Don Ca Tai Tu features the excellent harmony of sound, lyrics and performance, reflecting both the quintessence of our nation’s thousands-of-years culture and the unique personality of the Southern people

Ms Katherine Muller Marin, Chief Representative of the UNESCO Office in Ha Noi,

Distinguished guests

Artists and practitioners,

Vietnamese compatriots and comrades,

In the joyful and happy ambience to celebrate the Party’s anniversary and the Traditional Lunar New Year, today, in the city that bears the name of our beloved President Ho Chi Minh, we are delighted to organize the Ceremony to receive the UNESCO Certificate on the inscription of the Art of Đờn ca tài tử music and songs in Southern Viet Nam on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

On behalf of the Vietnamese Government, I wish to share this great delight and pride with all artists, practitioners, comrades, fellow citizens and foreign friends. I would like to welcome Ms Katherine Muller Marin, Chief Representative of the UNESCO Office in Ha Noi to this solemn ceremony. Allow me to cordially extend to you all the warmest greetings and best wishes on the occasion of the New Year of the Horse.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Compatriots and comrades,

Throughout the history of national building and defense, generations of Vietnamese people have unceasingly fostered and nurtured a unified and diverse culture of strong national identity. Our forefathers’ fruits of creativity has been well preserved and passed on to us a vast and rich treasure of tangible and intangible cultural heritages. This includes Đờn ca tài tử, a unique form of folk music created on the foundation of ritual music and court music combined with the lyrical melodies of folk music in the Centre and South of Viet Nam. Đờn ca tài tử is the distinct art of the region characterized by orchards and infinite rivers in the South, featuring the excellent harmony of sound, lyrics and performance, reflecting both the quintessence of our nation’s thousands-of-years culture and the unique personality of the Southern people: diligence, simplicity, honesty, generosity, nobility, perseverance and humanity, of the sons from the time, “carrying the swords to reclaim territory with Thang Long Royal Capital always in their hearts.”

Ladies and gentlemen, compatriots and comrades,

Đờn ca tài tử not only has a special role in the cultural life of the Southern people but also significantly contributes to enriching the cultural life of the entire Vietnamese people. It bridges academic and folk music, traditional art and contemporary art while facilitating national and humanity cultural exchanges.

The UNESCO’s inscription of Đờn ca tài tử on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity indicates the international community’s high respect and recognition of this unique art of Viet Nam. This is a pride that the Southern and the Vietnamese people can take. This is also instrumental in preserving the diversity of cultural expressions in the world’s cultural treasure. In the meantime, it vividly manifests the vitality and popularity of Vietnamese traditional culture in the mainstream of world culture. Through Đờn ca tài tử, international friends will have better knowledge of and respect for the land which is not only resilient in the fight for national independence but also a peaceful, prosperous area with scented rice, sweet fruits, endless rivers always echoing heart-felt sounds and melodies.

I warmly congratulate and commend the leaders of Party Committees and local authorities , artists, practitioners, the local people and people living overseas, who have preserved and developed Đờn ca tài tử by undertaking meaningful activities, movements and exchanges. I highly value the efforts and contributions of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, localities, researchers, regulators and domestic and international organizations in preserving and promoting the values of the cultural heritage of Viet Nam and humanity including Đờn ca tài tử.

Ladies and gentlemen, compatriots and comrades,

The Vietnamese culture - the source of national power and endogenous strength – constitutes the spiritual foundation of the society and the goal and drive of national development. Preserving and promoting the values of national cultural heritage is an important task of the Strategy for Cultural Development, which has been vigorously implemented in the past years to preserve the Vietnamese character, soul and mettle, contributing to national development and defence.

At this solemn ceremony, I request the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, relevant Agencies, the Party Committees and local authorities together with artists, practitioners and compatriots, especially the local areas where Đờn ca tài tử thrives, with all their hearts and minds, to work closely together in implementing effectively the National Program of Action on the preservation and development of Đờn ca tài tử. We must preserve and promote Đờn ca tài tử, a distinct art of both academic and folk cultural values, so that it always has a meaningful role in the cultural life of the people in the South, of the Vietnamese people and of humanity at large.

On behalf of the Vietnamese Government, I wish to express our gratitude to the UNESCO and international organizations. We look forward to your continued cooperation and assistance in the socio-economic development and in preservation of cultural heritage.

Ladies and gentlemen, compatriots and comrades,

Our country and people are living at the age of globalization and intensive international integration. More than ever, we must preserve, foster and promote the fine traditional values that have been developed and passed on to us by sweat and blood of our forefathers. We need to undertake meaningful activities to infuse such invaluable cultural values into the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese, wherever they live. Being in uplands or deltas, in the North or the South, in Viet Nam or abroad, the blood of Lac Hong ancestors always flows in their veins, and they are attached to their homeland and join hands in national building. Let us work together to preserve and develop an advanced Vietnamese culture of strong national identity. The Vietnamese culture must shine forever. The quintessence of Vietnamese culture must be mingled in and shine with the quintessence of mankind’s culture.

May I wish all distinguished delegates, compatriots and comrades good health, happiness and success.

Thank you./.