Singing with the fiddle was entered on the UNESCO List of Intangible Heritage in November this year, but as part of the intangible cultural heritage of Serbia. The Serbian Ministry of Culture says that with this entry they do not claim that the Serbs invented the fiddle and fiddle playing, but that it is a living heritage of the Serbian people. on the entire cultural and historical area where that people lived and lives.
However, the question remains - why was Montenegro, as a country where fiddles are an integral and authentic part of cultural and historical heritage, not the first to apply them to UNESCO?
The Montenegrin Office for UNESCO replied that they were not late because there is no deadline for registering heritage. They explain that the fiddle was not nominated for the UNESCO list because it was waiting for the initiative of some local community.
"Guided by such an approach, this year Montenegro applied for the first intangible asset to be entered on the Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity, based on the initiative of the local community, and it is the Bokel Navy. The entry on the UNESCO Representative List is only the final step and refers to the international valorization, and the most important thing is to enable the preservation and protection of the element itself", announced the Montenegrin office for UNESCO.
In addition to singing with fiddles, Serbia has inscribed on the UNESCO list of cultural heritage the glorification of the baptism and the Serbian kolo, while klapa singing, ojkanje and the silent kolo are some of the 17 Croatian inscriptions.
A year ago, the UNESCO office in Montenegro announced the nomination of the production of Dobrot lace and Bihor carpets, and the tradition of making katun. They also said that they are considering the possibility of joining the nominations of drywall and the Mediterranean diet, which other Mediterranean countries have already entered.
We will correct the fact that we forgot the fiddle later, they promise from Cetinje.
"Representatives of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Croatia agreed to join the registration, by cooperating on the creation of a joint file. The representative of Serbia pointed out that the file is open for additional registrations, and in the file submitted by Serbia, there is information that tradition also present in the mentioned countries," said the Montenegrin office for UNESCO.
The Montenegrin national costume, which started a controversy between the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro and Serbia, cannot be protected in UNESCO because it is an object, but it is possible to apply for the skills, techniques and crafts required to make the costume, which is also protected at the national level. For now, however, there is no initiative to protect it at the international level, but, according to the Montenegrin Office for UNESCO, that possibility is always open.
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