Xem thêmTHE SPACE OF GONG CULTURE IN CENTRAL HIGHLANDS (INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE)
THE
SPACE OF GONG CULTURE IN CENTRAL HIGHLANDS (INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE)
The space of gong
culture in Central Highlands of Viet Nam covers 5 provinces of Kon Tum, Gia
Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong. The masters of gong culture are the ethnic
groups of Ba Na, Xo Dang, M’Nong, Co Ho, Ro Mam, E De, Gia Rai… The gong
performances are always closely tied to community cultural rituals and
ceremonies of the ethnic groups in Central Highlands. Many researchers have
classified gongs as ceremonial musical instrument and the gong sounds as a
means to communicate with deities and gods.
The gongs are made of brass alloy or a mixture of brass and gold,
silver, bronze. Their diameter is from 20cm to 60cm or from 90cm to 120cm. A
set of gongs consists of 2 to 12 or 13 units and even to 18 or 20 units in some
places.
In most of ethnic groups, namely Gia Rai, Ede Kpah, Ba Na, Xo
Dang, Brau, Co Ho, etc., only males are allowed to play gongs. However, in
others such as Ma and M’Nong groups, both males and females can play gongs. Few
ethnic groups (for example, E De Bih), gongs are performed by women only.
As for the majority of ethnic groups in Central Highlands, gongs
are musical instruments of sacred power. It is believed that every gong is the
settlement of a god who gets more powerful as the gong is older. "God of
gong" is always considered as the tutelary deity for the community’s life.
Therefore, gongs are associated to all rites in one’s life, such as the
inauguration of new houses, funerals, buffalo sacrifice, crop praying rite, new
harvest, ceremony to pray for people’s and cattle’s health, ceremony to see-off
soldiers to the front, and the victory celebration.
In Central Highlands, gongs are often performed in the form of
orchestra. Gong orchestras adopt a
natural sound-scale as the foundation for theirs. Depending on different ethnic
groups, a gong orchestra can consist of
3, 5 or 6 primary sounds. However, as a polyphonic musical instrument, gongs often have some additional sounds apart from
their basic ones. In fact, a six-gong orchestra can produce more or less 12
different sounds. So, gong sounds are heard resonant and solid. Moreover, a
gong orchestra is arranged in a broad space, so the melody is formed by
three-dimensional sounds with different pitch, length and resonance. It is the
stereophonic effect - an original phenomenon of gong performance.
The space of gong culture in Central Highlands are heritage with
temporal and spatial imprints. Through its categories, sound-amplifying method,
sound scale and gamut, tunes and performance art, we will have an insight in a
complicated art developing from simple to complexity, from single to
multi-channel. It contains different historical layers of the development of
music since the primitive period. All artistic values have the relationships of
similarities and dissimilarities, bringing about their regional identities.
With its diversity and originality, it’s possible to confirm that gongs hold a
special status in Viet Nam’s traditional music.
On November 25, 2005 in
Paris, France, the space of gong culture in Central
Highlands was recognized by UNESCO as an oral-transmitted masterpiece and
intangible cultural heritage of the humanity
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