Improvisation in Karṇāṭak music can be understood as unmetered melodic improvisation and as metered improvisation following the performance of the compositions. The unmetered improvisation heard here is known as ā l ā pana (Sanskrit, “conversation”) and is unmetered melodic exploration of a rāga. The two kinds of metered improvisation heard here are svara kalpana (“note imagination”) and tavil solo improvisation. Svara kalpana is played after the composition has been concluded. It consists of sequential passages of svara (“note”) playing that develop from short, relatively slow passages to longer passages at faster speeds. Though they might not all start from the same position relative to the tāḷa cycle, each of the each svara kalpana passages concludes with a return to a selected phrase of the composition. For his performance, Kottur Rajarathnam selected three songs by Tyagarāja. This comes as no surprise, as this outstanding composer left a plethora of compositions ranging from short pieces for religious congregational singing to the most sophisticated and erudite compositions. He is also well known for having produced standalone compositions in rare rāgas, such as the composition in rāga vāgadīśvarī in this album. Tyagarāja (b. Tiruvaiyyār, 1767-1847) was a saintly brāhmaṇ composer. His family was from Andhra Pradesh but settled in Tañjāvūr. His grandfather Girirāja was a poet and musician at the court of the maharāja of Tañjāvūr. Tyagarāja composed kirtanas in his mother tongue, Telugu, as well as in Sanskrit. He is revered by musicians and music-lovers as one of three great contemporary composers, whose brilliance and popularity have almost obscured the music and achievements of their predecessors. In the popular mind, Tyagarāja is the most prominent of all Karṇāṭak musicians and his annual memorial celebrations ( ā r ā dhana) attract hundreds of musicians, thousands of audience members, and even more listeners through the broadcast media. His life story was made into a film and numerous bhāgavatars continue to re-tell versions of his life replete with his compositions. His charisma and his exceptional musical repertoire was passed down with succeeding generations of singers and instrumentalists who have polished his works. His pieces have even penetrated the repertoire of dancers attracted by the music, even though his compositions were not originally intended for dance, though he did write several music dramas. Tyagarāja unequivocally rejected the offers of position as a court musician as he was completely averse to singing the praises of mere mortals—something court musicians were obliged to do. Instead he lived an austere life, composing as an expression of religious devotion ( bhakti ), especially to his beloved Rāma. The kirtana form that Tyagarāja favored had two or three sections. \n\nAll the kirtanas in this album have three sections: pallavi, anupallavi, and caraṇam. In the pallavi the semantic theme of the composition is stated, though this is not apparent when an instrumentalist performs. The anupallavi develops the raga and moves the melodic range higher up the scale to the higher octave. After the anupallavi, the pallavi is repeated as a refrain. The caraṇam usually moves into the middle range and often explores the lower octave. The pallavi refrain is repeated to conclude the performance. A common feature in many of Tyagaraja’s kirtanas is the repetition of the anupallavi melody as the second half of the usually longer caraṇam. These audio recordings are extracted from the collection of video recordings made by Yoshitaka Terada, a wellknown scholar of the Nagaswaram who has written extensively on the topic.

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.

ICHCAP is unveiling a new online exhibition to promote the understanding of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) via an easily accessed online platform. We collaborated with ICH experts from the Pacific islands to curate seven exhibitions on Pacific cultural practices, including traditional knowledge, social rituals, and crafts. You can explore the Pacific islanders’ stories and culture online at the Google Cultural Institute under the title “ICHCAP Collection.” We hope the exhibitions will inspire others to get to know about Pacific ICH.\n\nIn this booklet, we showcase a small part of the exhibitions, covering\n\n- Traditional Fire Walking in Fiji\n- Palau’s Rich Heritage in Nature and Culture\n- Safeguarding ICH of Papua New Guinea Bilum\n- Ngatu, Culture Wealth of the Kingdom of Tonga\n- Inspired Crafts of Samoa\n- Pwo Ceremony, the Initiation Ritual for Traditional Wayfinding Systems\n- Yam Festivals in the Pacific

When we were young, we were told a lot of stories. Everyone hated the big, vicious, evil, and cunning animals. However, seen through grown-up eyes, there are no bad animals in the world. Animals personified in stories convey a message to the human world-that of peace and harmony. At a time when a message of peace is desperately needed, let’s enjoy some stories featuring various animals, from tigers to birds, rabbits, monkeys, and more.