Training helps the O Du community promote traditional cultural values.

On the afternoon of September 17th, the Department of Ethnic Cultures of Vietnam (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), in coordination with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Nghe An province, inaugurated a training course on preserving and transmitting intangible cultural heritage related to folk songs, folk dances, and folk music.O Du peopleThis training course took place over 3 days, from September 17-19, in Truong Vinh ward, with 70 participants including artisans and O Du people from Van Mon village, Nga My commune.

Mr. Tran Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Ethnic Cultures of Vietnam, said that the O Du ethnic group is currently one of the five ethnic groups in Vietnam with a population of less than 1,000 people. Therefore, many unique cultural features have gradually faded away. "Before opening the training course, we directly visited Van Mon to survey the socio-economic situation and cultural characteristics of the O Du people. Afterward, we also consulted with many experts on ethnic culture," Mr. Hung said.

The training courses are organized with the aim of preserving, restoring, and promoting the unique and distinctive intangible cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities that are at risk of disappearing. Through this, they contribute to protecting the unique culture of the Vietnamese people, promoting the teaching, learning, and practice of intangible cultural forms within the community, especially among the younger generation of ethnic minorities.

The training courses are expected to contribute to the development of cultural tourism products and create sustainable livelihoods for local people based on promoting traditional cultural values.

Trainees will receive training on topics related to the preservation of intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities in general and the O Du ethnic group in particular in the current period; the Party and State's guidelines, policies, and laws related to ethnic culture; and the preservation and promotion of the value of traditional folk songs, folk dances, and folk music of ethnic minorities in conjunction with tourism development.

The trainees also receive direct instruction from artisans knowledgeable about the traditional culture of the O Du people, practicing performing traditional folk songs, folk dances, and folk music; filming, photographing, and editing documentary films about the preservation and promotion of the value of traditional folk songs, folk dances, and folk music; and transferring documentary film products to the locality to serve the propaganda and preservation of the traditional culture of the O Du ethnic group in particular, and ethnic groups in general in Nghe An province.

On this occasion, the Department of Ethnic Cultures of Vietnam will provide equipment, musical instruments, and props to support the construction of a model for preserving and promoting traditional folk songs, dances, and music of the O Du ethnic group. This will contribute to enabling the people of these ethnic groups to practice and pass on their traditional culture, and at the same time, gradually turn the unique values ​​of traditional folk songs, dances, and music into distinctive tourism products to attract tourists.

According to Mr. Tran Manh Hung, after this training course concludes, on September 22nd, the unit will also coordinate with the Nghe An Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to open a training course for 70 Khmu ethnic minority trainees in Nghe An province.