Survey to help save folklore

Half the nation’s cities and provinces had been canvassed to uncover folklore for an encyclopaedia being compiled on the topic, a national congress in the capital was told on Tuesday.
The president of the Association of Vietnamese Folklorists, Professor To Ngoc Thanh, told 300 folk artisans, scholars and researchers at the congress that 105 folklores had been restored over past five years, removing them from danger of extinction.
Folklore includes the likes of music, dance, legends, customs, traditions, oral history and popular beliefs.
Summarising the association’s achievements over the past five years, Thanh reported on Vision 2010, which had been launched to canvass folklore nationwide.
The project aimed to find out which folklore could be saved or restored and to identify skilled people in each category.
By the end of 2009, 31 of 63 cities and provinces in the country had been canvassed, he said.
To recognise the contributions and key roles of local practitioners of folklore, the association had granted 120 people the title of Folk Artisan.
"Thanks to the guidance of those artisans, 105 folklore heritages have been restored over past five years, removing them from danger of extinction," he said
Meanwhile, publication of research by association members had helped popularise ethnic groups’ folklore.
Thanh said 2,000 works would be selected for publication within the next 10 years which could be considered an encyclopaedia of Vietnamese folklore.
"Each book will contain an English-language summary of the content," he said. "Right before this year’s congress, we have published 70 books of this kind."
Association members also had contributed to completing dossiers of nha nhac (court music), Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) gong and quan ho (love duets) which were submitted to UNESCO for recognition as World Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.