Tourists watch a ‘quan ho’ performance in Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province. (Photo: VNA) Bac Giang (VNA) – The northern province of Bac Giang, which is rich in traditional cultures, is taking measures to preserve and promote its local cultural identities.
Outstanding traditional cultural identities
Visiting Bac Giang in the first months of the year, tourists can choose from the nearly 800 local festivals, including nine listed as national intangible cultural heritage. They are the Tho Ha festival in Viet Yen district, Yen The festival in the district of the same name, Y Son festival in Hiep Hoa district, Suoi Mo Temple festival in Luc Nam district, Vinh Nghiem Pagoda festival in Yen Dung district, Vong Communal House festival in Tan Yen district, Bo Da Pagoda festival in Viet Yen district, Tien Luc festival in Lang Giang district, and Van village mud ball wrestling festival in Viet Yen district.
The province is also home to many UNESCO-recognised intangible cultural heritage such as ‘quan ho’ (love duet), ‘ca tru’ (ceremonial singing), ‘then’ singing of Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic people, and practices related to Vietnamese beliefs in the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms.
In addition, in mountainous districts such as Son Dong, Luc Ngan, Luc Nam, and Yen The, the cultural identities of the province’s ethnic minority groups are also seen through various types of traditional folk singing such as the ‘Sinh ca’ of Cao Lan ethnic group, ‘Cnang coo’ of San Chi ethnic group, ‘Soonghao’ of Nung ethnic group, ‘Soong Co’ of San Diu ethnic minorities, of which ‘Sinh ca’ and ‘Cnang coo” have been recognised as national intangible cultural heritage.
Preserving, promoting traditional cultural values
Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Minh Ha said that the locality is actively implementing a plan to preserve and promote traditional art values in the 2022-2025 period.
Bac Giang focuses on preserving and promoting the value of ‘cheo’ singing and other traditional art forms recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage of humanity, such as ‘quan ho’, ‘ca tru’, ‘chau van’ (belonging to practices related to Vietnamese beliefs in the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms), and ‘then’ singing.
'Quan ho' singing in Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province. (Photo: VNA) The province is also stepping up innovation to create traditional artworks associated with contemporary art and tourism activities, contributing to improving locals’ spiritual life and promoting the image of Bac Giang’s land, people and cultures to both domestic and foreign tourists.
The province has also paid attention to organising classes to teach folk singing and setting up new clubs.
From the 2022-2023 academic year, Bac Giang is piloting the introduction of traditional arts into extracurricular programmes in schools.
To achieve the goal, Ha said that the locality continues to develop a team of artists of the Bac Giang Cheo Theater with good expertise, love for the art, and enthusiasm.
The culture, sports and tourism sector continues to coordinate with the education and training sector to improve the effectiveness of the programme to bring traditional arts into schools, establishing "I love folk songs" clubs in schools, staging scenes and composing new lyrics to the melodies associated with the school theme, and those praising the traditions of the homeland and the country.
In addition, Bac Giang province will strengthen coordination with tourism and travel agencies and organisations to include traditional arts into tourism service activities to serve visitors.
The province has had appropriate and satisfactory preferential regimes and policies for the artists and artisans involved in the conservation and promotion of traditional art values, while effectively mobilising the support of organisations and individuals for this work./.
