
Kankurang, Manding initiatory rite
former initiates and the villagers who respectfully follow his behaviour and gestures, and perform dances and songs. His displays are punctuated with a staccato dance as he wields two machetes and utters piercing cries. His followers, armed with sticks and rhun palm leaves, beat out the rhythm with their choruses and tom-toms. The Kankurang is t...
Gambia, Senegal
Sbek Thom, Khmer shadow theatre
the tanned hide, then cuts it out and paints it before attaching it to two bamboo sticks enabling the dancer to control the puppet. The performances traditionally take place at night outdoors beside a rice-field or pagoda. A large white backdrop is held between two tall bamboo screens in front of a large fire or, nowadays, projectors. The shadows...
Cambodiach as sophisticated costume design. A typical Mak Yong performance opens with an offering followed by dances, acting and music as well as improvised monologues and dialogues. A single story can be presented over several consecutive nights in a series of three-hour performances. In the traditional village setting, the performances are held on a temp...
Malaysiass or diatonic button accordion. It is often accompanied by polyphonic singing and combined with folk dances. The musical tradition of Terchová also includes solo instrumental performances on shepherds’ fifes. Performances take place at a variety of cyclical and occasional events, both religious and secular, including anniversaries, festivals, e...
SlovakiaShrine held in Hanamaki City on the first day of August. The Hayachine Kagura is a series of masked dances accompanied by drum, cymbals and flute: six ritual dances begin the performance; five dances recount stories of the deities and medieval Japanese history, and a final dance features a performer dressed as a ''shishi,'' an i...
JapanDarangen epic of the Maranao people of Lake Lanao
legant vocal technique, and the ability to engage an audience during long hours of performance. Music and dance sometimes accompany the chanting. Nowadays, the Darangen is less frequently performed owing in part to its rich vocabulary and archaic linguistic forms, which can only be understood by practitioners, elders and scholars. Indeed, the grow...
PhilippinesMen’s group Colindat, Christmas-time ritual
individual circumstances. Ritual performers also sing special, auspicious songs for unmarried girls and dance with them – a practice said to help them find a husband within the next year. Colindat is sometimes performed in costume, with instrumental accompaniment and choreography. Groups of young men (traditionally unmarried) are the main bearers...
Republic of Moldova, Romania
ido Bugaku According to legend, travelling performers of ''bugaku,'' the ritual dance and music of the imperial palace, visited Hachimantai Town in northern Japan in the early eighth century, during the reconstruction of Dainichido, the shrine pavilion. The ritual performance of Dainichido Bugaku takes its name from this story,...
JapanHopping procession of Echternach
authorities in the country and of many other countries. Singers recite litanies and then some 8,000 dancers take over, split into 45 groups according to a ritual transmitted from generation to generation. It ends with a service in the basilica. The current procession is a religious event deeply rooted in the tradition expressed through prayer, s...
Luxembourgrope walker executes a variety of acrobatic feats on the rope, along with jokes, mimicry, songs and dance, while a clown engages the tightrope walker in joking banter, and a team of musicians plays music to accompany the entertainment. The tightrope walker starts with simpler feats, gradually moving to more difficult acrobatics, displaying some for...
Republic of Korea