HÀ NỘI — The first festival on world’s intangible cultural heritage will be held in the northern province of Tuyên Quang in September. 

Provinces from across the county will participate in the festival to showcase world-recognised Vietnamese intangible cultural heritage, including nhã nhạc (royal court music), gongs culture space in Tây Nguyên and quan họ (love duet singing), among others. 

Artistes from the central province of Thừa Thiên-Huế will perform nhã nhạc, which is the first Vietnamese intangible cultural heritage recognised by the UNESCO in 2003. Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province of Đắc Lắc will perform gongs. The cultural space of gongs in Tây Nguyên was recognised as a verbal masterpiece and intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2005. 

Quan họ, which received the tag of the world’s intangible cultural heritage in 2009, will be performed by people from the northern province of Bắc Ninh. Performers from the mountainous northern province of Hà Giang will perform unique nhảy lửa (fire jumping), which has been recognised as the national intangible culture heritage since 2013.

Other national intangible cultural heritages, such as xòe Thái dance, Xuân Phả dance and bài chòi singing, will be showcased by artistes from the northern province of Sơn La and the central provinces of Thanh Hóa and Quảng Nam. The southern Bạc Liêu Province will enthral festival-goers with đờn ca tài tử music, recognised by UNESCO in 2013. 

The festival showcasing the intangible cultural heritage, a part of Tuyên Quang Festival 2018, will be held on September 23. The Tuyên Quang Festival will take place from September 20 to 29, with the participation of various embassies in Việt Nam, including the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean embassies, as well as non-government and international organisations. — VNS