"Love of the Southern Land" - Don Ca Tai Tu music program
On Jan 19th, 2023, Van Lang Heritage Institute collaborated with the Institute of Culture, Arts and Media Training to organize Don Ca Tai Tu (the performance of amateur talents) music program with the theme “Love of the Southern Land”, attracting the participation of about 300 students. Through the program, students got familiarized with Don Ca Tai Tu, a typical folk art of southern Vietnam.
The program has the participation of Dr. Nguyen Dac Tam, Co-founder, Founding committee of Van Lang University, Director of Van Lang Heritage Institute; Poet Nguyen Duy, Deputy Director of the Institute of Culture, Arts and Media Training, Chairman of Van Lang Cultural Club; Dr. Le Hong Phuoc, PhD in Cultural History, Don Ca Tai Tu – Cai Luong researcher, Deputy Head of the Department of French Philology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (National University of Ho Chi Minh City), a member of the Ho Chi Minh City Cultural Heritage Association.
Flourished in southern Vietnam in the late 19th century, Don Ca Tai Tu is a well-known performing art form deriving from the ceremonial music (Nhac Le), the Nguyen dynasty’s royal court music, and folk music of the central and southern regions. Consisting of two main elements, don (playing the instruments) and ca (singing), Don Ca Tai Tu is performed by talented people, called tai tu. The main musical instruments in Don Ca Tai Tu include the kim (two string moon-shaped lute), the tranh (sixteen-string zither), the co (two string fiddle), the ty ba (pear-shaped lute), the tam (three-string lute), the sao (vertical flute), the tieu (horizontal flute), the song lang (percussion instrument), etc. These instruments are played according to songs based on 72 ancient musical pieces and 20 principal musical pieces consisting of 4 groups: Bac, Ha, Nam, Oan.
In 2013, UNESCO recognized Don Ca Tai Tu as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The “Love of the Southern Land” program marks the 10th anniversary of Don Ca Tai Tu’s UNESCO recognition and aims to preserve and promote Vietnamese cultural heritage.
Not only did the program include a variety of art performances that characterizing the rich culture of the southern Vietnamese, but through the sharing of artists and experts, it also encouraged students to educate themselves on the history, development, and origins of Don Ca Tai Tu, folk instruments, and the journey of the old-time artists.
“Vietnamese youngsters have the right to love whatever they want. Nevertheless, I expect them to recognize Don Ca Tai Tu and Cai Luong as an intangible heritage in need of preservation, as the cradle, and as the lullaby of their mothers.”, Dr. Le Hong Phuoc shared.
With her love for art, MA. Trinh Thi Quyen, Secretary of the Pharmacy Department at Van Lang University, emotionally recalled her youth of studying at Cai Luong Theater.
News: Duc Phap, Phuong Thao
Images: Minh Tri, Quang Vinh
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