Digital technology and transmission of Intangible Cultural Heritage: The case of Cantu a Tenore

The “Cantu a Tenore” is a typical artistic expression from Sardinia Italy, which is also recognized by UNESCO as one of the ICH (Intangible Cultural Heritage), those “traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors” to be passed down to our descendants. The transmission modalities of the rare know behind “Cantu a Tenore” is progressively changing. Can digital technology affect the way this particular type of singing is/can be transmitted? For sure, it is gradually becoming and, what’s more important, is increasingly being “felt” as a suitable means not only to spread knowledge but also to sustain the transmission process itself. In particular new possibilities are opened by the adoption of cutting the edge sensor technologies as proposed by the I-treasures EU project, which proposes novel methodologies and new technological paradigms for the analysis and modeling of a variety of different ICHs, including the “Cantu a Tenore”.