HCM City (VNS/VNA) - TheVietnam Folk Arts Association has launched a project on protecting andpromoting the values of the country’s folk arts an intangible nationalheritage.

Under the project,traditional music, theatre and literature works, which have high ideologicaland artistic values, will receive financial support to record, shoot andbe released on YouTube. The money will come from the association and itspartners, including local authorities and organisations.

Works featuring different formsof folk music, such as hat xoan and hat trong quan (folk singing) of thenorth, bai choi of thecentral region and nha nhac cung dinh (royalceremonial music) of Hue, staged by leading artisans and theatres, will bereleased on YouTube as a way to bring the arts closer to Vietnamese and foreignaudiences. 

According to the association’schairwoman Le Cam Tu, the association will help folk artists, folk artsclubs and centres to collect, perform, record and film their worksfor release online to keep the arts alive.

“Many late folkartisans who are Living Human Treasures by UNESCO, did not introducetheir performances to younger generations, but their art was at the top levelof the industry. If we don’t offer urgent solutions and policies to solve thesituation, many forms of Vietnamese folk arts will be gone,” she said.

Tu’s association hasfunded a long-term project, between 2015 and 2020 on the publicationand dissemination of Vietnamese folklore and cultural properties. Thanks to theproject, more than 2,500 works among 4,000 pieces of research by 1,000 culturalresearchers and performers have been published.

In May, the association and KhanhHoa province worked together to start a three-year project to preserve andpromote bai choi. 

The 6.7 billion VND (300,000USD) project has attracted six districts in the province. Localauthorities have worked to intergrate performances of bai choi with other culturalactivities, festivals and concerts in order to create opportunities for theartists to expand their art. 

State-owned and privatetheatres and entertainment centres have also been encouraged to produceDVDs of all types of bai choi performances.Many books on the history of the art have also been published and offered inlibraries, museums and schools. 

Bai choi originated almost 400 years ago inHue under the reign of the Nguyen Dynasty Lords (1558-1777). The art wascreated to entertain farmers during post-harvest time. 

Bai (game cards) choi (bamboo huts) is a half game andhalf theatre performance. Nine bamboo huts on stills are erected on a spaciousland plot in two rows. Each row is made up of four huts for the players.The bigger hut is in the middle, with a wooden stand for the controller ofthe game. 

The art was recognised as anintangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2017. 

“The Internet and YouTubecan help keep our folk arts alive and introduce them to more and morepeople worldwide,” said Meritorious Artist Ca Le Hong of the HCM City TheatreArtists’ Association./.