padmanabha
12th May 2007, 09:48 AM
[tscii:7a00a517bd]Minja Yang the UNESCO representative to India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka and the Director UNESCO office in New Delhi was in the capital city to release ‘Kutiyattam Register’ prepared under the financial assistance from UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust. In an interview Minja Yang talks about UNESCO’S program in identifying intangible endangered heritage and the projects to revive them. For this UNESCO conducts international conventions. The last one which came into force in 2006 has adopted the safeguarding of the intangible heritage. In an interview Minja Yang disclosed the idea of designing the itinerary of dance route.
Excerpts from the interview: _
What makes the UNESCO’S international convention meaningful?
“It stimulates. We have wonderful people working for decades and decades, trying to preserve the art forms accepting the minimum wages. The big dilemma is how to keep these performing art forms meaningful and to make the artistes living conditions better. It should not reduce to something that promotes tourism. I am not blaming tourism or the tourists. For UNESCO, Tourism is a major vehicle to acquire knowledge.
There are five states (Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) which are part of the UNESCO program. Is there any chance of including Kerala too?
The present idea is to identify two itineraries for each state. In fact India a country with much diversity can have 20 to 30 itineraries. Now we have “craft-route” and itinerary of ancient Kingdoms like Hoyasala and Hampi. We intend to include the tribal areas as well. But our immediate priority is to design the itinerary of dance route.
Kerala has a number of performing arts. The quality and dedication of the people is remarkable. Our intention is not to make the performing artistes to bend to the tourists. Instead the tourists must bow to them.
The performers have dedicated their lives. They are poorly paid. In fact they are not expecting the payments of a film star. The survival of any art depends of guru, disciples, and the community to sustain the existence of it.
Sixty countries come under UNESCO’s intangible assignment. The State has to make a representative list of intangible arts, rituals etc. The members of the inter-governmental committee, of the 2003 convention are still working on the “operational guidelines”. Expert committee was convened last month to determine differences between the endangered list and the representative list. There are instances where many governments want to show off with an eye to promote tourism.
What is the present position of the program on cultural mapping?
We have made a template forum to register the intangible heritage including monuments, historic areas and cultural landscapes. Following the 73 and 74 amendments of the Indian Constitution, local bodies are responsible for so many things including the conservation of our heritage. It does not mean the UNESCO freezes development. We have seen how central Kochi is destroyed. Our forth coming project focuses on mass media. Big news paper companies can support the intangible heritage; they can bring out DVDS, CDS and articles. Though the intangible heritage has evolved from a community, it belongs to the whole world. So the role of the media is intermediary between the creator and the public.
Box item:- UNESCO took it as a mission to foster the protection and development of the cultural diversity of the world. Since the last quarter century, it stressed the need to safe guard intangible heritage. In 2001, Kutiyattom was nominated as a UNESCO master piece of Humanity.
Dr. P Venugopalan has authored a “Kutiyattom Register” for UNESCO. The book published by Margi Thiruvananthapuram was released recently.
The book has seven chapters. The first one gives the origin and development of Kutiyattam, and the art forms related to it. It also provides a detail description of the percussion ensemble, make up, costumes and stage properties. It concludes with a write on Koothampalams. The second section deals with the Sanskrit dramas and the representative repertoire Margi. The third chapter is a significant one in the sense that the author has given description of all the 18 illustrious Chakyar and Nangiar-Nambiar families, their performing items, places of performance, the number of days they take for each and whether the tradition is still continued by them. The next chapters include the list of Kutiyattam institutions, living artistes of Kutiyattam, contemporary scholars of Kutiyattam and its documentation and Bibliography.
Dr. Venugopalan has done justice to this work and it will be a valuable possession for the artistes and connoisseurs. The only minus point is the use of black and white photographs, especially while mentioning about makeup, costumes and stage properties. The book is in English and hence wider reach is expected. Opportunities to produce these kinds of documents seldom knock the door.
The book with 211 pages in art paper is priced 700.
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Excerpts from the interview: _
What makes the UNESCO’S international convention meaningful?
“It stimulates. We have wonderful people working for decades and decades, trying to preserve the art forms accepting the minimum wages. The big dilemma is how to keep these performing art forms meaningful and to make the artistes living conditions better. It should not reduce to something that promotes tourism. I am not blaming tourism or the tourists. For UNESCO, Tourism is a major vehicle to acquire knowledge.
There are five states (Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) which are part of the UNESCO program. Is there any chance of including Kerala too?
The present idea is to identify two itineraries for each state. In fact India a country with much diversity can have 20 to 30 itineraries. Now we have “craft-route” and itinerary of ancient Kingdoms like Hoyasala and Hampi. We intend to include the tribal areas as well. But our immediate priority is to design the itinerary of dance route.
Kerala has a number of performing arts. The quality and dedication of the people is remarkable. Our intention is not to make the performing artistes to bend to the tourists. Instead the tourists must bow to them.
The performers have dedicated their lives. They are poorly paid. In fact they are not expecting the payments of a film star. The survival of any art depends of guru, disciples, and the community to sustain the existence of it.
Sixty countries come under UNESCO’s intangible assignment. The State has to make a representative list of intangible arts, rituals etc. The members of the inter-governmental committee, of the 2003 convention are still working on the “operational guidelines”. Expert committee was convened last month to determine differences between the endangered list and the representative list. There are instances where many governments want to show off with an eye to promote tourism.
What is the present position of the program on cultural mapping?
We have made a template forum to register the intangible heritage including monuments, historic areas and cultural landscapes. Following the 73 and 74 amendments of the Indian Constitution, local bodies are responsible for so many things including the conservation of our heritage. It does not mean the UNESCO freezes development. We have seen how central Kochi is destroyed. Our forth coming project focuses on mass media. Big news paper companies can support the intangible heritage; they can bring out DVDS, CDS and articles. Though the intangible heritage has evolved from a community, it belongs to the whole world. So the role of the media is intermediary between the creator and the public.
Box item:- UNESCO took it as a mission to foster the protection and development of the cultural diversity of the world. Since the last quarter century, it stressed the need to safe guard intangible heritage. In 2001, Kutiyattom was nominated as a UNESCO master piece of Humanity.
Dr. P Venugopalan has authored a “Kutiyattom Register” for UNESCO. The book published by Margi Thiruvananthapuram was released recently.
The book has seven chapters. The first one gives the origin and development of Kutiyattam, and the art forms related to it. It also provides a detail description of the percussion ensemble, make up, costumes and stage properties. It concludes with a write on Koothampalams. The second section deals with the Sanskrit dramas and the representative repertoire Margi. The third chapter is a significant one in the sense that the author has given description of all the 18 illustrious Chakyar and Nangiar-Nambiar families, their performing items, places of performance, the number of days they take for each and whether the tradition is still continued by them. The next chapters include the list of Kutiyattam institutions, living artistes of Kutiyattam, contemporary scholars of Kutiyattam and its documentation and Bibliography.
Dr. Venugopalan has done justice to this work and it will be a valuable possession for the artistes and connoisseurs. The only minus point is the use of black and white photographs, especially while mentioning about makeup, costumes and stage properties. The book is in English and hence wider reach is expected. Opportunities to produce these kinds of documents seldom knock the door.
The book with 211 pages in art paper is priced 700.
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