Central Highlands provinces have undertaken various measures in a bid topreserve and uphold values of the cultural space of gongs – part of theworld’s intangible cultural heritage.
The culturalspace of gongs was recognised as an Oral Masterpiece and IntangibleCultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.
However, the Central Highlands—encompassing Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Kon Tum,Dak Nong, and Lam Dong—is facing a disintegration of this heritage assome ethnic minority households have recently sold their gongs anddismissed their traditional festivals due to impacts of the marketeconomy and western lifestyles.
To cope with thedecay, the provinces have designed respective blueprints for thepreservation of the cultural space and purchased sets of gongs whichwere then distributed to local cultural and community centres to use.
Training courses have been offered to instruct localchildren to play gongs, bringing the number of gong teams in the regionto nearly 1,400, 991 of which group young players.
Dak Lak province alone has spent more than 6 billion VND (over 279,000USD) on buying 150 sets of gongs for 150 cultural centres in ethniccommunities.
The province has invited Ede and M’nongethnic artisans to teach children how to play gongs and some villageshave proactively coordinated with primary schools to invite experiencedplayers to give instruction sessions.
As a result, Dak Lak is currently home to 700 gong teams, including 200 teams of young people.
A number of traditional festivals and gong songs have been revitalisedwhile cultural festivals at the district and provincial levels havealso been held every two or five years to help ethnics popularise theirculture.
Gongs, considered the most sacred andvaluable asset in every ethnic family in the Central Highlands, havehistorically been widely played at ethnic minority groups’ traditionalrituals and festivals.
Ethnic families in the regionare keeping more than 9,880 sets of gongs with over 5,650 sets in GiaLai and another 2,307 in Dak Lak. Most of the gongs belong to the Jarai,Bahnar, Ede and M’nong groups.-VNA
The culturalspace of gongs was recognised as an Oral Masterpiece and IntangibleCultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.
However, the Central Highlands—encompassing Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Kon Tum,Dak Nong, and Lam Dong—is facing a disintegration of this heritage assome ethnic minority households have recently sold their gongs anddismissed their traditional festivals due to impacts of the marketeconomy and western lifestyles.
To cope with thedecay, the provinces have designed respective blueprints for thepreservation of the cultural space and purchased sets of gongs whichwere then distributed to local cultural and community centres to use.
Training courses have been offered to instruct localchildren to play gongs, bringing the number of gong teams in the regionto nearly 1,400, 991 of which group young players.
Dak Lak province alone has spent more than 6 billion VND (over 279,000USD) on buying 150 sets of gongs for 150 cultural centres in ethniccommunities.
The province has invited Ede and M’nongethnic artisans to teach children how to play gongs and some villageshave proactively coordinated with primary schools to invite experiencedplayers to give instruction sessions.
As a result, Dak Lak is currently home to 700 gong teams, including 200 teams of young people.
A number of traditional festivals and gong songs have been revitalisedwhile cultural festivals at the district and provincial levels havealso been held every two or five years to help ethnics popularise theirculture.
Gongs, considered the most sacred andvaluable asset in every ethnic family in the Central Highlands, havehistorically been widely played at ethnic minority groups’ traditionalrituals and festivals.
Ethnic families in the regionare keeping more than 9,880 sets of gongs with over 5,650 sets in GiaLai and another 2,307 in Dak Lak. Most of the gongs belong to the Jarai,Bahnar, Ede and M’nong groups.-VNA
