Researchers fear the epics of ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands might get lost into oblivion. So they are spending their time and energy to visit the elders in local communities to record epics, and are even hiring people to translate and print the lyrics for preservation. Nguyen Quang Tue (right) often makes field trips to Ba Na villages to record old people singing epics Epics are stories describing the early days of an ethnic group. They talk about the valour of the group’s ancestors in fighting with adversaries and struggling to survive in the wild. The stories have both good and bad characters, with the good folks winning at the end. Epics are either sung or read out loud like stories. Community elders can sing night after night. In the past, the Ba Na used to gather at the village communal house to listen to epics recited by elders. The epic of the Ba Na in Gia Lai province was recognised as the National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014. Dedication to preserve heritage Nguyen Quang Tue, head of the Culture Heritage Management Department under Gia Lai province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is a dedicated staff. He is a member of the Kinh majority group that is highly respected by the local Ba Na people. He is often found at the houses of epic reciters to listen to their songs and record them. Ask him about his work, and he will answer with a smile, “The task… [Read full story]
Over 800 Central Highlands epics have been collected after the Vietnam Institute of Science and Society conducted a year long survey (2001- 2007). They conducted surveys in thousands of villages in 530 communes of 56 districts in the Central Highlands and surrounding provinces. The surveys showed that nearly 400 artisans how know to sing and tell epics. Seventy bilingual books on epics, each consisting of 1,000 pages, are made public to people in the Central Highlands as one of the efforts to preserve the cultural identity of ethnic minority people. Source: ND... [read more]
According to Dr. Ngo Duc Thinh's researches, head of the institute for researching folk culture, there are over 100 Central Highlands epic artists in central highland provinces. The project 'Researching, Collecting, Translating and Preserving Central Highlands Epics' has collected 513 works. Among them, the longest work is recorded in 48 cassette tapes. The project has lasted for just 5 years so it is not easy to transcribe such a big number of recorded epics. Tibet, China has worked on an epic project, which is expected to be sent to UNESCO this year, since 1905 but it has not finished the…... [read more]
(CPV) - On March 15, a book collection that includes 16 epics of four ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands was issued by the Social Science Publisher, Cultural Research Institute and Ho Chi Minh City Fahasa Company. The publication is part of a 17.3 billion VND State-funded project on surveying, collecting, presenting, translating and publishing Central Highlands epics, which was approved by the Prime Minister in 2001. Under the project, 75 epics will be printed by 2007 and about 200 epics of the E De, Mo Nong, Ra Glai, Xe Dang, Xtieng, Gia Rai, and Cham Hroi ethnic groups…... [read more]
There are 75 epic works related to ethnic groups of Ba na, Cham, Ede, M'Nong, Raglai, Xodang recorded in this book set. Each work includes portrait of artisans, literary editor's introduction writing to make readers clearly understand and absorb the contents, ethnic language transcription, translation into Vietnamese, notes and annotation of ancient words or places, illustrations on people, ethnic cultures, and project process as well. In 2004, three first volumes including 3 works of this epic set were printed. Other 11 works were printed in 12 volumes one year later. 33 works in 29 volumes were completed in 2006 and…... [read more]
The biggest ever collection of epics of ethnic groups inhabiting the Central Highlands made debut in Ho Chi Minh City on December 5. The collection consists of 62 volumes with 75 works with over 60,000 pages. It is a part of a 17.3 billion VND project to survey, collect, translate and publish the wealth of epics in Central Highlands, approved by the government in 2001. Researchers expect that the collection will make a great contribution to Vietnam's efforts to compile an application for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)'s recognition of the Central Highlands epics as a…... [read more]
