On December 1, at the Hoang Can Temple Festival - San Diu Ethnic Culture and Sports Festival in Tien Yen District 2024, a ceremony was held to receive the decision that the folk performing art of singing Soong Co of the San Diu ethnic group in Quang Ninh province is a national intangible cultural heritage. This is a demonstration of honoring the cultural values of the ethnic communities in Quang Ninh.
In Quang Ninh , the San Diu people live interspersed with the Dao, San Chay, Kinh, Tay... ethnic groups and account for about 1.6% of the province's population, residing mainly in the following localities: Ba Che, Tien Yen, Dam Ha, Hai Ha, Van Don, Dong Trieu and Ha Long.
The San Diu people of Quang Ninh have a rich folk art heritage, in which the art of singing Soong Co is a form of antiphonal singing, each song is a poem of love-matching nature. "Soong Co" pronounced in San Diu means singing. Each song is a poem written in the "seven-word quatrain" form. Soong Co originates from the simple, rustic life, expressing the thoughts, feelings, and aspirations of the working people, improvised, and passed down through many genres, such as: Lullabies, nursery rhymes, love-matching songs, wedding songs, longevity songs, housewarming songs, New Year's songs, etc.
Soong co is sung according to a book with a set of songs. Before singing, people must know the song books by heart. Usually, they quote the lyrics in the book to challenge. The singers also, thanks to knowing the book, quote the lyrics to match the situation and situation to sing in response to the other person's questions. Therefore, singing Soong co is usually sung by two groups of men and women, each group has a leader who is knowledgeable about customs and practices and is good at singing.
The performing environment in the soong co is quite wide. Artists can sing during production work (in San Diu language called tru cong co), sing at weddings (sênh ca chiu co), sing when going out to the village (hị son co), sing to wish for the New Year ( tạo nen co), sing lullabies (ẽnh rậy co). They usually sing in the side house, the kitchen and avoid singing in the main house.
In the past, the performance time often lasted up to 7 or 8 days, and if there was no winner in the singing competition, it would last for ten nights. They often sang to ask each other questions, based on books, and quizzed each other about life knowledge. If one side sang the same line, they were considered the loser. If they lost, they would get bored and disband. Nowadays, in a busier life, the San Diu people often organize singing sessions during the day. While singing, people do not joke around, and do not take each other out to express their love for each other like before.
Soong co is a style of singing without accompaniment. The content of the singing is rich and diverse, through the singing expressing national pride, the tradition of solidarity, hospitality, love, support and mutual assistance, diligence, and hardship in building the homeland with all will and determination, determined to overcome the harshness of nature, and defeat the invaders in history.
The sequence of a singing session usually goes as follows: Singing to call, inviting to sit on the mat, inviting water, inviting betel, singing to ask, singing to guess, singing to exchange love. At the beginning of the singing session, people often sing simple soong co songs but can convey secret feelings. During the singing session, the boys and girls on both sides look at each other through their eyes, smiles, and promise to sing to return, to hold on to each other, one stays, one goes, to swear, to sing to see each other off. After the farewell song, the appointment to the next song, the singing session temporarily ends, but the feelings are as vast as the sea, mountains and rivers of the homeland. The singers also give souvenirs as a token of their trust and promise to meet again, to continue singing the unfinished soong co songs.
In modern society, when this type of folk song is facing the risk of extinction, the good news is that some San Diu communities in Quang Ninh are still maintaining the tradition of singing Soong Co. Many clubs have been established in the communes and wards: Duong Huy, Hai Hoa, Quang Hanh, Cam Thinh (Cam Pha City), Thong Nhat, Ha Phong (Ha Long City), Binh Dan, Doan Ket (Van Don District), Hai Lang (Tien Yen). Some places have had projects to preserve and promote the cultural values of the San Diu ethnic group, including Soong Co singing, such as in Doan Ket and Hai Lang communes.
It can be said that singing Soong Co is a form of cultural community activity that is subtle and profound in the soul of the San Diu people. For marriage and family, this is the red thread that connects and weaves love stories, faithful and steadfast marital relationships, and more broadly, the solidarity of the family community, clan, and village of the San Diu people. Therefore, Soong Co is diverse and rich in form, profound in content, and has important significance, meeting the needs of spiritual cultural enjoyment of the San Diu community. When Soong Co is sung, it affirms a peaceful, prosperous and happy life. With special meanings for the community, on November 10, 2023, the folk performing art of Soong Co singing of the San Diu people in Quang Ninh province was included in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism .
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