Vietnam Gong Culture Festival kicks off

Gong Culture Festival kicks off

The Central Highlands Gong Culture Festival 2007 opened at the Central Highlands Dak Lak provincial museum on November 21.

Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan joined around 10,000 people at the opening ceremony of the festival.

The four-day festival, the largest of its kind in the Central Highlands, will include performances by 25 domestic and foreign gong troupes and art troupes from Laos and the Republic of Korea.

Local street festivals, a photo exhibition on the cultural tradition of Vietnam’s gong and a gong casting demonstration will be held alongside an exhibition of gong cultural space.

An exhibition-cum-fair on the Central Highlands and a workshop on the history of the gong are also on the festival’s agenda.

The festival, titled “Old forest night”, promotes the cultural traditions of the Central Highlands gong, recognised as “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritages of Humanity” by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in November 2006.

During the festival Vice State President Doan also opened the Central Highlands Exhibition-cum-Fair 2007 with the participation of 136 businesses.

The Vice President attended the launch of a special set of stamps on the cultural tradition and history of the Central Highlands gongs.

(Source: VNA)