by Van Dat
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Sticking with it: A singer performs with an amateur band at a "music of the talented" festival in the southern city of Can Tho. The art is considered a glue that binds the Vietnamese community, especially those in the south. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vu |
HCM CITY — The don ca tai tu (music of the talented) is considered a glue that binds the Vietnamese community, especially those in the south where the art has been popular for more than a hundred years. However, the traditional music has not received sufficient public attention to formally preserve it even though it has been taught abroad, according to experts who spoke during the three-day conference to discus ways to revive don ca tai tu that opened yesterday in HCM City.
The event aims to earn the traditional music the status of a world intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. Proponents of this cause believe that don ca tai tu should have been recognised before some other types of Vietnamese music.
Pham Sanh Chau, general secretary of UNESCO Committee Viet Nam, said the music has astonishing power and should certainly be regconised by UNESCO.
"If the task is not completed, the cultural life of Vietnamese people cannot be shown comprehensively to the world," Chau said.
"Viet Nam has five kinds of music regconised as world intangible heritages, but they are in the north, central and Central Highlands. No traditonal music from the southern region has been regconised so far."
Chau recalled Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung saying he felt ashamed that he had not pushed harder for regconition for don ca tai tu when other forms of music had done so well.
Viet Nam has three world intangible cultural heritages in the north and two in the Central Highlands. The shortage in the south does not make sense given their rich cultural history.
Prof Tran Van Khe, a master of Vietnamese traditional music, said, "don ca tai tu is not just for entertainment but is a communal cultural activity."
He said don ca tai tu is not ceremonial music but rather music for the poor by a small number of artists.
"Most do not understand don ca tai tu the same way. Some only see it as amateur. Tu means talented people, so don ca tai tu is performed by talented people. But the talented people don't perform the music to earn money; they perform for their own pleasure or for audiences' pleasure."
In recent years, don ca tai tu has been performed on stage and broadcast on television. Many performances have included electric musical instruments, which, according to Khe, enriched rather than replaced the art—the concern of his son, music professor Tran Quang Hai.
The conference drew more than 120 local and foreign experts, including representatives from 21 provinces and cities in the south.
Researchers, educators, cultural administrators and musicians from seven countries, including Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea, discussed the characteristic features of the music and the ways in which it could be developed and preserved.
Five main issues related to don ca tai tu have been raised, including its history, creation and development, value, conceptual aspects, and suggestions for preservation.
There are 2,019 don ca tai tu clubs in the country and more than 22,643 members total. Prof Khe believes that number will increase once an application for UNESCO recognition is drafted.
The southern Vietnamese Music of the talented derives, like other kinds of music, from certain parts of Vietnamese ceremonial music, and is thus related to the development of certain instrumental ensembles and specific playing techniques.
Hue Royal Court Music, Gong culture, Quan Ho (Love duets), Ca Tru (Ceremonial singing) and Viet Nam's Saint Giong Festival have already been regconised as world intangible cultural heritages. —VNS