Jamaica has asked for reggae to be added this year at a meeting of the UN agency on the island of Mauritius, where 40 proposals are set to be considered from November 26 to December 1.
So far, 399 examples of world heritage including dances, food-making practices, boat-building, games, festivals and even coaxing rituals for camels in Mongolia have been added.
A successful application is largely symbolic, but can serve to raise the profile of the country and the practice.
Other applications this year have been filed for the Irish game of hurling, the making of perfume in the French town of Grasse, and traditional wrestling in South Korea known as Ssireum.
Reggae began in the late 1960s in Jamaica and quickly become a worldwide phenomenon thanks to singers such as Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff and the famed producer Lee “Scratch” Perry.
The music, with its weighty bass lines and drums, has influenced countless artistes since and spawned new sounds such as dub.
