Not only possessing a "large” number of ancient gongs, the artist, Mr. Bui Tien Xo from Vinh Tien commune (Kim Boi) also transmits a love of gong music to the generations in Muong Dong and Muong Vang areas through teaching Muong gongs.

Setting a fire for "the great movement”

In about the past decade, the movement of gong acquisition has not only exploded, but the community has also strongly responded to the preserving and promoting the musical value of Muong gongs. The programs of opening Muong gong classes were warmly welcomed by the people, inspiring "the great movement”.

In particular, in the years 2016 - 2019, stemming from the spiritual need as well as the love for the cultural identity of Muong gongs, many wards and communes in Hoa Binh city such as Phuong Lam, Dan Chu, Su Ngoi, Tan Thinh, Thai Binh ... opened classes, invited teachers and some artists of Muong gongs to teach. Thereby, each commune and ward has built a nuclear team, a core performance team of Muong gongs.

The transmission of Muong gongs has also created the specific cultural products for the local community tourism, especially the tourism in the lake area of Da River. In two years (2018-2019), the Provincial Cultural and Cinema Center coordinated to open 14 classes to teach Muong gongs to the hamlets and homestay villages, the core of which is the performance team. Through the promotion of the identity of Muong, in the tourism villages of the lake area such as Ke - Hien Luong commune, Da Bia - Tien Phong commune (Da Bac), Ngoi - Suoi Hoa commune (Tan Lac) has received the love, leaving a good impression for the domestic and international tourists.

Being pride to "show off” the identity of Muong gongs

In the community of many residential areas of 4 Muong (Bi, Vang, Thang, Dong), it is not easy to participate in performing gongs at the major festivals. The artisans, who know how to beat gongs, must be voted, and the family be a cultural household. In the mind of Muong ethnic people, the opportunity to participate in performing gongs is a great honor, representing the whole family to contribute voice and show off the gongs to the community.

Gongs have been performed at many major political and socio-economic events of the province and the locality. Typically, at the 130th anniversary of the establishment of the province, 1,600 gong artists from the Muong areas in the province participated in the 2nd largest gong performance in Vietnam. At this event, together with Mo Muong culture, the art of Muong gong in Hoa Binh was recognized as the national intangible cultural heritage. More nicely, many people and visitors could see, feel and immerse themselves in the impressive street gong parade. Especially for the elders, this parade seemed to revive the cultural space of the old days.

The province has been creating an environment for gongs and gong music to be promoted, inherited and developed with care, focusing on the restoration and preservation of the traditional festivals, performances and gong music transmission, and carrying out some scientific projects on cultural conservation of Muong gongs. From Thereby, the spiritual values, the cultural values, the arts and the cultural space of Muong gongs continue to affirm the sustainable vitality in the people's life, making an important contribution along with other values (Mo Muong, Muong writings) and making Hoa Binh culture rich in identity.

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