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Bhutanese Folk and Mask Dance

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	Drametse Ngachham Mask Dance
	Bringing uniformity to NgaChham

Drametse Ngachham, masterpiece of humanity

Tshechu: Mask dance

UNESCO has proclaimed Drametse Ngachham:
The mask dance of the drums from Drametse as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible cultural heritage of humanity during its third proclamation held in Paris on November 25, 2005.

The dance has also received a separate award of US $ 30,000 from Korea.

Bhutan's candidature file for the event was prepared by a team from the institute of language and cultural studies.

Drametse Monastery, Mongar

The recognition, apart from adding Bhutan to the list of countries on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, is also expected to bring substantial amount of financial assistance to implement the plan of action proposed in the candidature file.

The Drametse Ngachham was first introduced in Drametse following a vision of a descendent of Terton Pemalingpa, the treasure revealer.

Tshechu: Mask dance

The dance was not performed in other parts of the country until the middle of the 20th century. For over four centuries the Drametse community had been the sole custodian of this unique cultural expression of the human creative genius.

Likely to be the last proclamation, this international distinction rewards popular and traditional forms of heritage such as oral expressions, music, rituals, social practices, traditional craftsmanship or knowledge concerning nature and the universe.

For the third proclamation an 18-member international jury met in Paris from November 21 to 24 to review the 65 national and multinational candidatures submitted by 75 UNESCO member states.