As announced by Ministry of Education and Culture, "tsiattista" were registered as "tsiattista poetic dueling" during the annual Meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, held in Bali, Indonesia.
To date, more than 200 items have been registered from all over the world, two of which come from Cyprus, namely the Leukarite embroidery and the "tsiattista".
The term intangible cultural heritage refers to customs or living expressions of culture that have been inherited from previous generations, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, celebrations and ceremonies, knowledge and practices related to nature and the universe or knowledge and techniques for handicrafts constructions.
The "tsiattista" are a living part of the Cypriot folk poetic creation and their peculiarity lies in the improvisation in the Cypriot dialect and the competitive relationship that develops between the "tsiatistada".
In essence, the performers "squeak", that is, they combine lyrics with a single meaning and content, in fifteen syllables. Due to their competitive nature, they are also called "chiattista of the old man". In most cases they are presented as a musical recitation, accompanied by violin and lute.
The initiative for the preparation and submission of the application for inclusion of "tsiattists" in the Catalog was started in 2008 by the late Professor of the University of Cyprus Pavlos Pavlou, who was also the first expert in Cyprus on intangible heritage issues.
The Cypriot National Commission UNESCO, the Municipality of Larnaca and the expert on intangible cultural heritage Angel Nikolaou Konnari, Assistant Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cyprus collaborated to complete the research and submit the application.
UNESCO adopted in 2003 the Convention for the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage, which was ratified by Cyprus in 2006. In 2008, Cyprus was elected to the Intergovernmental Commission and the Office for four years. The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for the management of the Contract, through the Center for Scientific Research. Source: SigmaLive.com