In harmony: Hue Royal Music will be introduced at an international symposium on traditional music to be held in Viet Nam. — VNA/VNS Photo

Two annual symposiums connected with the International Council of Traditional Music (ITCM) will be hosted in Ha Noi on July 30.

The sixth ICTM Music and Minorities Study Group and the second Applied Ethno-musicology Study Group symposium will host 87 representatives from 30 countries and territories around the world.

The Music and Minorities symposia will cover three subjects: music and ethic education curriculum, challenges that exist within ethnic culture, and how music can help preserve the culture of ethnic groups.

At the Applied Ethno-musicology symposia, specialists will discuss how history, music and culture work to shape and preserve ethnic traditions.

Speeches at the conference will be delivered by Yves Defrance from France on northern Vietnamese music and by Joe Peters from Singapore on Vietnamese musical instruments.

The Vietnamese Musicology Institute will host both groups and its director, Dr Le Van Toan, will also chair the local organising committee.

Since the Study Group on Music and Minorities was recognised by the ICT in 1997, the group has met biennially in Europe. In 2010, for the first time, the Study Group will be meeting in an Asian country. This will also be that the two groups will meet in tandem and hold a joint session.

The joint session will be held in Ha Long city in Quang Ninh Province on July 25-26.

In the framework of the symposiums, two performances of Vietnamese traditional music will be organised on July 21 and 27, which will include gong music from Tay Nguyen (the Central Highlands) , royal tunes from Hue, quan ho, ca tru, cheo and puppetry.

"This is an opportunity not only for Vietnamese artists to perform Vietnamese arts for international friends, but it also allows foreign specialists to study Vietnamese music," Toan says.

(VNS)