HA NOI — International and Vietnamese music specialists discussed research findings on local music and culture at the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology in Ha Noi on Friday. The discussions were organised as part of activities at two symposiums, one on music and minorities and the other on applied ethno-musicology, held in collaboration with the International Council for Traditional Music and running until Wednesday.
Music experts presented their studies on issues such as ethnic minority music in Viet Nam and ways to preserve musical heritage in danger of being lost.
French researcher Defrance Yves, who studied the music of mountainous communities in northern provinces of Hoa Binh and Cao Bang in 2004 and 2005, said that while modernity posed a threat to the musical traditions of ethnic minorities, technologies such as video cameras could help in preservation efforts.
"Many musical traditions die out when they lose their primary social, religious or ritual functions," said Yves. "The disappearance of a single musical tradition means a whole repertoire and performance techniques may be lost.
"However, with today's technology, such as the simple camcorders, we can help ethnic minority people in northern Viet Nam to preserve the richness of their culture."
Nguyen Thi My Liem from the HCM City Academy of Music shared her research findings on the ritual music of ethnic Cham people in the southern province of An Giang, whose culture was heavily influenced by Islam.
"The music is mainly ceremonial music, used for marriages, funerals and Muslim ceremonies," she said.
"At the same time, the music of this community both expresses the inheritance of traditional elements of ancient Vietnamese Cham culture as well as modern life and the tendency of globalisation."
The ability for some ethnic minority cultures to survive despite the challenges of modernity were discussed by UK researcher O'Briain Lonan, who spent a year carrying out fieldwork in Viet Nam on the music of Mong communities in the north.
"Their rich vocal and instrumental traditions in both secular and sacred music are constantly being re-negotiated in this rapidly changing country," he said. "Interactions with other ethnic minorities and the Kinh majority have added new colours that have been appropriated by the Mong as part of their culture."
The symposiums, held in Viet Nam for the first time, were jointly organised by the International Council for Traditional Music, the Viet Nam Institute of Musicology and the National Music Academy of Viet Nam.
The event was sponsored by the Transposition Project, a large-scale cultural exchange programme that was founded in 2006 by the Norwegian Government. It marked the beginning of a new phase in global integration. — VNS