Clash of cultures

International gong festival disappoints with pop-style concert that neglects tradition.
Traditional gong music was the first casualty of the neon lights and blaring synthesizers that invaded the first International Gong Festival in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai November 12-15.
According to the organizers, more than 58 gong troupes from Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines performed at the event in front of 20,000 local and international visitors.
But aside from the polite applause awarded to performers, there was much head shaking and hand wringing in the audience as local and foreign observers alike said the bright and loud event was a far cry from the sacred atmosphere of a traditional festival.
The only part of the show that garnered major praise was a visit to Kon Tum Province’s Dak Ro Wa Commune, where Kon Jo Ri villagers gave what was considered a more authentic version of the gong’s song and dance. They performed in front of their old stilt houses, where they still live, using only the light of a bonfire to see. Silhouetted by the fire and night, the villagers and their gongs were in their element deep in the forest surrounded by nature.
However, on the main stage, many performers were in brand new outfits singing and dancing on red carpets in front of new stilt houses built just for the occassion.
Silhouetted by spotlights and fog-machines, the performers looked like they were from Cirque du Soleil, not from remote mountain villages.
Brand new bag
Visitors complained that watching the performers play on stage in a well-manicured park was not nearly as meaningful as hearing the gongs in a rural village, where they’re supposed to be heard.
Some audience members said they even saw performers sitting on their gongs during breaks. Many took offense as the instruments are considered sacred objects.
Older visitors wondered how young people were supposed to learn about the true culture and history of the gong from the confused event.
Professor Oscar Salemink, head of the Social and Cultural Anthropology at VU University Amsterdam and a prominent scholar on Vietnam, said the program had little to do with a real gong festival in terms of cultural features.
Dr. My Liem, deputy director of HCMC Music Conservatory, just shrugged her shoulders instead of commenting on the show.
Singer Bach Yen muttered “very disappointing” twice when asked about what she had seen. She said the festival did not respect the sacredness of gong culture.
What’s that sound?
Professor Tran Van Khe said the festival was “grand, beautiful and in order.”
But he also said that “the large stage, the loud music and colorful flickering lights did not evoke the real feeling of the Central Highlands gong culture.
“Spectators could see artists move and dance but they could not feel the soul of the gong,” he said.
High-capacity loudspeakers blaring pop-style accompaniment on keyboards, drums and guitars made it almost impossible to hear the actual gongs themselves.
“Visitors to a gong festival expect to hear the sounds of the gongs but the loud music spoiled it,” said Khe.
The professor said he thought the organizers might have wanted a lot of visitors, so they held the show in easy-to-reach places, instead of in the remote areas where the gongs are still prevalent.
However, Khe said, UNESCO recognized “The Space of Gong Culture in the Central Highlands” as a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity four years ago as a way to recognize the atmosphere that the gongs bring about in the middle of the forest, when the sounds of the bronze instruments reverberate through what is otherwise an impenetrable silence.
The festival clearly didn’t recreate this atmosphere, he said, adding that it was not right to mix gong sounds with other instruments.
“We should have organized fewer activities. We shouldn’t have organized so many performances that failed to help spectators enjoy the real beauty of the masterpiece [of the gong]. The festival this year was for marketing and ‘fun’ only,” professor Khe said.