Indonesian Angklung Acknowledged By Unesco

Indonesia`s traditional music instrument, the `Angklung`, is soon to be officially delared a world heritage item by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) like batik, wayang, and the keris before. "On November 18, angklung will be declared a world heritage article ," Wardiyanto, secretary general of the Tourism and Culture Ministry, said here Thursday. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) January 08, 2011 - UNESCO has acknowledged Indonesian Angklung as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Session of Inter-governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (IGC-ICH) in Nairobi, Kenya on 16 November 2010.

One of the reasons why UNESCO appraised Angklung has fulfilled the criteria as intangible cultural heritage is because it is a musical art that has the principles of cooperation, mutual respect, and social harmony, which are the main values of Indonesian culture identity, especially in West Java and Banten.

The acknowledgement of Angklung as intangible cultural heritage will have positive influence on cultural heritage conservation efforts in both national and regional levels. Indonesian people and neighbouring countries will see that culture conservation is a possible thing to do. Moreover, this act is also supported by UNESCO through the UNESCO Convention on Conserving Intangible Culture.

Besides that, the acknowledgment of Indonesian Angklung could attract the younger generation to learn to play Angklung in many educational institutions either in Indonesia or abroad, where the knowledge about Angklung will be inherited. Furthermore, there would be conducive environment that supports the character building of the nation as well as a place for creativity development of various Angklung communities. All these effects would encourage the conservation and promotion of Angklung as a cultural heritage.

Therefore, the intangible cultural items from Indonesia that have been acknowledged by UNESCO as the Intangible Cultural Heritage namely are Wayang, Keris, Batik, and the latest one, Angklung. Indonesian Government will continue to encourage the efforts in conserving Indonesian culture through the implementation of the Convention. Indonesian as the member country of IGC-IHC since 2010 has actively participated in it.

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