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| A don ca tai tu performance in Can Tho Province - Photo: Dang Khoa |
March 2011 is the deadline for Vietnam to forward its dossier, so a film crew from the institute began a fact-finding tour in mid-November to shoot a documentary on southern amateur music in 14 southeastern and Mekong Delta provinces over two months.
An international seminar on don ca tai tu will also be hosted at the Rex Hotel Saigon on January 9 in HCMC’s District 1. The seminar will feature 33 scientific studies, of which seven are from France, Cyprus, Germany, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
A singer will perform with traditional instrument musicians playing the dan co (also known as a dan nhi), the Vietnamese two stringed fiddle, dan tranh, or 16 string zither and the doc huyen cam (the monochord, which is now often replaced by the guitar).
Officials say they hope the compilation of a dossier to ask UNESCO for recognition of the music as an intangible culture would protect the nation’s cultural heritage at an international level and raise the community’s awareness of the art while promoting the country’s image to attract more tourists.
As ca tru (ceremonial singing) and quan ho (love duets) in the north or nha nhac (Hue royal music) in the central and gongs in the Central Highlands have been recognized as the world’s intangible heritages, don ca tai tu needs the same recognition.
According to statistics,, 21 provinces and cities in Vietnam have don ca tai tu with 2,019 clubs with 22,643 members and 2,850 musical instruments.
