Workshop promotes preservation of southern singing style
As part of the
ongoing national “Don ca tai tu” festival in the locality, the
event focused on analysing the art and reviewing the process of
developing it.
Known as a musical art that has both
scholarly and folk roots,” Don ca tai tu” developed in southern Vietnam
in the late 19th century.
UNESCO recognised it as intangible cultural heritage last December
during a session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding
of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The art is performed at numerous events, such as festivals, ‘death
anniversary' rituals and celebratory occasions. The audience can join in
by offering feedback to the singers and suggesting new lyrics for
songs.
It has been transmitted from generation to generation through official
and unofficial forms of education in all the 21 southern provinces,
where it is most popular. .
The music is played on a variety of different instruments, including
the kim (moon-shaped lute), co (two-stringed fiddle), tranh (16-string
zither), ty ba (pear-shaped lute), song lang (percussion), bau
(monochord) and sao (bamboo flute).
Musicians are classified as ‘master instrumentalists’, ‘master
lyricists’, ‘master singers’, ‘instrumentalists’ and ‘singers’.
Influenced by other forms of cultural heritage from the central and
southern regions of Vietnam, such as “nhac le” (ceremonial music) and
“hat boi” (classical theatre and folk song), the music genre was added
to the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012.
At the workshop, attendees said the festival aids Vietnam’s attempts to preserve the country’s traditional art and culture.
The
first event of its kind, the festival has attracted the attention of
the domestic and international community and spurred a joint effort to
conserve the form.-VNA