Festival bangs loud gong sound in Gia Lai province
The value of gong culture, a distinctive feature of the Central Highlands region and a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritages of Humanity by UNESCO since 2005, was highlighted at a festival held in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai on November 16.
Gong is a distinctive feature of the Central Highlands region. (Photo: tintaynguyen.com)
Gia Lai (VNA) – The value of gong culture, a distinctive featureof the Central Highlands region and a Masterpiece of the Oral and IntangibleHeritages of Humanity by UNESCO since 2005, was highlighted at a festival heldin the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai on November 16.
The festival was organised as part of the efforts to preserve and promote the CentralHighlands gong culture.
More than 500 gong artisans from 16 art troupes in the province attended theevent and delivered gong dancing, folk singing and traditional musical performances.
The Central Highlands, which comprises the five provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong,Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum, is home to stunning landscapes and diverseethnic minorities and cultures.
Gongs are not only musical instruments but also serve cultural functions forabout 20 ethnic minorities in the region. They come in a variety of shapes andsizes. “Cong” has a nipple and produces a single and uniform sound while “chieng”is flat and offers a wider range of notes. Different sizes are characterised byfamily names: mother, father, and older sister. Gongs can be played by hand orwith a stick.
It is believed that every gong hides a god or goddess who grows more powerful asthe gong ages. Every family possesses at least one gong, which indicates thefamily’s wealth, authority and prestige.-VNA
The Muong ethnic group is a minority group with many of its people residing in the western outskirt districts of My Duc, Ba Vi and Thach That in Hanoi.
The Central Highlands of Dak Nong has launched a project to preserve and promote the gong cultural heritage of the province for the 2016-2020 period with an investment of nearly 16 billion VND.
The Central Highlands province of Dak Lak will combine its coffee festival with its gong culture festival and introduce the first of this kind in 2017.
The sixth Buon Me Thuot coffee festival and the Central Highlands Gong Culture Festival 2017 will take place in Dak Lak province from March 8 – 13 next year.
The Vietnamese team will gather on June 26 in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, where they will train until July 14 before departing for Indonesia for the ASEAN U23 Championship 2025, which runs from July 15 to 29. Vietnam will face Laos on July 19 and Cambodia on July 22 in the group stage.
The exhibition showcases more than 100 valuable documents and artifacts, divided into two main parts: “Journalist Nguyen Ai Quoc – Ho Chi Minh” and “President Ho Chi Minh – Founder and Mentor of Vietnamese Revolutionary Press.” This is an opportunity to recall the late leader’s journalism journey and affirm his exceptional role in founding and guiding the revolutionary press in Vietnam.
For the first time, the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) has granted Vietnam hosting rights for the two championships, including the Asian women’s solo category, which debuts this year as an officially recognised event.
Eight teams will join the tournament, divided into two groups. Group A features Vietnam, the Philippines, Sichuan Club (China), and Australia, while Group B consists of Vietnam U21, Korabelka Club (Russia), Taiwan (China), and U21 Thailand.
Despite strong home support and high expectations, Vietnam were unable to overcome the defending champions, who secured their third consecutive win over Vietnam in a regional final, following previous victories in 2014 and 2023.
The event, part of Vietnam’s cultural diplomacy strategy through 2030, was jointly organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in Venezuela and USM’s Faculty of International Relations. It attracted thousands of students from universities across Venezuela.
For the first time, Vietnamese audiences will have the opportunity to experience the ballet masterpiece "Don Quixote" in its original version by renowned choreographer Marius Petipa.
The contest carried deep meaning as it was the first time the life of Vietnamese women abroad had been highlighted as the central theme, said poet and writer Nguyen Quang Thieu, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers’ Association.
The event formed part of Vietnam’s ongoing campaign to seek UNESCO World Heritage status for the complex at the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, scheduled to take place in Paris in July.
Creative cultural festivals are fast emerging as a new catalyst for tourism development in Vietnam, as localities increasingly invest in these vibrant events on a more systematic and larger scale.
This marks the first time Vietnam has hosted a continental-level Muay event which will feature competitions across 28 weight categories in combat and eight performance categories.
Coming to the Vietnamese booth, visitors had the chance to take part in a bamboo dance, a workshop on painting woven bamboo or rattan, or quizzes about Vietnam.
These are impressive achievements, not only showing the efforts and prowess of Vietnamese paddlers but also serving as proof of the sports sector’s strategic and systematic investment.
The cultural event in Canberra not only fostered cultural exchanges between Vietnam and Australia but also contributed to promoting Vietnam’s image internationally
The U23 competition will run from June 16 to 22, followed by the U17 event from June 23 to 28, while athletes competing in the U23 category will undergo weight and skill checks ahead of the matches starting June 18, while similar checks for U17 athletes will take place before June 23.
Vietnam continues to sit just behind continental powerhouses Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, China, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Gong is a distinctive feature of the Central Highlands region. (Photo: tintaynguyen.com) 
