“ Vietnam Travel “ - One of the most alluring traditional music festivals – the love duet singing Lim festival - kicked off yesterday, 26 February, 2010 in the northern province of Bac Ninh enticing thousands of both local residents and quan ho (love duets) lovers from throughout the country.
Songs of love:
Quan ho (love duet) singers perform on Lim Hill at the annual Lim
Festival. The art of quan ho has been recognised as an "intangible
cultural heritage" by UNESCO.
A
procession was organised to honour General Nguyen Dinh Dien, who
initiated the singing festival at the end of 18th century, from the
local Dinh Ca Communal House to Lim Hill at 8am to mark the beginning
of the three-day festival.
"Around 5,000 people divided into two
procession teams," said an organising member, "A procession takes the
general's votive tablet from Dinh Ca Communal House in Noi Due Commune
to his mausoleum while the other procession went from Lim district
centre to Lung Giang Communal House."
The procession, which is
considered to be a core of the festival, was held one hour later than
usual as in previous years many people had missed out on the event.
According
to Nguyen Huu Manh, deputy chairman of Tien Du District's People's
Committee and head of the organising board, this year's festival would
host more singing activities at homes of local quan ho singers.
As many as eight local families would host such singing events.
"Tourists
will be able to visit the performers' families to see the singing
together with music teachers and experts with a deep understanding of
the folk songs, in order to introduce the art to tourists," he said.
In
the meantime, love duet singing is still organised as usual on the
hills, on boats and make-shift houses throughout the Lim Hill site.
Folk
games like bamboo swinging, wrestling, cock fighting, hide and seek,
and cloth weaving competitions are held, together with local sports
activities like football and badminton competitions, which has been
running since Tuesday.
The
activities will end tomorrow, 28 February, 2010. The organising member
predicted tens of thousands of tourists would attend the festival.
The
Lim festival is held annually on the 13th of the first lunar month.
Quan ho (love duet singing) is a form of folk singing unique to the
Kinh Bac region, now present day Bac Ninh Province.
Originally,
the songs are performed as alternating verses between two women from
one village who sing in harmony and two men from another village who
respond with similar melodies, but with different lyrics.
The
festival takes place on Lim Hill, where the Lim Pagoda is located. The
pagoda is where Hieu Trung Hau, the man who invented quan ho, is
worshipped.
The art of quan ho was inscribed in the UNESCO's
representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity in
September, 2009.
The art is also performed in various
festivals in the province like the O Village festival (in the 4th and
5th of the first lunar month) at Xuan O Village; Nhoi Village Festival
(7th of the first lunar month); Diem Village Festival (5th to 7th of
the first lunar month) in Yen Phong District and Dinh Bang Village
Festival (12th to 16th of the second lunar month) in Tu Son District.
Just
want to let you know that we had a marvellous trip to Vietnam ,Laos and all the
guides and sites were very well planned and organised so a big thank
you. Next trip will be Cambodia and possibly Vietnam and 6 days on a
beach location. We’ll contact you soon for our trip.
The
activities will end tomorrow, 28 February, 2010. The organising member
predicted tens of thousands of tourists would attend the festival.
