Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Singing – Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

In the nation cultural flow, Quan ho is a special folk singing feature of the Kinh Bac – Bac Ninh land. Through centuries, Quan ho singing has a close relation with the rural people’s life, truthfully reflecting the religious and cultural activities of the rural community.

Inheriting the cultural quintessence of all regions in the country, Quan ho folk singing became the unique art, a distinct character of the province.

Quan ho folk singing is the convergence of all “quintessence”’ of other folk singings: the purity and bustling of “Cheo”, the sob and ardent of “Hat Dam”, the profound of “Ca Tru”, the unaffected of Southern folk singing. Bu above all, Quan ho has conveyed the most quintessential contents, melodies and lyrics in Bac Ninh – Kinh Bac’s cultural heritage.

People from generation to generation stay together in a close neighborhood like a Quan Ho verse “love your neighbors like yourself” with a hope to take control over natural disasters and life hardship. This survival desire has created the sweet, clear, and deep-lying Quan Ho rhymes. Quan Ho villages, located together, form Quan Ho regions, almost in Bac Ninh province, typically such as Viem Xa village, Hoai Thi village, Bo Son village, Thi Cau village, Tam Dao village.

Quan ho folk singing of Bac Ninh province is recognized by the UNESCO as the Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Humanity.