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Kazakh traditional art of Dombra Kuy

Traditional Kazakh dombra kuy (kaz 'kuy') - instrumental play performed on dombra - a traditional pear-shaped musical instrument with two strings and a long neck. The true meaning of kuy execution dates back to the sacred relationship with the Creator and the desire to establish the internal harmony of the individual. Kazakhs say 'Kuy - Tanyrdyn sybyry' ('Kuy - a whisper of Tengri'). Dombra had been hung on the wall of each nomad house (yurta) for the play before guests and home owners. The art of DombraKuy refers to a short solo composition performed on a traditional pear-shaped, long-necked, two-stringed, plucked musical instrument known as a dombra. The music aims to connect people to their historic roots and traditions through classical and improvised pieces that engage the audience at a spiritual and emotional level. Public engagement in the performance serves as one of the most important means of social communication between people and contributes to the transfer of knowledge and skills related to Kazakh culture. The music is usually accompanied by narrated stories and legends. It is traditionally performed at social gatherings, holidays and festive celebrations, amid a rich variety of food and musical entertainment. It serves as a vital social and cultural experience, strengthening people’s identity and promoting solidarity and mutual understanding in society. Aspiring and talented musicians are apprenticed to masters from the moment a child demonstrates an interest in the philosophy and virtuosity of traditional music and performance. Amateur musicians then apprentice themselves to other more experienced and talented performers from their region to increase their skills and repertoire.

Traditional knowledge and skills in making Kyrgyz and Kazakh yurts (Turkic nomadic dwellings)

Yurt production includes knowledge and skills in creating a portable dwelling traditionally used by Kazakh and Kyrgyz people. Yurt has a dismountable wooden circular frame covered with felt and braided with ropes. Yurts can be easily set up and dismantled within a short period of time. Yurts are basically characterized as easily transportable, compact, ecological and practical dwellings. Bearers of yurt-making traditional knowledge are craftspeople (men and women), producing yurts and yurts’ interior decorations. Men and their apprentices make yurts’ wooden frames, traditionally by hand using special devices and instruments. Men also make wooden, leather, bone and metal details for yurts and household items. Women make yurt coverings and interior decorations. As a rule, they work in community-based groups supervised by experienced skilled women-artisans. Women-artisans use weaving, spinning, braiding, felting, embroidering, sewing, winding and other traditional handicraft technologies. Women’s work- process is usually accompanied by their singing, joking, telling stories about famous masters of the past and treating traditional meals. Clans’ wise elders are also bearers. Knowledge and skills are transmitted through generations traditionally from masters to their apprentices (oral instructions, practical classes, joint production). The element is a great value and heritage received genetically or through learning, enriched by masters and transmitted to young generations. Joint production of yurts gives craftspeople the “one-family” feeling; the use of yurts by livestock-breeders as their dwellings in everyday life and by urban citizens as their summer-houses generates the feeling of continuity of ancestors’ traditions. Yurts are an obligatory part of all national festivities, traditional events and funeral-memorial rituals; yurts are kept in the family and transmitted from parents to their children as a sacred family relic ensuring ancestors’ protection. For Kyrgyz and Kazakh people the Yurt is not only a dwelling and the Universe model; but also a symbol of their national identity. Yurt’s top crown shanyrak and tyundyuk are depicted on the state symbols of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – coat of arms and flag. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan Heads of State receive honourable guests in Yurt.

Kara Zhorga - Kazakh folk dance

Kara Zhorga (kaz. 'Kara zhorga','black horse') - is the Kazakh folk dance, when a dancer performs an experienced rider, horseman, prancing on the pacer. Dance promotes horsemanship. Initially, it was considered male kind of dance. Gradually Kara Zhorga was danced by girls too. The Kazakh dance has reflected peculiarities of worldview and material culture of cattle-breeding nomads, embracing different aspects of labor, spiritual activity and way of life in the steppe. For the nation who poeticized everything within its environment any move could be the impetus for creating a dance element. A horseman that rode past at a gallop was compared with a darted arrow. A girl strolling slowly in the steppe was compared with a lonely grass-blade swinging in the wind, or a bird’s flight in the endless blue. The nature of Kazakh dances reflects the depth of a specific world-perception of the nation, which is spilled over into a certain style of performance and expressed in a particularly upright proud bearing of a performer, in certain positions and movements of her/his hands. Kara-Zhorga dance reproduces a picture of a traditional horse competition called bayga. "... The Maman village gathers for a feast (‘toy’). The young joyful horsemen step out from the crowd. The young men, bending their bodies slightly forward and swinging harshly with their whips, eagerly enter the competition. The horsemen, moving in circles, lines and diagonals, outrun each other, demonstrating the agility of a leap or an intricate hop. The imitation of horserace - rhythmically sharp-cut hops from one foot, big leaps with a curved body – have interspersed with dance technique. A sharp-cut, rough and springy folk tune of Kara-Zhorga dance and the movement which coincides with the horserace rhythm, successfully merge into a single image of bold horsemen (‘dzhigits’) who have equestrianism at their finger tips." (Sarynova, 1976: 37) “Kara-Zhorga is a dance that embodies a variety of nuances and technique. Kara Zhorga dance differs by nuances and technique of execution. It combines the 'militancy and buffoonery, softness and mobility, speed and peace' (A. Ismailov). The folk dance has various performance types: as 'a pair of zhorgas' ('qos zhorga') and 'male zhorga' ('erkek zhorga').

