03:02, 17/02/2020

Preserving folk songs in Nha Trang

Many people who love traditional folk songs in Nha Trang City have showed their passion and talents at the folk song festivals organized regularly in the beach city in the past nearly 15 years. These festivals have also been a source of new talents for the city's music movement.
 

Many people who love traditional folk songs in Nha Trang City have showed their passion and talents at the folk song festivals organized regularly in the beach city in the past nearly 15 years. These festivals have also been a source of new talents for the city’s music movement.
 
The area of Children’s Park (Nha Trang City) often becomes vibrant on the occasion of Lunar New Year thanks to the performances of folk songs and other music items performed by the amateur singers and dancers from the localities over the city. The Lunar New year 2020 folk song festival gathered 20 teams from 27 communes and wards in Nha Trang. In four nights, the teams performed 36 music items, including solos, duets, ensembles, short dramas, etc. of Vietnam’s folk forms of Bài Chòi, Ví and Giặm folk songs of Nghe Tinh Province, Quan Họ Bắc Ninh folk songs, southern Vietnam’s Đờn ca tài tử, Region 5’s folk song, Ca trù singing, chầu văn (ritual songs), and so on. “I have joined Nha Trang’s folk song festivals for many years. I feel very happy performing at the festivals because I can show my passion for the nation’s traditional folk forms. Joining folk song festivals has helped me and my team’s members to exchange and learn music experience and skills, and know more about our local music movement,” said Nguyen Thi Minh of Vinh Hoa team, Phuong Sai Ward.
 
 
Performance of Quan Họ folk song at Nha Trang’s Folk Song Festival 2020
Performance of Quan Họ folk song at Nha Trang’s Folk Song Festival 2020
 
In recent years, folk song festival has been incorporated a part of Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa Spring Festival, adding an entertaining activity for locals and tourists in the beach city on Lunar New Year occasion. Seol Young Jin, a tourist from South Korea, said the music performances at Lunar New Year folk song festival were interesting and unique. The melodies of folk songs in harmony with the atmosphere of Lunar New Year left a good impression on him, Young Jin added.  
 
Folk song festival is among the cultural activities of Nha Trang on New Year occasion. Over 14 times of organization, the festival has attracted more and more participants. The participating teams have invested better for their repertoires, from contents to forms of performance. This has helped to bring in more diverse performances and improve the quality of folk song festivals.
 
The folk song festivals organized regularly in Nha Trang have contributed to build the music movement in the localities and discover new talents for the local music teams. The festivals are also a way to honor and preserve the country’s intangible cultural heritages; encourage new compositions and stage arrangements to satisfy the need for entertainment of the public; and introduce the national and local cultural features to tourists in and outside the country.
 
Giang Đinh
Translated by H.N