Cai luong play The Son of the Melaleuca Forest
Solid foundation
Long An, with its strategic location as the gateway connecting the Mekong Delta and the Southeast, is endowed by nature with a rich treasure trove of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The entire province boasts 127 historical and cultural relics, including 21 national relics. In particular, the diverse intangible cultural values with 2 national treasures, 5 national intangible cultural heritages and hundreds of traditional festivals create a vivid artistic picture.
Long An people, with the spirit of "Loyalty, steadfastness, the whole people fighting the enemy", have continued to preserve and promote good cultural values, enriching the advanced Vietnamese culture, imbued with national identity.
The great victory in the spring of 1975 opened a new era, creating an unprecedented space for art development. Along with economic development and a stable political environment, the material and spiritual life of the people was improved, creating favorable conditions for art to flourish. Many policies of the Party and State on literature and art have become the compass, guiding the development of Long An art.
Furthermore, the development of the 4.0 industrial revolution and the strong international integration process have opened up many new opportunities in promoting, exchanging and absorbing the quintessence of world art. At the same time, the multi-dimensional impact of the market mechanism and the reality of social life are abundant materials, promoting the creativity of each artist.
Outstanding mark
Over the past 50 years, the main stream in Long An province's artistic creation has always been patriotism and humanism, closely connected with the nation and people. This tendency is clearly demonstrated through the adherence to real life, focusing on main themes such as praising the homeland and country; reflecting the construction and innovation process; educating historical and cultural traditions; building new rural areas, national border sovereignty, seas and islands; and studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style.
Long An art reflects both traditional history and the breath of contemporary life, focusing on exploiting aspects of social life. The diversity of content and expression is a new development, in which the creative freedom of artists is respected, gradually creating a personal mark in the works.
The province has organized many creative artistic activities such as composition competitions, performances, exchanges, and promotions, contributing to enriching the artistic life. In general, the province's artistic creation process always keeps pace with the general development trend of the whole country, expressing the spirit of love for the homeland and country and reflecting the real life.
The flagship of Long An stage
Since the early days of national reunification, the province has paid attention to directing the establishment of professional art troupes. From there, the Long An Cai Luong Art Troupe (in 1977) and the Long An People's Circus Troupe (in 1982) were born.
Long An Cai Luong Art Troupe, with nearly 50 years of establishment and development, has always focused on training and fostering successors. The troupe has staged and performed many plays and performances of high artistic value, serving people in and outside the province, achieving many high achievements at regional and national competitions and festivals.
Plays such as Land and Flowers, Fire God, Righteous Soldiers of Can Giuoc, Teacher Ba Doi, Mother's Life, Ben Dong Long Khot, The Son of the Melaleuca Forest, etc. have created a great resonance. Every year, the Troupe organizes non-revenue performances to serve cadres and people in remote, isolated, and border areas, and regularly exchanges art with other units, contributing to preserving and promoting traditional artistic values.
Long An People's Circus, established over 40 years ago, is the pride of the province as the only province in the Mekong Delta region to maintain and develop the circus. The troupe has staged many good performances, won prizes at regional and national circus festivals, and even performed in several countries, leaving a good impression on the audience.
The province's professional art troupes always play a core role in artistic activities, serving local political tasks well and meeting the people's demand for cultural and artistic enjoyment.
The power of mass art movements
The specialized agencies and units of culture and art in the province have strengthened the construction and development of mass art activities, guided and encouraged people to spread and promote traditional art values. Performances, competitions, performances and mass art festivals are regularly organized by all levels and sectors. The provincial Center for Culture and Arts has actively participated in competitions and festivals organized by the Department of Grassroots Culture - Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, achieving high results.
The province has effectively directed the implementation of the movement "All people unite to build a cultural life", including promoting the mass cultural and artistic movement in residential areas. Every year, the cultural, sports and community learning centers of the commune have organized more than 500 cultural and artistic activities; the cultural houses of hamlets and neighborhoods have organized more than 1,000 cultural nights in residential areas; 996 clubs, teams and art groups have been established, contributing to improving the material and spiritual life of the people, especially in border areas, remote and isolated areas.
