Tay Nguyen Gong Culture Festival closes
The 2018 Tay Nguyen Gong Culture Festival wrapped up with a colourful closing ceremony held in Pleiku city, the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) province of Gia Lai, on the night of December 2.
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The highlight of the closing event was a gong and traditional music and dance performance typical of the cultures of the Central Highlands, home to many ethnic minority groups.
Addressing the ceremony, Chairman of Gia Lai provincial People’s Committee Vo Ngoc Thanh said the festival was a big feast of not only wonderful gong performances by excellent gong artists but also traditional music of other localities in the country.
“The 2018 Tay Nguyen Gong Culture Festival sends the message for all people to join hands in conserving and developing the cultural values of the gong, which has been recognised by UNESCO as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of the humanity,” Thanh said.
Taking place from November 30, the festival’s main activities included traditional rituals, folk wood sculpture, brocade weaving, epic recitals, photo and document exhibitions, and conferences on the preservation and promotion of gong culture legacy of ethnic races in the region, among others.
The gong is closely linked to the daily life of local people in Tay Nguyen. Their belief systems form a mystical world where the gongs serve as a privileged language between men, divinities and the supernatural world.
Currently, Tay Nguyen has more than 10,000 sets of gongs, over half of which are kept in Gia Lai province.
