The training courses on playing double drums, triple gongs, combined with five-gong ensembles, recently organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Phu Mo coupled with Xuan Lanh communes, not only equip participants with practical skills but also awaken pride in their ethnic cultural identity, laying a foundation for the continued preservation alongside spread of gong culture.

During the recent days, the sounds of double drums, triple gongs, and five-gong ensembles resonated throughout the courtyard of Dinh Nup Ethnic Boarding School (Phu Mo commune). Thirty students in the class are ethnic minority teenagers from the commune. According to artisan La Chi Tam, the gong culture’s significant genuine value is affirmed throughout daily life. Therefore, in addition to technical instruction, the artisans also convey the meaning of each gong piece along with ritual so that students can understand their villages’ history, beliefs, combined with folk knowledge.

The artisans of the Xi Thoai village gong-playing team teaching young learners how to play the gongs.

In Xuan Lanh commune, the ground of the Xi Thoai village Cultural House was filled with a vibrant atmosphere of teaching as well as practising, with 22 students being directly instructed by local artisans. Multiple artisans have been involved with gongs coupled with drums for almost their entire lives, then now becoming “passes on the torch” to the younger generation.

The village elder, Mr. So Du Linh, 71 years old, has played gongs and drums since the age of 11. Throughout numerous years of practice together with performance, he has become a veteran artisan in the village’s gong alongside drum ensemble.

Sowing the seeds for the younger generation

While previously, gong along with drum music was mainly passed down within families or through traditional festivals, training courses organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism have opened up opportunities for young people to access this heritage in a systematic way, which is not only a way to preserve the folk art form but also a process of sowing cultural “seeds” in the younger generation.

Students of Dinh Nup Ethnic Boarding School (Phu Mo commune) practicing the xoang dance.

According to comrade So Minh Mui, the Phu Mo Communal People’s Committee Vice Chairman, the training courses carry particular significance in the context of numerous artisans getting older. When students learn coupled with practice directly with artisans, they can deeply understand the meaning of each gong piece; which enables the traditional cultural values to be sustainably continued. This is also the foundation for the locality to build young gong bands, serving cultural activities, festivals, together with developing community tourism in the future.

In Xuan Lanh commune, this continuity is clearly shown through families with multiple generations involved in playing gong music. Artisan Dinh Van May is not only a performer but also a teacher to the youth in the village. His son, Dinh Van Minh, has been learning to play gongs from his father since the 7th grade and now knows how to play both drums alongside gongs. “Besides playing in rhythm, my father also taught me why the Ba Na people cherish gongs. I want to continue learning to preserve the culture of my ethnic group,” Minh shared.

The local opening of gong-playing classes provides an opportunity for a large number of youths to access and practice gongs more regularly, thereby contributing to reviving the vitality of gongs in community life.

Translated by TRINH THUY