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2021 Jeonju International Awards for Promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage
2021 Jeonju International Awards for Promoting ICH The citizens of Jeonju are fully aware of the significance of intangible cultural heritage and its need for safeguarding. In particular, they have long recognized and emphasized its power as a resource for enhancing the social, economic, environmental, cultural conditions, as well as tending to the aspirations of all the people living in the global community. The purpose of the Jeonju International Awards for Promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage is to encourage the model safeguarding practices of intangible cultural heritage in the global community regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, race, age, gender, or any other political, social, economic or cultural orientation. The model safeguarding practices of intangible cultural heritage shall include any effective method or approach. The awards are open to Living Human Treasurers (practitioners), groups, communities, administrators, researchers, NGOs, and those who have made substantial contributions for promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage.   Eligibility Criteria   The awards shall go to individual or groups that practice good safeguarding practices of ICH. Or the awards shall go to local communities, administrators, NGOs or other institutions that practice the modeling development, social solidarity, and cooperation throughout safeguarding practices of ICH. Or the awards shall go to the individual or groups that have contained international visibility by raising cultural pride of their community during transmitting of ICH. Or the awards shall go to the individuals or groups that achieve exemplary outstanding performance by practicing cultural diversity through the safeguarding and transmission process of ICH. The awards shall go to the individuals or groups that take the lead in good safeguarding practices of ICH in the global community regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, race, age, gender, or any other political, social, economic or cultural orientation.   Important Dates   February 1, 2021: Open to download 2021 JIAPICH application March 1, 2021: Start of the application submission date April 30, 2021: Due date for the application July 1, 2021: Start of the verification process July 30, 2021: End of the verification process August 1, 2021: 2021 JIAPICH Finalist(s) Announced September (dates TBD), 2021: JIAPICH Award Ceremony (online ceremony TBD)   Adjudication Criteria   Efficient cases of safeguarding practices of Intangible Cultural Heritage and of activating the power and its significance for the future development of the global community as well as for social cohesion, cooperation, and visibility of identity. A good example that has made a significant contribution to the viability of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Additional information about submitting applications and other important information is available here.

03/03/2022

Tales of Heritage and Well-being. The Digital Appointment at the University of Catania from 11 to 13 February 2021
CHAIN Logo The first meeting organized by the newborn CHAIN—Cultural Heritage Interdisciplinary Academic Network, founded by professors and PhD students in Sciences of Cultural Heritage and Production at the University of Catania, will consist of three days of meetings and debates, in Italian and English, entirely online. Culture and COVID-19: changes and impacts on human relations and socio-cultural mechanisms in times of Pandemic. The conference is free of charge. To participate in the conference sessions, simply register on the website: https://www.chain-conference.com CATANIA, 31 JANUARY 2021. During the three days of the Well-Being and Cultural Heritage conference, more than fifty scholars, professors, experts and practitioners from all over the world (Austria, China, Germany, Greece, Italy, United Kingdom, Russia, Spain and the United States) will animate an interdisciplinary dialogue to reflect on traditions, places and communities; to narrate the role and identity of tangible and intangible heritage in the digital age; to highlight the performative value of cultural institutions (e.g. archives, libraries, archaeological sites, etc.) and the expressive and cathartic power of arts and culture; to recognize, value and manage the different impacts (social, health, economic, etc.) of the cultural sector and its management systems for achieving conscious, inclusive and sustainable development goals (SDGs 2030). The macro-themes of the conference (Memory, Perception and Research-Actions) will be introduced by: Christian Greco, director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin, with a focus on memory and material culture (11 February); historian and media theorist Peppino Ortoleva who will speak on the individual, environmental and media appropriation of cultural heritage (12 February); and Pier Luigi Sacco, professor of cultural economics at IULM University, who will contribute to reflect on the foundations of culture as a sociobiological element of welfare (13 February). The conference theme has been picked out months before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has allowed a rediscovery and affirmation of heritage and culture as virtuous and fundamental elements for maintaining strong human relations in times of social distancing. Evidence shows, for example, that cultural participation has contributed to the psychological well-being of communities, reducing isolation. The CHAIN network—supported by a board of professors Maria Rosa De Luca, Pietro Militello, Anna Mignosa, Stefania Rimini and Romilda Rizzo—envisages the exchange of ideas and projects between universities, research centers, businesses, associations, bodies and professionals in the cultural sector. Meetings, conferences and workshops will be organized over the next few years. “We are currently working on the final preparations for the first ambitious step of this project,” have declared the young members of the CHAIN Team—Thea Messina, Stefano Russo, Giuseppe Sanfratello and Giovanna Santaera—“and we hope that the growing collaboration and involvement of operators and experts from all over the world will give continuity over time to the initiative, which, like heritage, inherits perspectives from the past and assigns us the task to work on the heritage to be passed on to the future generations.” Additional information is available at https://www.chain-conference.com/  

