Kon Tum opens a training course for gong playing to young Xe Dang ethnic people

     The Central Highland Kon Tum provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is opening a training course on gong playing for nearly 50 young people from the Xe Dang ethnic minority group.
The training course started on July 20th and will close on August 20th 2009. It is aiming to preserve and promote the culture of the Xe Dang ethnic minority group in particular and ethnic groups in the Central Highlands in general.
During the one-month training course, artisans, mainly heads of villages, will teach the trainees how to play gongs in festivals to welcome guests, ceremonies for new traditional houses and funerals as well as buffalo slaughtering festival.
The Xe Dang ethnic minority people of nearly 100,000 live mostly in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, and in mountainous areas of central Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces. They pray to Gods and Spirits for high crop yields and safe daily life. They speak a language of the Mon-Khmer linguistic group.
Among traditional rituals of the Xe Dang people, buffalo slaughtering is the most sacred one attracting large numbers of people. They enjoy singing, dancing, playing gongs and cymbals, flutes and other musical instruments, and telling stories.