U.S. Ambassador Ries and Minister of Tourism, Culture, Youth, and Sports Bujar Leskaj signed yesterday a grant that awards $24,000 to the Albanian Music Council to produce an Encyclopedia of the Albanian Iso-Polyphony music.

Iso-Polyphony is an exceptionally beautiful and uniquely Albanian musical form that is a UNESCO-approved Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The encyclopedia, which will be published in English and Albanian, will be the first comprehensive reference source of Iso-Polyphonic music.

The Encyclopedia will be a valuable resource for foreign musicians, ethnomusicologists, and other scholars interested in Albania's musical heritage.

The project is made possible through the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation Program, created by the U.S. Congress in 2001. Albania is one of the eligible countries and this year it joins 76 other recipient countries and 87 projects that total over $3 million worldwide.

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