On Monday, December 30, 2019, following Article 12 of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO and Article 3 of the Statute of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts of Iran, in the session of the National Council for the Inscription of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the file "Art of Crafting, Playing, Maqams, and Culture of Tanbur" which was prepared and proposed by Mana Naqsh Heritage Institute for Art & Culture, was inscribed on Iran's national ICH inventory. Shahab Nikman, the managing director of Mana Naqsh, attended the session to present and defend the file.
Previously, in this context, regional topics such as "Art of Crafting and Playing Tamireh (Tanbur of Lak Tribe)" have been inscribed on Iran's national ICH inventory, but this file is a comprehensive topic related to the heritage of the Tanbur of national scope.
It took about two years to gather information and document for the preparation of this file, and for this purpose, in the areas that are important from the point of view of Tanbur's heritage, many masters, practitioners, and bearers of the element were consulted and their knowledge was gathered. Hence, in this file, more than 200 Maqams of Tanbur and their various traditions from the regions of Sanhe, Goran, Lakestan, and Azerbaijan have been documented. The documentation part of this file was done with the collaboration of Yahya Ranaei and Farid Elhami.
In this file, which is inscribed of national scope, the various cultural aspects of Tanbur as one of the prominent intangible cultural heritages of Iran have been discussed, and while documenting Maqams of Tanbur from different regions of Iran, the five intangible cultural heritage domains in which the element is manifested, including "oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage", "performing arts", "social practices, rituals and festive events", "knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe", and "traditional craftsmanship" are explained. In this file, the ritual role of this intangible cultural heritage element in the cultural and social functions and music of Iran, as well as the masters, practitioners, and bearers of the element, including Seyed Amrollah Shah Ebrahimi, Seyed Khalil Alinezhad, Taher Yarveysi, Shahram Nazeri, Kaykhosro Pournazeri, and Ali Akbar Moradi, who have played a major role in introducing the heritage of Tanbur and transmission of the element from generation to generation in the last few decades, has been mentioned.