A festival honouring the cultural value of Khen (panpipe) of the Mong ethnic minority people will be held in Dong Van town from April 27-28. (Photo: VNA) Ha Giang (VNA) - A festival honouring the cultural value of Khen (panpipe) ofthe Mong ethnic minority people will be held in Dong Van town, the northernmountainous province of Ha Giang from April 27-28.
According to Chairman of the Dong Van district People’s Committee Hoang VanThinh, the festival is organised to preserve and promote traditional values ofthe Mong people on the Dong Van Karst Plateau, while enhancing exchange and solidarityamong ethnic minority groups in the locality.
Festival goers will have chance to enjoy stellar khen performances staged bylocal artisans and indulge themselves in a cultural space of ethnic communitiesin the mountainous areas through a khen competition, the making of khen,displays of local staples, sport activities and folk games.
Khen has played an important role in the cultural and spiritual life of theMong people. It gained the national intangible heritage status from the Ministry ofCulture, Sports and Tourism in 2015.
The khen is a wind instrument consisting of severalsmall bamboo tubes, arranged closely together with one end connected to awooden sound box. The khen may have six, 12 or 14 tubes. While popular with anumber of ethnic groups in Vietnam, including the Thai and the Muong, it ismost associated with the Mong group.
The khen was onceclosely related to the daily lives of the Mong. Tour guides in the northwesternregion used to say, "When we enter the house of a Mong person, only whenwe see the khen can we know that we are in the house of a powerful and talentedman."
Legend has it that, longago, an old couple gave birth to six children. When they passed away, thechildren cried their eyes out and blew through small bamboo tubes to tell oftheir sorrows for the death of their parents and the loss of their love.Thereafter, the Mong composed touching melodies to show their sentiments towardtheir ancestors.-VNA
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