Dominican Republic Aims to Have Merengue Deemed a National Treasure

Dominican Republican Senators Fernando Mateo Vasquez and Manuel Antonio Paula have asked the Ministry of Culture to submit Dominican merengue as a candidate for UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list.

The importance of intangible cultural heritage according to the UNESCO is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next.

Musicians Dioni Fernandez and Manuel Tejada initiated the measure. The Ministry now needs to present the application to the evaluation committee that meets in Paris in November.

If approved, this will be the DR’s fourth UNESCO listing after Santo Domingo Colonial City received one in 1990, the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit Congos of Villa Mella in 2008 and the Cocolo Dance Drama Tradition, also in 2008.

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Source: Hispanically Speaking