Xoan singing performance (Source: VNA)
Xoan singing has truly revived, a cultural and puppetry expert from Indonesia remarked following a Xoan performance in the northern province of Phu Tho on October 8.
Gaura Mancacaritadipura added that he thinks there will be no obstacle to putting the art on the list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind.
Xoan singing is now in the UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent protection.
Vanessa Achilles, a Programme Officer from the UNESCO Office in Bangkok, hailed efforts made by the Vietnamese Government to preserve Xoan singing, saying that the plan of action Vietnam is implementing will help bring this genre of singing into the representative list instead of the list in need of urgent protection.
The two experts were among the audience at the October 8 Xoan singing performance, which was held to introduce the age-old art to delegates attending a two-day conference in Hanoi on preservation of the Southeast Asian regional intangible cultural heritage. The delegates were from Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea .
Xoan singing is believed to have been developed during the reign of the Hung Kings (2890 BC to 250 BC). Traditionally, singers from Xoan guilds performed songs in sacred spaces, such as temples, shrines and communal houses during spring festivals.
Over the past years, Phu Tho province has carried out a lot of measures to preserve Xoan singing, including restoring 19 relic sites involved in Xoan singing, putting forward policies to honour Xoan artisans, and consulting the State on designing and enforcing preservation projects to soon remove Xoan singing from the list of intangible heritage in need of urgent protection.-VNA
