The opening ceremony of the exhibition of photos on Gong Music in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, organized by The Vietnam Cultural and Art Institute and Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, will be held in November 6th, 2009.

Nearly 90 photos are chosen from the archives of of the École française d’Extrême-Orient, Missions Étrangères de Paris and Quai Branly Museum. They were taken by French colonial officials, military officers, missionaries and scholars from 1930s to 1960s at Bana, Giarai, Mnong Gar villages.

They testify the concern and interest of French toward this art of gongs and the tradition of gong playing by the ethnic groups in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Therefore, the post cards of gongs have appeared since 1908s.

Many photos were taken by French scholars who lived for many years in the communities which they studied. For example, Georges Condominas lived with the Mnong Gar, Jacques Doumes with the Jarai, Jean Boulbet with the Ma. Their photos which are usually magnificent and perfectly documented are invaluable evidence of an intangible heritage which is now in danger of disparition.

Thanks to the active collaboration of Christine Hemmet, an expert from the Quai Branly Museum, the exhibition content is organized in four parts. The first is “Gong orchestras” with the photos on structure of the orchestras including bossed gongs, flat gongs, drum and cymbals. The second, “Gong players”, is on the way gongs are played. The third, “Gong Music in Context”, is on the rituals celebrated with gong music: funerals, buffalo sacrifices, ceremony welcoming the “King of Fire” and other rites in the family. The last part, “Gong Playing and the Outside World”, shows that the gong music has adopted elements from the ouside world since longtime: gong orchestres welcoming either a Catholic Nun, a French official or King authority.

The exhibition is organized on the occasion of the International Festival of Gong Music in Gia Lai province in November 2009. Despite of the 3 month-exhibition only (till the February 7th, 2010), the catalogue has continued to archive the content of the exhibition.

Source: CPV