ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the experience of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) with the evaluation of the nominations for the UNESCO Proclamation of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (hereafter ‘Masterpieces’) between 2001 and 2005.1 There are several reasons for publishing these observations. First, the role of the UNESCO NGOs in UNESCO programme evaluations is not widely understood. Anthropologist Karen Olwig asks:
How [can] a global organization, operating according to general guidelines, recognize and appreciate the complexity and diversity of the cultural expressions that it seeks to protect. By what criteria can one compare widely different cultural expressions and how does one single out the ‘masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity’ worthy of preservation?
