Singing to the accompaniment of the gusle inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Singing to the accompaniment of the gusle, a part of Serbia's non-material heritage, has been inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The decision was reached on November 29 by the UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at its 13th regular meeting, held in Mauritius.

– The gusle is a symbol of the Serbian national memory, which has been kept alive thanks to gusle players associations and a faithful audience – said Dragan Hamovic, a special adviser to the minister of culture.

The Ministry of Culture and Information proposed the inclusion to the nomination committee in 2016. The files were prepared by the Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Museum of Ethnography in Belgrade, in cooperation with the Musicology Institute of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences and with the support of the Association of Gusle Players of Serbia, other gusle players associations, individuals, local self-governments, institutions, non-governmental organizations and professional associations.

This is Serbia's third inscription. It provides increased international visibility and stimulates communities to actively contribute to the preservation and the transfer of the chosen element of their own heritage, the Ministry of Culture says on its website.

UNESCO Paris France

Ministarstvo kulture Republike Srbije

Etnografski muzej Srbije Beograd

Savez guslara Srbije

Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Museum of Ethnography in Belgrade

Musicology Institute of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences

UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

gusle

singing to the accompaniment of the gusle