01/02/2013 2:55:41 CH
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Keeping some traditional values of gong performance
Quang Tri organized the Arieu Ping and gong festival in Ta Rut commune of Dakrong district to honour the traditional cultural values of gong performance in the local ethnic minority groups on January 27.

Gong performances are closely tied to community cultural rituals and ceremonies of ethnic groups, with gong sounds mean to communicate with deities and gods. On November 25, 2005, in Paris, the space of gong culture in Central Highlands was recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
For ethnic groups, the gong is a musical instrument of sacred power and with every gong there is a god who gets more powerful as the gong gets older. The festival marks a wide range of activities such as procession and incense offering ceremonies, gong performance, a buffalo festival and an archery contest together with folk music and dances with the hope for a happier and wealthier new year.
"God of gong" is the protector of the community so the gong was associated with all rites, such as funerals, buffalo sacrifices, crop rites, harvests, ceremonies to pray for the health of people and cattle, the inauguration of houses, ceremonies to see-off soldiers and the victory celebration.
Another problem is that the number of gong performers has decreased as young people become more interested in modern music than traditional gong culture. However, gongs have been used to celebrate special occasions, including new house celebration, grave leaving ceremony, weddings, ritual parades and funerals for more than 3,000 years in Vietnam . Gong culture is an inseparable part of the ethnic minority groups’ spiritual life as it is seen as a tool that helps them connect with the heaven.
Arieu Ping is the biggest festival of the Pako ethnic minority group to pay homage and tribute to the deceased. At the festival, the authorised body aims at helping revive and restore the traditional performing environment of gong and support and preserve festivals and ceremonies using gong.
Raising awareness and providing information about the need to preserve gong was also required. It was important to teach gong at primary schools. The A Dok primary school in Dak Doa District, Gia Lai province is the first school in the province in 10 years to teach gong to students.

Source: Vietnamese Culture/Cinet