Sublimation of talented musicians
The work of preserving and promoting the artistic heritage of ethnic groups has made remarkable progress. Traditional folk art forms such as folk games, amateur music, reformed opera, and traditional opera have been given special attention in mass artistic activities, especially through traditional festivals.
In particular, for the art of Don Ca Tai Tu - a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity recognized by UNESCO, Long An has organized many activities to promote, preserve and develop. Currently, the province has over 134 clubs, teams and groups with about 3,100 Don Ca Tai Tu artists.
The province currently has 1 folk artist and 8 excellent artists in this field. The Provincial People's Committee has developed and implemented the Project "Protecting and promoting the artistic value of Southern amateur music in Long An province, phase I (2024 - 2026) and vision to 2030", demonstrating a strong commitment to preserving this valuable heritage.
Long An province has organized two general inventories of intangible cultural heritage in 2005 and 2013. The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Provincial Literature and Arts Association and the Provincial Museum - Library have conducted many in-depth research projects on a number of typical intangible cultural heritages in the field of art, including amateur music, ritual music, traditional opera, reformed opera, ball roi, lion and dragon dances, and folk games.
Along with that, the province has paid attention to directing the building and development of the team of artists, from which this team has continuously grown in quantity and quality. Up to now, the Association of Literature and Arts has 521 members in 9 specialized fields. Among them, many artists have been awarded noble titles by the State: 1 People's Artist, 9 Meritorious Artists, 1 People's Artist and 10 Meritorious Artists. Many artists have won high prizes in competitions at home and abroad.
The Nguyen Thong Literature and Arts Award, established in 2000, has contributed to enriching, enlivening and deepening the province’s artistic life. This is a prestigious award, honoring the artistic achievements of artists with outstanding and valuable works about the land and people of Long An.
Specialized art associations under the Provincial Literature and Arts Association also made outstanding contributions. The Music Association has 58 members, actively organizing performances, thematic activities, and exchanges to introduce authors and works. Every year, the Association organizes creative camps, creating many new quality works.
The Theater Association has 109 members, the largest association, has composed hundreds of cai luong and vong co songs, recorded dozens of radio programs and thousands of CDs and VCDs, served well the local political tasks and won many high awards at national and regional competitions and festivals.
The Photography Association has 63 members, some artists have been awarded the title of excellent and exceptionally excellent photographer. The Association maintains the traditional photo contest “My homeland Long An” (37th time) with thousands of beautiful photos of the land and people of Long An.
The Folk Arts Association has 72 members, making important contributions to the research, collection, preservation and promotion of the value of folk arts.
Prospects for further development
Looking back over the past 50 years, Long An arts have achieved remarkable achievements, affirming their important role in social life. Under the close leadership of the Party, the effective management of the government and the continuous efforts of the artists, Long An arts have truly become an indispensable part of the province's development process.
However, there are still challenges such as improving the quality of creativity, dealing with the negative impacts of the downside of the market economy and the penetration of unhealthy art forms. To continue to develop steadily, Long An art (new Tay Ninh province) needs to continue to innovate, maximize its potential, focus on creating works of high value, truly reflecting life, contributing to building an advanced Vietnamese culture, imbued with national identity, meeting the people's increasingly high enjoyment needs.
In the context of international integration and the 4.0 industrial revolution, Long An art needs to continue to exploit traditional values, while boldly absorbing new and good things from the world. Developing the team of artists in both quantity and quality, especially the next generation, will be a key factor for the sustainable development of the province's art in the coming years.
Long An art – a journey of 50 years of pride and identity, will continue to sing new melodies, adding to the Vietnamese cultural picture in the new era. In the context of merging the two provinces of Tay Ninh and Long An into the new Tay Ninh province, Tay Ninh art will have a harmonious connection in cultural identity, be supplemented with resources, fly high, and will continue to sing new melodies, adding to the cultural and artistic picture of the homeland "Loyalty, steadfastness" in the new era./.
Tan An
Source: https://baolongan.vn/50-nam-nghe-thuat-giai-dieu-cuoc-song-tu-vung-dat-anh-hung-a198402.html
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