The first international gong festival will be held in the Central highlands province of Gia Lai from November 8-11

The withdrawal of a well-known stage director just a day after the first international gong festival was publicly announced in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai is only a hiccup, organizers claim.

“I am absolutely dumbfounded and what had happened seems unfair to me, my company and other partners,” Duong said, adding he does not want to be employed by Son Lam company to act as the event/stage director.

“It’s improbable that such an arrangement can succeed. The synchronicity of the whole festival might be broken since the director is not able to work with his own group on brainstorming and organizing the festivities.”

Duong also added that festival’s scenario as well as art designs sketched out by him and his group are registered under Vietnamese and international copyright laws.

“It will be illegal for any person or organization to copy part or the entire event’s format,” Duong insisted.

“Contingency planning”

Director of the Gia Lai provincial department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Phan Xuan Vu said a contingency plan has been designed for such hiccups.

“That Duong has withdrawn from the event is not a big deal,” Vu explained. “Earlier, we had invited Duong’s company and Son Lam Company together to implement the event. However, Duong wanted his company to cover everything.”

“We did not reach an agreement. Therefore, Duong withdrew from the festival. That’s normal.

“We had also received many other plans from different companies and we have alternatives for any circumstance. We have instructed Son Lam Company to invite another festival event director.”

Vu said he could not announce the new scenario at this time because he would like to make it a surprise for festival goers.

According to provincial authorities, Gia Lai will host the festival in November (8-11) with the participation of thirty gong troupes from Vietnam’s ethnic groups and other countries including Malaysia, Laos and Cambodia.

The festival’s opening ceremony is expected to welcome about 3,000 performers in the Revolutionary Square, located in the province’s Pleiku City.

Le Tien Tho, vice minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the festival aims at preserving the unique culture of the region, one which was recognized by UNESCO as an Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.

Gongs, although of unknown origin, are an integral part of ethnic minority cultures in Lam Dong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, and Dak Nong provinces in the highlands.

There are two main types of gongs, the “cong” and the “chieng.” “Cong” has a knob in the middle and delivers a deep bass sound, while the “chieng” is more melodious.

The gongs of Vietnam are distinguished by the way they are played. Each player carries a different gong measuring 25 to 80 cm in diameter.

Groups of three to 12 men and women play the gongs. Different arrangements and rhythms are adopted depending on whether the participants are sacrificing bullocks, blessing the rice, mourning, or celebrating the harvest.

Cultural space

The ethnic minorities of the Central Highlands are gong masters who have used their unique sensibility to raise it to the level of an outstanding musical instrument.

According to Vu, Gia Lai has the largest number of gong sets at more than 5,500 and some 700 bands and troupes who play gongs throughout its villages.

Gongs from different areas have distinct sounds, Vu said.

In the hands of talented folk artists, each gong strikes a musical note in an orchestra as a piece of music is performed.

For ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands, gongs and gong culture are a means to affirm their communities and cultural identities.

In recent times, they have emerged as an attractive, appealing cultural symbol of the Central Highlands as a whole.

Playing the gong is not merely entertainment for its residents, it is a spiritual activity that connects them to the earth that has nourished their communities for centuries.

Reported by Hoang Anh