UNESCO grants Indonesia's angklung cultural heritage title

JAKARTA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Angklung, the traditional Indonesia's West Java musical instrument made from bamboo, has been included in the list of the UNESCO's (United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization) list of intangible cultural heritage, local media reported Friday.

The instrument was among 46 items from 21 countries inscribed to the list at the Fifth Unesco Inter-Governmental Committee meeting on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Nairobi, Kenya.

The angklung now joins the wayang (the Javanese shadow puppet theater), the keris (the Javanese ceremonial dagger) and batik among the Indonesian representatives in the list.


I Gusti Ngurah Putra, a spokesman for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said the government welcomed the recognition granted by the UNESCO. "The reason the angklung was inscribed to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is because it has deep philosophical values for humanity, such as cooperation, respect and social harmony,"he was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as saying. "Because to produce music with angklung requires good cooperation among the angklung players, as no melody can be played by a single player,"he said on Thursday.

Each angklung is made with two bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame.

It plays only one specific note, which is produced by shaking the instrument rapidly from side to side.

In addition to the four items Indonesia now boasts on the list of intangible cultural heritage, the country also has seven sites on Unesco's list of world heritage sites.

Three of them -- the Borobudur monument, the Prambanan temple complex and the Sangiran Early man site, all in Central Java -- are on the list of world cultural heritage. The other four -- the Komodo, Lorentz and Ujung Kulon national parks, as well as the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra -- are listed as world natural heritage.

Editor: Zhang Xiang

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com