The opening ceremony of the Don Ca Tai Tu national festival was held in the southern province of Bac Lieu on April 25 in the presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The opening ceremony of the Don Ca Tai Tu national festival was held in the southern province of Bac Lieu on April 25 in the presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
 |
| A performance at the opening ceremony |
The festival came after the UNESCO recognition for Don Ca Tai Tu, a folk art form developed across Vietnam’s southern region since the end of 19th century, as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind, in December 2013.
Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam stressed that UNESCO recognition for Don Ca Tai Tu was an honour for Vietnamese people and southerners in particular, since the local residents are not only the creator of the art form but also the main factor in preserving and upholding the genre for younger generation.
As it is the first time Don Ca Tai Tu has been selected as the main feature of a national-level event, the organisation of the festival is a practical action to safeguard and promote the unique art form and Vietnamese culture in general, he said.
He expressed his hope that the event will create a rendezvous for Don Ca Tai Tu artists to exchange with each other and then seek ways to further promote its unique value.
He also took the occasion to call on people to raise people’s responsibility in protecting ancestors’ treasured cultural heritages in a bid to build an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity.
In his opening remark, Party Central Committee member Vo Van Dung, who also serves as Secretary of the Bac Lieu provincial Party’s Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Council, said that Don Ca Tai Tu had accompanied southerners from their reclamation of the region to their struggle against natural disasters and development process.
This strong attachment has made Don Ca Tai Tu an indispensable part of the locals’ spiritual life, playing an important role in the southern region’s culture.
The ceremony featured extracts from ancient Don Ca Tai Tu songs, as well as new compositions with newlywritten lyrics in different rhythmic structures. Each performance was detailed with information about the context and structure of the song, to provide viewers with a brief history and development of Don Ca Tai Tu.
Also on the occasion, outstanding collectives and individuals were presented with Prime Minister’s certificates of merit in honour for their significant contributions to facilitating UNESCO acknowledgement for Don Ca Tai Tu, as well as to preserving the genre.
(Source:Nhan Dan)
