This type of folk singing is popular in nearly 260 villages in thecentral provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh. The two provinces have 51singing clubs with over 800 vocalists, many of whom are activelypreserving the folk music.
Vi-Giam folk music, estimated to have 15 tunes of Vi and 8 airs ofGiam, is a repartee sung while working. It reflects the work, culturallife and feelings of the residents in the central coastal provinces.
Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Dang Thi Bich Lien saidthe recognition of Vi-Dam as a cultural masterpiece of humanity is ofgreat significance to Vietnam since the folk genre plays an importantrole in bringing the local community together.
Thecountry committed to implementing an action programme to preserveVi-Giam singing, carrying out policies to honour artisans, andintensifying communication campaigns to educate young generations onthis type of art.
Talking to Vietnam News Agencycorrespondents in Paris, Permanent Vice Chairman of Ha Tinh provincialPeople’s Committee Nguyen Thien and Vice Chairwoman of Nghe Anprovincial People’s Committee Dinh Thi Le Thanh expressed their pride oftheir localities’ folk singing becoming part of the world’s intangiblecultural heritage treasure.
They also acknowledgedthe responsibility for and the necessity of building specific measuresto preserve the heritage value, thus helping promote the culturalidentity and boost sustainable development of the two provinces.
Vi-Dam became the ninth Vietnamese cultural practice wining UNESCO’sintangible heritage status. The other eight practices recognised byUNESCO are Hue's royal court music, Gong space culture in Tay Nguyen(Central Highlands), the northern province of Bac Ninh's love duetsinging, the Giong festival, Ca Tru ceremonial singing, Xoan singing,Don Ca Tai Tu music and the worship of Hung Kings.
At the session, 33 other cultural pieces worldwide received UNESCO’srecognition as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, bringing thetotal number of heritages for this category to 314.-VNA