The vibrant sounds of gongs and drums fill the air during Cultural Heritage Week...

In the local preparations, the traditional festivals of ethnic minorities are most clearly evoked, and the resounding sounds of gongs and drums will be vibrant...

Báo Công an Nhân dân•13/11/2025

In the local preparations, the traditional festivals of ethnic minorities are most clearly evoked, and the resounding sounds of gongs and drums will resonate, representing the heartbeat of cultural roots that sustainably bind the community together through the past, present, and future.

As the last rains of the season fall, cultural tourism in the Central Highlands evokes information about a new tourism season, the dry season. Tran Hong Tien, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak province, shared: "In the local preparations, the traditional festivals of ethnic minorities are most clearly highlighted, and the resounding sounds of gongs and drums will be vibrant, representing the heartbeat of cultural roots that sustainably binds communities together through the past, present, and future."

2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the Central Highlands Gong Culture Space being inscribed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In particular, the Dak Lak Province Ethnic Cultural Heritage Week 2025, taking place from November 18th to 23rd, will feature a highlight: the Gong and Traditional Musical Instrument Culture Festival. This event also commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Central Highlands Gong Culture Space being recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Tell the complete story of the gong.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hung, a specialist in the Department of Culture and Family Management, Dak Lak Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that the local cultural sector has just summarized the 5-year implementation of Resolution No. 10/2021/NQ-HĐND dated December 17, 2021, of the Provincial People's Council on the preservation and promotion of gong culture in Dak Lak province, for the period 2022-2025; and is preparing for the next 5-year plan, with a broader cultural landscape after the administrative boundary merger. Accordingly, the perspective on the cultural field needs to broaden to new development angles, suitable for the new, larger context and space.

According to the inventory, as of 2024, Dak Lak province currently has 1,603 sets of gongs, including 1,178 sets of Ede gongs, 219 sets of M'nong gongs, 118 sets of Jrai gongs, and 88 other sets of gongs.

Specifically, over the five-year period (2020-2025) of implementing the preservation and promotion of gong culture, Dak Lak has collected and identified cultural values that need preservation; recreated and restored works, events, and rituals that have faded away; and strengthened and supported the community in preserving, re-evaluating, and developing plans to preserve and honor existing gong activities.

Inventory of intangible cultural heritage of the Ede, M'nong, and Gia Rai ethnic groups in the province shows that, as of 2024, the province still has 1,603 sets of gongs, including 1,178 Ede sets, 219 M'nong sets, 118 Jrai sets, and 88 other sets. At the same time, in the villages of the province, there are 3,749 artisans currently preserving and 1,015 young artisans participating in various forms of cultural heritage.

“Through that inventory, we found that cultural activities related to the gong and drum heritage in the community are still active, especially in villages and hamlets of ethnic minorities, but the proportion of products categorized by theme has decreased. The artisans who master the various performance forms are all elderly. Therefore, controlling and protecting cultural heritage is a huge challenge,” said Tran Hong Tien, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak province.

In the villages of Dak Lak, there are currently 3,749 artisans who possess the skills to perform gong music for many years.

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak province, in order to effectively promote these remaining cultural heritage values, the locality needs to focus on three implementation steps.

Firstly, the Department of Culture should organize more spaces for practicing gong music, linking it with rituals, festivals, and community activities, inviting artisans and the community to directly participate, perform, and interact.

Secondly, integrating gong music into daily life and strongly connecting it with the tourism industry, especially community tourism, will enhance opportunities for experiential education and artistic creation, blending tradition and modernity. This aims to help generations, especially young people, understand, appreciate, and be proud of this heritage.

Thirdly, implement effective communication efforts, aiming to tell the stories of the gong culture in a fresh way through digital platforms, documentaries, social media, etc., spreading the gong culture of the Central Highlands so that tourists and the community can appreciate it.

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Hung, with such implementation steps, cultural heritage can be told in the most complete way.

Exciting new steps forward

According to Mr. Tran Hong Tien, the early months of the 2025 dry season are the time for the Dak Lak Provincial Department of Culture to stimulate and connect with tourism and production activities at the grassroots level, in order to revisit the story of cultural heritage.

During the first months of the 2025 dry season, the Department of Culture of Dak Lak province will organize many cultural and tourism activities in local areas to revisit the story of cultural heritage.

The Department has planned to mobilize and organize grassroots gong-playing groups and clubs to participate in community activities and integrate them into folk customs and rituals, implementing them as events and programs to serve social life.

Young artisans in these areas are actively encouraged to participate in community tourism programs, learn from each other, and create new works and performance styles.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hung explained that the Culture sector aims to promote the cultural value of gong music not only within existing achievements, but also by integrating and creating additional conditions and opportunities to integrate this cultural heritage into daily life. This is not simple, but the goals and solutions are very clear.

This will integrate gong culture into contemporary life.

This involves promoting the art of gong playing, bringing it closer to nature, integrating it into communities in its true value, and accompanying cultural and tourism activities at the grassroots level. Gong performances and music should be authentically and vividly recreated, featuring a variety of rich, diverse, and unique pieces, ensuring continuity with the participation of young artisans.

Furthermore, the sector needs to invest more in research and understanding of traditional culture, organize activities for artisans to restore lost traditional gongs and musical instruments, and revive the spiritual life and appreciation within the community through the rituals and customs of each ethnic group. The initiative by the Provincial Cultural and Tourism Center to incorporate gongs into modern dance and music activities, interacting with international tourists, is a positive solution that should be promoted. It creates unique and novel experiences for the public while also bringing economic benefits to the cultural industry.

And priority will be given to more young people to participate in gong performances.

In particular, the Cultural Heritage Week, taking place from November 18th to 23rd this year, features a series of deeply meaningful activities aimed at honoring the unique values of cultural heritage in Dak Lak province in general and the Gong Culture Space in particular; arousing pride and a sense of responsibility in the community in preserving and promoting traditional cultural identity; and promoting the image of Dak Lak - a land of the resounding mountains, a place where identity and aspirations converge, contributing to the development of sustainable cultural tourism, expanding opportunities for exchange and cooperation, and creating livelihoods for local communities through unique cultural, artistic, and tourism activities. This also marks the 20th anniversary of the Gong Culture Space of the Central Highlands being inscribed by UNESCO as a masterpiece of oral tradition and a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The 2025 Dak Lak Province Ethnic Cultural Heritage Week, with the highlight being the Gong Culture Festival, commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Central Highlands Gong Culture Space being inscribed by UNESCO as a masterpiece of oral tradition and a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Mr. Tran Hong Tien believes that gongs are not only a call to the past, but also the "soul" of Central Highlands culture, and need to be strongly revived in the festive atmosphere of the approaching year-end holidays. The Dak Lak Department of Culture is striving to ensure that each gong sound resonates as a heartbeat of cultural roots, becoming a source of pride and joy in present life, and a sustainable community bond for the future.

YANG ZI

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/ron-rang-am-huong-cong-chieng-trong-tuan-di-san-van-hoa-cac-dan-toc-tinh-dak-lak-2025-402297.html