Amidst the modern pace of life with a series of new forms of entertainment, many young people still choose to return to traditional culture with more creative approaches.
From the desire to bring heritage closer to the young public, a group of students majoring in Mass Communications, Institute of Journalism and Communication under the Academy of Journalism and Propaganda, implemented the project "Son of the Ancestral Land" along with the experience event "Xoan opens festival".
Xoan singing is a unique traditional folk song associated with the belief in worshiping Hung Kings in the ancestral land of Phu Tho. This art harmoniously combines singing, dancing, and music and has been honored by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (Head of the Organizing Committee) - said that taking place within the framework of the "Thanh Am Dat To" project, the "Xoan Opening Festival" event is organized with the desire to spread the beauty of Xoan singing heritage to the contemporary public, especially young people.
We prepared the project in about three months and organized many experiential activities such as decorating bamboo panels, interacting with artisans or learning Xoan singing and dancing so that young people can access the heritage in a closer way," Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang shared.
Sharing about the reason for choosing Xoan singing as the center of the project, Ms. Trang said that the group was attracted by the rustic but emotional beauty of this art form.
Although the melody is only created from lyrics, drums and rhythms, it contains a strong vitality, reflecting the life of Vietnamese people from the Hung Kings era," Ms. Trang shared.
The biggest barrier to traditional art today is the dry, academic prejudice in the minds of many young people, and the modern pace of life makes folk culture more distant.
We want young people not only to come to see but also to actively interact and explore the heritage themselves. When they are really interested, they will become cultural ambassadors spreading the story of Xoan singing to the community," Ms. Trang said.
During the project implementation, the direct journey to Phu Tho to meet artisans also brought many changes to the group in their perspective on heritage.
Previously, we only knew how to sing Xoan through books, newspapers and documents. But when we directly met the artisans, the group clearly felt the sustainable vitality of this heritage through the preservation and transmission of many generations," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong (Deputy Head of the Organizing Committee).
After "Xoan opens the festival", the group hopes that young people will gradually eliminate the distance with traditional art, thereby proactively learning, practicing and spreading national culture in today's life.
The project shows us that young people are not turning their backs on traditional culture. The important thing is to find a suitable way to tell stories so that heritage becomes closer to today's generation," Ms. Duong expressed.
