BẮC GIANG — The People's Committee of Sơn Động District, Bắc Giang Province, in coordination with other units, recently organised the festival of Then singing - Tính lute and traditional folk songs of Ethnic Minorities in 2024 at the Tây Yên Tử Spiritual - Ecotourism Area. 

Artíans perform at the festival. Photo courtesy of the organisers

Tống Thị Hương Giang, the Vice Chairman of Sơn Động District People's Committee said: "Then is a long-lasting, traditional form of cultural practice of the Tày and Nùng ethnic people living in the mountainous districts of Bắc Giang Province.

"Then practice aims to satisfy the needs of spiritual and cultural activities as well as evoke artistic inspiration.

"Then is a folk performance that synthesises numerous art forms such as poetry, singing, dancing, painting and music. Tày and Nùng ethnic locals living in the districts of the province admire Then and pass it down in their spiritual life."

The festival is an activity to honour and widely promote the profound and distinctive values of the art in the province.

This is also an opportunity to introduce fine cultural traditions, contributing to building and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture rich in national identity, as well as strengthening the great national unity bloc, building a healthy and progressive cultural environment.

The festival allows artisans and performers to meet and learn experiences from each other, as well as convey the values of the art in the homeland of Bắc Giang to the young generation.

A total of 200 artisans, performers and musicians come from Sơn Động, Lục Ngạn and Lục Nam districts took part.

Teams performed 15 unique singing and dancing performances with themes praising the homeland, country and people of Bắc Giang, reflecting daily life, national cultural identity and local revolutionary historical traditions, with Then melodies, folk songs and folk dances of the Dao and Sán Chí ethnic groups. 

Artisans, actors, and musicians brought to the audience unique, impressive performances imbued with the national identity of the ethnic minorities of the Tày, Nùng, Dao and Sán Chí. 

The performed songs including Múa Chầu Then (Dancing to Then), Hát về bản em (Singing about your village), Hát về Bắc Giang (Singing about Bắc Giang) are in the form of theatre with an elaborate staging. 

With distinctive values, in 2019, Then singing practice of Tày, Nùng and Thái ethnic minorities in Việt Nam was included in UNESCO's list of the representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

To protect and promote heritage values, Sơn Động District as well as mountainous districts in the province have many policies and measures to promote Then singing and Tính music, to help it become more well-known. — VNS.