Folk singing festival highlights traditional culture

The third national festival of Then singing and Tinh zither performances opened in the northern province of Bac Kan on August 24 as part of various cultural activities celebrating major national events and the 60th anniversary of Bac Kan’s Liberation Day.
The festival was attended by the Head of the Party Central Committee’s Mass Mobilisation Commission, Ha Thi Khiet, plus Party and State leaders, ambassadors and representatives from Belgium, Canada, China, Laos, the Philippines, Venezuela, Italy and Panama along with 300 artists from 11 provinces and cities throughout the country.
In his opening speech, the Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Huynh Vinh Ai, said Then singing and Tinh zither performances are original art forms created by Vietnamese ethic minority groups such as the Tay, Nung and Thai. This kind of art highlights the diversification of different cultures within the community of Vietnamese ethnic minority groups, the combination of human and natural beauty, between art values, the belief that a better spiritual life leads to happiness in real life.
occasion, 13 items of Then singing and Tinh zither performances were given by local artists at the opening ceremony which ended with a piece called “ The Legend of Then singing” performed by 60 artists from Bac Kan arts troupe, students from the provincial Teachers’ College and children from the Duc Xuan primary school.
Vitality of Then singing and Tinh zither performances
The festival has been held annually since 2005 and this type of art has proved it has a strong vitality in the spiritual and social life of Tay, Nung, and Thai ethnic people and other ethnic minority groups.
This year, more than 300 artists from 11 provinces and cities nationwide gathered at the festival to honour the values of Then singing and Tinh zither performances.
Then singing is a type of traditional folk art and combines culture with the belief that everything has a soul and is usually performed at traditional festivals, vividly reflecting the spiritual lives and customs of the ethnic minorities. During this festival, audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy Then singing iems performed by singers and musicians from the Giay ethnic group in the northern province of Lao Cai.
Trinh Thi Kim Dung, deputy director of the HCM City Cultural Centre said that the city’s leaders always pay special attention to developing Then singing and Tinh zither performances.
This year, the festival will be held in Bac Kan town from August 24-26.