Opening of the 4th Hanoi Ca Tru Festival: Preserving heritage in contemporary flow

The 4th Hanoi Ca Tru Festival in 2025 is a successful continuation of the Ca Tru Young Talent Festivals in 2016, 2019 and 2022, affirming the capital's efforts in preserving and promoting the value of intangible cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO.

On September 27, at the Hanoi Museum, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports held the opening ceremony of the 4th Hanoi Ca Tru Festival in 2025.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports Le Thi Anh Mai emphasized: This year marks the 16th anniversary of Ca Tru being recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent protection. This both affirms the unique artistic value of the heritage and sounds the alarm about the risk of extinction.

This year's festival gathered 21 groups and clubs with 16 group dance and singing performances and 105 contestants competing in three categories: Dao Nuong, Kep Dan, and Trong Chau. (Photo: TL)

In recent years, Hanoi has continuously implemented many measures to preserve and promote Ca Tru. Notably, in 2022, the City People's Council issued Resolution 23/2022/NQ-HDND on the treatment and support regime for outstanding artists, artisans and clubs in the field of intangible cultural heritage.

This policy is highly appreciated by the community for its practicality and superiority. Then, in 2024, the City People's Committee approved Project 2342/QD-UBND on protecting and promoting the value of intangible cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO until 2025, with a vision to 2030, in which Ca Tru singing continues to be on the list of urgent protection.

Hanoi is currently the locality with the largest number of Ca Tru artists conferred with noble titles by the State in the country. Through three conferment rounds in 2015, 2019 and 2022, 32 Ca Tru artists were honored, including 8 People's Artists and 24 Meritorious Artists. In the 4th conferment round in 2025, the City Council approved the proposal to confer 8 People's Artists and 23 Meritorious Artists.

This year's festival gathered 21 groups and clubs with 16 collective dance and singing performances and 105 contestants competing in three categories: Dao Nuong, Kep Dan, and Trong Chau. The oldest contestant was 86 years old, the youngest was 8 years old. Notably, there were 22 contestants under 18 years old (20.9%) and 83 contestants aged 18 and over (79.1%, excluding dance groups).

A performance at the Festival (Photo: TL)

The organizing committee has set out specific judging criteria, from costumes, performance space, coordination, to strict requirements on manners and style. This year, contestants continue to be classified by age to ensure fairness.

Through the Festival, Hanoi hopes to seek and nurture young talents, and encourage the participation of many generations in maintaining and preserving Ca Tru. At the same time, the event contributes to spreading and promoting the value of this unique cultural heritage to the public, affirming the role of the Capital in preserving and promoting the intangible heritage of humanity.

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/khai-mac-lien-hoan-ca-tru-ha-noi-lan-thu-4-gin-giu-di-san-trong-dong-chay-duong-dai-216582.html