03/03/2022

Heritage and Our Sustainable Future Online Conference
Poster Image/ Praxis at the University of Leeds and the UK NATCOM for UNESCO Agreed in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unite 193 Governments with the shared aim of leaving both our planet and societies on a sustainable footing for future generations. No poverty, clean energy, sustainable cities and quality education are among the challenging targets that must be met no later than 2030. The pressure is on, and it’s all hands-on deck with experts from across the globe rallying to this call. Since cultural heritage is an expression of human communities through diverse media, experts work to safeguard all manners of heritage: from vast buildings, works of art and folklore, to artefacts, language and landscapes. The shared goal, however, is simple: preserve the past so that future generations might enjoy, benefit and learn from its legacy. Likewise, the Sustainable Development sector works to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. With support from the AHRC, the UK National Commission for UNESCO and Praxis at the University of Leeds are therefore hosting ‘Heritage and Our Sustainable Future: Research, Practice, Policy and Impact’, an upcoming virtual conference from 22 February to 2 March. Here we will bring together a diverse range of cultural heritage and sustainable development contributors, including policymakers, practitioners and researchers, but also non-governmental organizations (NGOs), museums, private sector representatives and other stakeholders from across the globe. United by the shared goal of collaboration for sustainable progress, the conference will explore how best to utilize cultural heritage research on the ground to drive forward the SDGs, especially in Official Development Assistance (ODA)-eligible countries. Registration is available at https://www.nomadit.co.uk/heritage-and-our-sustainable-future/registration, and additional information is available at https://www.nomadit.co.uk/heritage-and-our-sustainable-future/index.

03/03/2022

Drangyen, Bhutanese Instrument and Lessons
Two drangyens of Bhutan at Linden Museum (public domain image) The Bhutanese lute, the drangyen, is the oldest and most well-known instrument of Bhutan. The word drangyen itself roughly translates to “hear the melody,” where dra means “melody,” and ngyen means “listen.” The drangyen is often used in religious festivals accompanied by folk dances and stories. Some date back to the eighth century CE when Buddhism was introduced to Bhutan. The instrument is made from wood (preferably from cypress trees), leather, and yak bone and is about one meter long. Structurally, the top or head is intricately shaped like a sea monster to scare away evil spirits that may be attracted to the beautiful music that the instrument makes. The head stands upon a long fretless neck that attaches to a rounded body that pictures the goddess of music. The seven strings, which are made from the bark fiber of the jute tree, are played with a triangular plectrum made of wood or bone. Kheng Sonam Dorji is a master folk musician of Bhutan. He has assembled a series of videos that show how the drangyen is made and how to play it. They are available in several lessons on YouTube. Visit the following links to find out more about the drangyen. Drangyen Lesson -1: Brief Introduction ( with Eng Sub) – YouTube Drangyen Lesson – 2(A) : Note Introduction & Tunning – YouTube Drangyen Lesson – 2 (B) : Note Introduction & Tunning – YouTube Drangyen Lesson – 3: Octave/Yangduen/ Saptak – YouTube Drangyen Lesson – 4: Fingering & Note familiarization. – YouTube

03/03/2022