HCM CITY — The second National Tài Tử Music Festival will take place in Bình Dương New City in in the southern province of Bình Dương from April 8-12.

Speaking at a press conference in HCM City yesterday, Huỳnh Vĩnh Ái, deputy minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: “Tài tử music has a wide appeal to people in not only southern but also northern provinces. So, the festival will contribute to raising people’s awareness about the need to preserve and promote a national cultural heritage.”

The event is co-organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the provincial People’s Committee.

Ái said that the State had recently recognised 70 performers and researchers as meritorious artisans in the field of tài tử music, all of whom will participate in the event.

The organisers have invited Miss Việt Nam 2016 Đỗ Mỹ Linh and child singer Bảo Ngọc, whose parents are traditional artists, to become the festival’s representatives.

Huỳnh Ngọc Đáng, director of Bình Dương’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said at the conference that Linh and Ngọc would help attract young people to the festival, particularly to tài tử music.

The five-day festival will open with a special performance attracting hundreds of artists from arts troupes in 21 provinces in the southeast and Mekong Delta regions.

Directed by veteran composer Đinh Trung Cẩn, the show will begin on 8pm on April 8 at the square in front of the Bình Dương Central Administration Building.

The organisers will set up stalls to introduce activities promoting tài tử music in 21 provinces and tourism products related to the arts form.

An exhibition, workshop and song-composing contest will also be held during the festival.

Tài tử music is the prototype for vọng cổ (nostalgial tunes) and cải lương (reformed opera) of southern Việt Nam. It is part of the region’s traditional music that began about 100 years ago.

The music is always performed at traditional festivals, weddings and death anniversaries in the Mekong River Delta provinces of Cần Thơ, Sóc Trăng, Cà Mau and Bạc Liêu.

Musicians play traditional instruments, including the two-stringed guitar called the đàn kìm, and are accompanied by singers who express varying emotions.

In 2013, the music was recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

The first National Tài Tử Music Festival was held in Bạc Liêu Province in 2014. The six-day event attracted more than 20,000 local and foreign visitors.

The ministry confirmed the third festival will be hosted by Cần Thơ City. — VNS