Morna, the haunting,
traditional music of Cabo Verde, is slated to join UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural
Heritage List when a committee meets in Bogotá, Colombia, Dec. 9 to 14, to
consider submissions from around the world.
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| One of Cesaria Evora's most famous albums (Lusafrica). |
Made popular by
singers such as the renowned Cesária Évora, who died in 2011, morna incorporates
voice, music, poetry and dance, and it has fans far beyond the Portuguese-speaking
island state where it originated.
Being added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (to give the list its full name) would promote recognition of morna’s value, according to the artistic agencies behind the submission.
Being added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (to give the list its full name) would promote recognition of morna’s value, according to the artistic agencies behind the submission.
Inscription
would also raise awareness of the "fundamental" mark that morna has made in "contemporary history
and Cabo Verdean cultural identity”, they add.
The musical
practice is one of 41 elements up for consideration at the annual meeting of
the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage.
Composed of
representatives of 24 states, the committee will vote on submissions including:
date-palm knowledge, skills, traditions and practices in several Middle Eastern
and North African countries; Byzantine chant of Cyprus, Greece; Ethiopian
epiphany; Irish harping; and Kwagh-Hir theatrical performance of Nigeria - a
cultural expression that “integrates puppetry, masquerading, poetry, music, dance”
and other genres.
Apart from
voting on these elements, the committee is expected to take unprecedented action
in removing Belgium’s Carnival of Aalst from the Intangible Cultural Heritage List, as
the event has been criticised for racist depictions.
During the
March 2019 staging of the carnival, racist and anti-Semitic caricatures were
displayed on some floats, according to human rights groups. Previously, as far back as 2013, UNESCO received complaints about the offensive nature of
some aspects of the carnival, which was inscribed on the List in 2010.
“Since its
inscription, the Aalst carnival has on several occasions displayed messages,
images and representations that can be considered within and outside of the
community as encouraging stereotypes, mocking certain groups and insulting the
memories of painful historical experiences including genocide, slavery and
racial segregation,” the committee states in documents on the subject.
“These
representations are racist,” said UNESCO official Tim Curtis, following a press
briefing in Paris Nov. 27. Curtis, the secretary of the Convention on
Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, told SWAN that the carnival’s
organizers have shown little interest in addressing the issue.
In fact, the event’s
organizing committee is reported to have “prepared a set of ribbons as
collectors’ items, which depict once again several stereotypical
representations ... The accompanying text makes fun of UNESCO and reaffirms
that the Aalst carnival should continue in the same spirit of satire and
mockery”, according to UNESCO documents.
While the
carnival may be delisted, another of Belgium’s customs is up for selection - the
Ommegang procession in Brussels. This follows the addition of the country’s beer-drinking culture to the List in 2016, one of 429 elements inscribed globally up to
now.
Such elements
include oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive
events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, and the
knowledge and skills necessary for traditional crafts.
The aim is to promote
the preservation of cultural practices or living expressions inherited from
generation to generation, UNESCO says.
The delisting
of the carnival may garner attention, but news about Cabo Verde’s morna should
also be greeted with celebration, as with the inscription of reggae music of
Jamaica in 2018. - SWAN
UPDATE: Morna, the musical practice of Cabo Verde, was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 11 Dec. 2019. The Carnival of Aalst was removed from the List.
Follow SWAN on Twitter: @mckenzie_ale
UPDATE: Morna, the musical practice of Cabo Verde, was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 11 Dec. 2019. The Carnival of Aalst was removed from the List.
Follow SWAN on Twitter: @mckenzie_ale
