Gongs – precious heritage of ethnic minorities in Gia Lai

VOV.VN - Amidst the modern pace of life, the conservation of this precious heritage is still maintained with the dedication of artisans, the community and the government, who teach, restore and promote it every day, so that the cultural value of gongs continues to spread, becoming a spiritual resource and driving force for the development of community tourism.

The year 2025 marks 20 years since the Central Highlands Gong Cultural Space was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Over the past two decades, the sound of gongs has remained a source of pride and sacredness in every festival and important event of ethnic minorities in Gia Lai .

Amidst the modern pace of life, the conservation of this precious heritage is still maintained with the dedication of artisans, communities and authorities, who are teaching, restoring and promoting it every day, so that the cultural value of gongs continues to spread, becoming a spiritual resource and driving force for community tourism development.

The new school year has begun, and studying has become busy, but the 17 members of the Pleiku Roh village gong team (Pleiku ward) still spend time practicing gong pieces. Artist Siu Thum (born in 1983) also takes the time to arrange housework to tutor the children.

During the 18 years of opening free gong classes in Pleiku Roh, he has built 3 gong teams in the village, for middle-aged people, youth and children. The gong teams of Pleiku Roh regularly represent Gia Lai province to perform at many cultural promotion events at home and abroad.

Image of Pleiku Roh's gong team practicing before performing in Korea in 2024. (Photo: Siu Thum)

Artisan Siu Thum said: “I teach the children so that they will not lose their roots in the future. I try to encourage them to maintain the gong culture so that if the province organizes a festival in the future, they will have a team ready; at that time, we will practice being agile to participate in the festivals.”

Nearly 90 km from Pleiku ward, To Tung commune, the hometown of Hero Nup, is one of the typical lands in the work of preserving the space of gong culture. Each Bahnar village here has at least one gong team, reviving the depth of tradition in the community's rituals.

The precious thing is that today, in families, gongs are still a precious asset, closely associated with the family lineage. Mr. Dinh Hdot in S'Tor village, who owns a set of 13 ancient gongs, shared: gongs are a spiritual bridge; preserving gongs is showing respect to ancestors. Mr. Dinh Hdot said: "A set of gongs has many sizes, with 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 being the largest. The village often has weddings, new rice celebrations at the end of the year, or uses gongs for entertainment, dancing, singing, and playing all day and night."

In ethnic minority villages in Gia Lai, many families still collect and preserve ancient gongs. (Photo: Nguyen Thao)

Accompanying Gia Lai villages in preserving heritage, Mr. Le Thanh Son, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of To Tung commune, said: Preserving and promoting the value of gong cultural space is identified as a key task in the local strategy for developing community tourism and rural tourism.

The Resolution of the Commune Party Congress for the 2025-2030 term has concretized this goal with many practical solutions. In the coming time, the commune will conduct an inventory of ancient gong sets; restore unique traditional festivals such as the new rice celebration, buffalo stabbing ceremony, peace-praying ceremony... so that the gong sound continues to resonate in community life; both maintaining cultural activities - festivals, and contributing to creating highlights to attract tourists.

"The locality has a plan to strengthen the holidays and festivals of the people; at the same time, it organizes gong festivals and competitions... to both preserve and promote the identity, and invites capable schools and centers to train and instruct gong playing classes and ask artisans to teach gong tuning," Mr. Le Thanh Son added.

The weekend Gong performance program, which was held by Gia Lai province for a long time at Dai Doan Ket Square, is very popular with tourists. (Photo: Nguyen Thao)

The whole Gia Lai province currently has nearly 5,000 sets of gongs, 600 cultural and artistic clubs associated with gongs, gathering thousands of artisans, women, youth and students to participate in maintaining and promoting heritage values.

The province has organized many activities to combine the conservation of gong culture with the development of community tourism, such as the Gong Festival, the "Weekend Gong" program, or "Cultural Colors - Gong Conservation" vividly recreating the scene of the Central Highlands villages every Sunday morning, creating an attractive highlight in the province's cultural tourism products.

At the same time, Gia Lai has issued a Project to preserve and promote the Central Highlands Gong Cultural Space for the period 2023-2025, focusing on restoring traditional festivals, expanding gong teaching classes for the younger generation and promoting heritage, aiming to turn the gong cultural space into a distinctive symbol in Gia Lai's tourism development, while helping ethnic minorities have more sustainable livelihoods from their own heritage.

The Central Highlands Gong Festival was once held in Gia Lai province. (Photo: Nguyen Thao)

Ms. Le Thi Thu Huong, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province, said that the gong heritage will continue to be further promoted by the province in the coming period: “The province has issued a project for the period 2023-2025. In the coming time, the Department will continue to advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue a project for the period 2026-2030. Every year, the Department still advises the Provincial People's Committee to organize gong teaching classes, create the next generation and always review and advise the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to recognize the title of Meritorious Artisan of gongs”, Ms. Huong emphasized.

In the modern life, in the ethnic minority areas of Gia Lai, gong beats still resound in life - a testament to the persistent journey of preserving the identity of the Gia Lai ethnic community. That heritage continues to be cherished and strongly spread by the community and the local political system.

Source: https://vov.vn/van-hoa/di-san/cong-chieng-di-san-quy-bau-cua-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-gia-lai-post1237420.vov