SAFEGUARDING FOLKLORE: ENGAGING WITH THE ISSUES OF ACCESSIONING, CATALOGUING, DOCUMENTATION, STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL IN INDIAN ARTS

Abstract

This paper proposes to look at the issues of accessioning, cataloguing, audio-visual documentation, storage and retrieval of Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) from the perspective of policy-making as well as implementation of the same with respect to the performance domain of Indian Arts. It also intends to look at the evolving character of living folklore through a contribution in understanding the process through which tradition changes rather than fixating on tangible forms as well as representation of the same in matters associated with cataloguing. The article would also reflect at the personal experience of working with audio-visual material in a music archive for the last ten years, ascertaining the fact that in spite of best of efforts to uphold the community in matters of safeguarding ICH, often rigidness of metadata structures may fall short to our intentions. Hence, the research will also devise ways in which the metadata may propose a scheme in incorporating a space not only for information but an excavation of those layers of experience from which the recorded artifact travels to the act of archiving.