The annual love duet singing festival will be organised soon. (SourceL: File Photo) Hanoi (VNA) -The annual love duet singing festival will be organised on February 27 and 28in Lim town, Noi Due and Lien Bao commune of Tien Du district in the northernprovince of Bac Ninh.
The two-day festival isexpected to gather dozens of local amateur and professional love duet (quan ho)singers and thousands of tourists.
The artists will perform onsix stages on Lim Mountain, floating boats in nearby lake and at veteransingers’ houses.
The singing will be in acappella style (singing without musical instruments), which was the local styleof love duets, Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy head of the festival’s organisingboard, said.
Folk games such astraditional swinging, wrestling, hide and seek and card games will beorganised.
The singers are allowed tosing only quan ho, not other traditional vocal arts like cheo(traditional opera) and chau van (ceremonial singing) ormodern pop music, he said.
The organisers also bancomputer games, circus, flying motor and other games that use loudspeakers andwould affect the festival’s atmosphere.
“This year, we will tightenmanagement for the event,” Hung said. “If any individuals or clubs violateregulations, the locality will not permit them to perform at the event nextyear or at any other event hosted by the locality.”
The art of love duets wasinscribed in the UNESCO’s representative list of intangible cultural heritagein September 2009.
Quan ho is an art form that combines various elements, includingmusic, lyrics and costumes, and features the distinctive culture of people inthe region formerly called Kinh Bac.
The singingrepresents different kinds of relationships -- the relationship betweenmale and female singers as romantic lovers, the relationship between twofriendly villages and the relationship between performers and the audience.Each element helps define quan ho, give it life and meaning, andthe resulting harmony is so much more than just a beautiful song.-VNA
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