National Ca Tru Festival opens in Ha Tinh

November 02, 2018 | 16:32

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More than 300 artists and instrumentalists from 13 cities and provinces are gathering at the National Ca Tru (ceremonial singing) Festival that kicked off on November 1 night in the central province of Ha Tinh.

The festival is held on the occasion of the 240th birthday of Nguyen Cong Tru, a poet and scholar under the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945) who greatly contributed to the development of Ca Tru.

It also aims to affirm Vietnam’s full implementation of its commitments to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to protecting and promoting values of the traditional genre of music.

Furthermore, the festival’s outcomes will serve as a foundation for Vietnam to propose UNESCO remove the singing from the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The 13 participating localities are Hanoi, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and Phu Tho in the north, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh in the central region, and Ho Chi Minh City.

The best troupes will be honoured at a ceremony on November 5.

Ca tru was included in the UNESCO list of World Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2009. It is one of the most uniquely genres of folk music in Vietnam’s treasure of traditional music.

Ca tru features a female singer accompanied by a small group of musicians. The art genre appeared in the North around the 15th century and thrived until the early 20th century. Since then, it has decreased in popularity due to the spread of modern recreational and cultural activities.

VNA

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