The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO has included the Turkmen national skill of making dutar and the art of playing it accompanied by singing into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan said on December 16.
This decision was taken at the 16th session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the Organization, held online from 13 to 18 December.
In November 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the National Commission of Turkmenistan for UNESCO considered the issue of nominating the craft of making dutar (two-stringed plucked musical instrument - ed.) , The performing musical art of playing it and the art of bakhshi on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage . (bakhshi is a folk singer who plays the dutar - ed.) , which is registered by the UNESCO Secretariat.
At the same time, the ministry reported that "work is already being completed on the preparation of a nomination for the inclusion of Ashgabat in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, and work is underway to prepare nominations for inclusion in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for the art of seizing Akhal-Teke horses and breeding Turkmen Alabai".
Ashgabat's nomination application for inclusion in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the Design category was accepted by the UNESCO Secretariat in April this year.
At present, from Turkmenistan, the World Heritage List includes the historical and cultural monuments of Ancient Merv, Kunyaurgench, Ancient Nisa, as well as the epic "Gorogly", the dance "Kushtdepdi" and the art of hand-made carpet weaving.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan