Yen Bai brings folk culture to the professional stage

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>> Yen Bai is proud of being the place where the quintessence of heritage converges.

In February 2025, artists and actors from the Provincial Cultural Center attended the Maha Kumbh Prayagraj Festival 2025 organized by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in India. On this occasion, artists and actors performed at the 10th International Dance and Music Festival with the participation of 13 art troupes from 11 countries around the world .

Yen Bai Provincial Art Troupe participated in 7 special art performances with dances imbued with traditional folk music of the Thai, Kho Mu, Tay, Mong ethnic groups... These were the dances "Happy Fruit Harvesting Season", "New Rice", "Old Stories", "Red Silk"; Mong flute playing the works "Spring Returns to Mong Village", "Highland Call"; Mong panpipe dance by artists in Mu Cang Chai district. This is one of many times the Center has brought performances imbued with Yen Bai's folk culture to the professional stage.

Meritorious Artist Do Thi Thanh Huong - Director of the Center said: "Every year, participating in national professional theater festivals, the unit makes the most of folk materials of ethnic communities in the province. To have unique performances imbued with folk culture on stage, we have to go to the grassroots, meet artisans, observe indigenous folk art forms and then creatively bring them to the stage. There are field trips that last half a month, the artists are very happy to find unique values".

Yen Bai's folk culture is rich and diverse, including dances, songs and folk legends of various ethnic groups. More than 30 ethnic groups living together in Yen Bai have created a very unique cultural picture with traditional festivals, diverse customs and beliefs, unique costumes and beautiful features in daily life.

That is the precious material that creates endless inspiration for artists and choreographers in the process of creating and adapting folk culture, bringing it into professional performing arts. Each work of art that is born contains a lot of dedication, effort in research, creation, staging, and connecting ideas of long-time artists.

Meritorious Artist Thanh Huong added: "To prepare for professional performances, we often assign them to artists with good expertise, creating favorable conditions in terms of facilities so that artists can freely create. After having a product, we together evaluate and edit it to make it more beautiful and better, and the final step is that the performance costumes are also made with exquisite beauty, on stage they can be stylized but not far from the original, still imbued with indigenous ethnic features."

In order to preserve and promote the values of folk culture, the Center has implemented many programs to bring them back to community life and organized many folk art performances. In addition, young artists are also encouraged to create works of art from folk materials. The combination of the experience of older artisans with the creativity of the younger generation creates new and attractive art products.

In 2022, at the ASEAN Music Festival with the participation of 30 countries in the region, the Center's art program won a gold medal. These performances all exploited folk materials of the Yen Bai ethnic community, such as the concert "Hoi mua tren ban Cao Lan" which won the Gold Prize, the song "Rung thuong nui nho" which won the Third Prize... The Center has also won many awards at professional art festivals nationwide and in the region.

Despite its achievements, the unit still faces many challenges. One of the biggest difficulties is maintaining public interest in folk culture. Competition from modern forms of entertainment makes it difficult for many young people to access and learn about traditional culture. In addition, financial and human resources for cultural activities are also limited. Investment in art programs is not always guaranteed, affecting the quality and scale of the programs.

In order to prevent folk culture from being forgotten, the Provincial Cultural Center will continue to promote propaganda andeducation activities on folk cultural values in the community. Art performances should be organized more frequently and expanded to other localities. In addition, the application of information technology in promoting culture is also a necessary direction. Creating online platforms to share knowledge and artistic products will help attract more audiences, especially young people.

Thanh Ba

Source: https://baoyenbai.com.vn/16/349734/Yen-Bai-dua-van-hoa-dan-gian-len-san-khau-chuyen-nghiep.aspx