In addition to compiling their World Heritage List, which includes geographic locations worthy of protection and preservation on an international scale, UNESCO reserves another list of “intangible” cultural elements specifically for practices and traditions. In a statement announcing their decision, UNESCO wrote the following:

[Reggae’s] contribution to international discourse on issues of injustice, resistance, love and humanity underscores the dynamics of the element as being at once cerebral, socio-political, sensual and spiritual. The 1968 single “Do the Reggay” by Toots and the Maytals was the first popular song to use the name, and Marley and his group the Wailers produced classic hits such as “No Woman, No Cry” and “Stir It Up.”

Jamaica applied for reggae’s inclusion on the list this year at a meeting of the UN agency on the island of Mauritius, where 40 proposals were under consideration.
Reggae music is added to the UNESCO Representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.