TEHRAN – Iran’s "Chogan, a horse-riding game accompanied by music and storytelling", won the UNESCO world heritage status on Thursday, while “the art of crafting and playing with Kamancheh” gained the tag jointly with Azerbaijan.

A total of thirty three worldwide elements were inscribed on the world body’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during the 12th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Jeju, South Korea.

Chogan is a horse-riding game traditionally played in royal courts and urban fields and accompanied by music and storytelling. In Chogan, two rider teams compete and the aim is to pass a ball through the opposing team’s goal post using a wooden stick. The bearers of the game include Choganbazan (the athletes), storytellers (Naqqals, Morsheds, etc.) and musicians, according to a dossier submitted to the UNESCO on March 31, 2016.

Kamancheh, a stringed instrument of the fiddle family, epitomizes some major elements of classical and folkloric music and performances that Iran and Azerbaijan have in common.

Knowledge associated with the art of crafting and playing kamancheh has been passed down from generations to generations from both families and in musicians. The stringed instrument has a membrane belly and is played either by soloists or in ensembles.

The art of Neapolitan pizza making, Dutch wind mills, along with traditional boat making on the Indonesian island of South Sulawesi, and Nsima, a maize-based culinary tradition from the African country of Malawi, joined the prestigious list as well.

AFM/MQ/MG