Preserving, Transmitting, and Disseminating the Ancient Art of Xoan Folk Singing

Amidst the rapid transformations of contemporary life, ancient Xoan vocal melodies continue to resonate across the Ancestral Land, seamlessly anchoring the present to the nation’s historical roots. Alongside continuous conservation campaigns deployed at the original Xoan guilds, the art form is being fiercely guarded and transmitted by dedicated artisans and grassroots cultural anchors, ensuring this UNESCO-inscribed Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity continues to expand its vitality deep within community lifelines.

Artisans deliver an authentic Xoan singing performance at the ancient Hung Lo Communal House, serving international and domestic eco-travelers.

A routine training session of the Hanh Cu Xoan Singing and Phu Tho Folk Music Club (Thanh Ba Commune) unfolds in a highly heartwarming atmosphere. The rhythmic echo of drums and clappers blends with familiar ancient melodies to forge an identity-rich cultural sanctuary. Remarkably, the master instructor guiding the members through these complex vocal tiers is a young man born in the year 2000.

Mr. Nguyen Luu Hoang—Chairman of the Hanh Cu Xoan Singing and Phu Tho Folk Music Club—is widely celebrated as a vanguard youth anchor driving Xoan folk singing preservation across the province. Balancing his demanding daily livelihood, his profound devotion to the heritage has empowered him to overcome personal challenges, rallying club members to bring Xoan closer to the contemporary public.

In April 2026, the Hanh Cu Xoan Singing and Phu Tho Folk Music Club was officially chartered with 30 active members, positioning Hoang simultaneously as its chief executive and its youngest member. For years prior to this landmark establishment, he had actively engaged in vocational transmission workflows for various music syndicates across the old Thanh Ba District, while directly teaching Xoan singing to school students, mass performing troupes, and diverse cultural organizations nationwide.

For Hoang, preserving Xoan transcends guarding ancient rhythms; it is about transferring a passion for heritage directly into the younger generation. Consequently, beyond periodic club operations, he allocates extensive time to touring schools and residential quarters to spread basic Xoan compositions. Mr. Nguyen Luu Hoang shared:

"To secure the long-term survival of Xoan, we must cultivate a continuous succession layer. When the youth deeply comprehend, love, and take pride in their homeland’s heritage, they will naturally become the next champions guarding and spreading these noble values."

Concurrently, within Van Phu Ward—widely revered as one of the ultimate cradles of Ancestral Land Xoan singing—conservation efforts are executed via highly synchronized and methodical frameworks. In recent tenures, original guilds alongside regional clubs have sustained hundreds of operational performances staged at historic monument zones, traditional folklore festivals, and major socio-political galas. These operations do not merely serve civilian audiences but successfully embed Xoan singing into the spiritual core of the community.

Crucially, vocational transmission tailored for the youth has been prioritized. Specialized masterclasses designed for elementary, middle school, and youth union demographics are regularly conducted under the direct guidance of veteran master artisans. Educational institutions have also aggressively integrated Xoan heritage exploration into extracurricular modules, empowering students to accurately absorb the history and value of their native legacy. Ms. Bui Thi Kieu Nga, Leader of the Thet Xoan Guild, analyzed:

"To protect Xoan, we must ensure its active presence within the matrix of daily life. Our strategy focuses heavily on vocational transmission to youth demographics, organizing consistent rehearsals, and engineering premium environments for them to practice and perform. When citizens harbor immense pride in their homeland’s legacy, preservation naturally transforms into an organic, self-driven demand of the community."

In executing the master strategy to safeguard and maximize the value of the Phu Tho Xoan Singing heritage, the province has successfully deployed an array of institutional solutions. These encompass public advocacy, artisan training, full-scale digitization, and restoring ancient performance spaces while expanding financial support for guilds and clubs.

In executing the master strategy to safeguard and maximize the value of the Phu Tho Xoan Singing heritage—a UNESCO-inscribed Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity—the province has successfully deployed an array of synchronized solutions, ranging from public advocacy, artisan training, full-scale digitization, and restoring ancient performance spaces to expanding financial support for guilds and clubs. The vocational transmission workflows have been aggressively scaled up with 14 advanced training tiers exclusively for master artisans within the original guilds, alongside 28 specialized courses tailored for club leaders, music educators, and regional cultural actors, drawing nearly 1,000 active trainees. To date, the province officially commands 4 original Xoan guilds encompassing over 400 permanent practitioners who regularly practice the heritage, backed by a network of nearly 40 provincial-level Xoan and Folk Music Clubs.

Concurrently, the integration of Xoan singing into school curricula has achieved province-wide coverage. Music educators ranging from kindergarten to middle school tiers have undergone intensive capacity building in Xoan transmission methodologies. Annual arts festivals, performance contests, and heritage experiential tours are systematically organized, creating a frictionless ecosystem for students to approach and practice the legacy.

Furthermore, the physical infrastructure of Xoan culture has been systematically restored. Historic communal houses and shrines linked to the original guilds have undergone premium structural renovations. A dense array of ancient rituals and traditional customs have been successfully resurrected. Landmark travel packages marrying heritage art with cultural tourism have been successfully engineered, projecting Xoan singing closer to global and domestic travelers.

Amidst the rapid currents of modern life, the resounding beat of drums, the snap of clappers, and the soulful melodies of Xoan folk songs continue to echo from peaceful rural hamlets to bustling urban avenues. These ancient sounds operate as the definitive heartbeat of cultural memory and ancestral pride, rigidly guarded, dynamically transmitted, and proudly spread by the generations of the Ancestral Land for the eras to come.

Hong Nhung