Thursday, Apr 03, 2025, 06:30 GMT Binh Dinh Online updates everyday
Search
English version Vietnamese version
VIETNAMESE EDITION
Home Page
News
National news
Politics - Society
Business
Culture - Sport
Travel
Land and People
Pictures about Binh Dinh
Lifestyle
Music
FOR INVESTORS
Investment projects

Investment Incentive Policies
TIPS FOR TOURISTS
Visa and Passport

Transportation

Phone Number

Restaurants

Hotels
Foreign Exchange
Buying Selling
EUR 22.336 22.796
USD 17.480 17.489
Weather Forecast
Local
Binh Dinh 17°C - 27°C
Quy Nhon 19°C - 27°C
Sea 17°C - 26°C
National
Da Nang 18°C - 25°C
Ha Noi 12°C - 23°C
Nha Trang 23°C - 27°C
Pleiku 15°C - 25°C
Ho Chi Minh 22°C - 33°C
International
Bangkok 23°C - 36°C
Beijing -7°C - 1°C
Tokyo -1°C - 7°C
Seoul -6°C - 1°C
 
International gong festival begins
15:20', 13/11/ 2009 (GMT+7)

Sixty gong troupes from five Asian countries and 24 cities and provinces in Vietnam kicked off the first International Gong Festival in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai on Nov. 12 night.

The four-day festival, organised by the provincial People’s Committee and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, has attracted thousands of local and foreign visitors.

Taking part are some 1,000 performers of 11 ethnic minority groups from the provinces of Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Nghe An and Hoa Binh as well as troupes from Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.

The festival will include religious ceremonies accompanied by gong orchestras, a buffalo festival, tomb abandonment ceremonies, seminars on preserving gong music, and exhibitions on ethnic minority cultures.

Provincial ethnic groups, including the Jrai, Ybrom, E De and Bahnar, will take part in rain worship and New Year ceremonies.

The festival aims to preserve the region’s unique gong culture recognised by UNESCO as an oral and intangible heritage of mankind.

Gong have been used for more than 3,000 years in Vietnam and have played a key role in the ethnic communities’ culture.

Because it is seen as a tool that helps connect them with heaven, gong culture is an inseparable part of the ethnic minority people’s spiritual life.

Gia Lai, which has 5,655 sets of gongs owned by various families, has the highest number of gongs in any of the Central Highland provinces. The nearby province of Dak Lak has 300 sets, and Kon Tum has 1,800.

Gongs are played to celebrate special occasions, including house warmings, the birth of a baby, weddings, ritual parades and funerals.

Attending the ceremony, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation Ha Thi Khiet said that gong culture united Southeast Asian nations.

“Gong culture is not only an invaluable property of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands, but for all Southeast Asian nations,” she said. “We have to preserve and promote it for future generations in Southeast Asian region and around the world.

“The festival plays an important role in preserving this culture as well as in uniting Southeast Asian nations.

  • Source: Vietnam+
Post this news via e-mail  Print page  Send feedback

CÁC TIN KHÁC >>
NA sets economic growth at 6.5 percent for 2010  (08/11/2009)
PM kicks off Van Phong transhipment port  (01/11/2009)
Vietnam to chair ASEAN as of January 1  (26/10/2009)
Economy escapes decline, PM says  (21/10/2009)
Most bank profits meet or exceed yearly targets  (19/10/2009)
Government web portal opens  (11/10/2009)
PM kicks off construction of North-South Expressway  (04/10/2009)
Storm claims 26 lives in central region  (30/09/2009)
Vietnam remains ‘hot spot’ for global investors  (20/09/2009)
Work starts on 80 million USD bio-ethanol plant  (07/09/2009)
Radio VOV launches East Sea broadcasting services  (31/08/2009)
Country draws in 10.4 billion USD in eight months  (26/08/2009)
NA elites wrap up 22nd meeting  (16/08/2009)
350 mln USD deal inked to reduce poverty  (10/08/2009)
Government meets on socio-economic development  (06/08/2009)
 
Hot News

The Youth Month 2012 was launched in Tay Son district on March 2, with the participation of over 500 Youth Union members and students.

Advertising