An event highlighting mass culture and arts of the Nam O fish sauce craft village in Da Nang has been jointly organised by the People's Committee of Hoa Hiep Nam Ward, Lien Chieu District and a group of students from the Department of Economics, the FPT Polytechnic College Da Nang.

Nam O fish sauce products are introduced to locals and tourists at the ‘Co Van Ngu’ event. Photo: L.V

Participating in the event, student Nguyen Tuong Vi, 21, said: “The Nam O fish sauce craft village has long been considered one of the cultural heritage values that should be respected. After researching, we realised that those cultural values need more attention. By implementing this programme, our wish is to spread the good and precious things of the craft village to local people and tourists”.

Those values were emphasised by the organizers through the name “Co Van Ngu” with the meaning of preserving and promoting the traditional craft of making the Nam O fish sauce and the culture of coastal villagers. In detail, “Co Van” refers to the ancient half-a- century-old Nam O village, at the foot of the Hai Van mountain, while “Ngu” is a story that has always been associated with the fishing livelihoods of local people.

In order to realise the idea of organising a mass cultural and artistic event, the group of FPT Polytechnic Da Nang students were divided into committees: planning, communication, logistics, finance and arts to be in charge of script content, communication, guest reception and sponsorship.

Accompanying the students, Mr. Vo Anh Hai, a lecturer from the FPT Polytechnic Da Nang College said: “Before participating in the project, the students made field trips to the village to experience and record the cultural and historical imprints of the traditional Nam O fish sauce craft. Throughout the meetings with the people of the fishing village, they heard meaningful stories of the locality and received support in many ways so as to build a complete project, true to the historical and cultural nature of this land”.

‘Co Van Ngu’ was held at Nam O beach with the main activities: culinary experience, introduction of Nam O fish sauce specialties, cultural and artistic performances. Here, visitors enjoyed the typical cuisine of Nam O land such as Nam O fish sauce, fish salad, rice paper rolls with pork, all of which were prepared by local people. At the same time, they visited the space displaying traditional cultural values of the Nam O fish sauce craft village and watch a mass art programme.

In particular, the art programme ‘Taste of the sea’ includes special performances combining traditional and modern music with the participation of students from FPT Polytechnic College Da Nang, Hoa Hiep Nam Ward Youth Union, local residents, Hai Van ‘Bai choi’ Club, Da Nang Talent Arts Centre and young singers in the city.

The programme’s script was built with the colours of the sea, of Da Nang. Among them, we can mention the event ‘Shrimp and Fish Song’ performed by students of class PR19301 and Bee Charm Club of the Da Nang FPT Polytechnic College. Meanwhile, the young singers Thanh Uy, Quynh Thi and Dao Thu Hien passionately sang songs about Da Nang such as ‘Da Nang is always in my heart’ and ‘Da Nang is the city of my childhood’.

Enjoying fresh fish salad served with a bowl of special dipping sauce made from the Nam O fish sauce at the festival, Ms. Le Thi Bao Ngan, a tourist from neighbouring province of Thua Thien-Hue said: “As a young person, I am very happy and proud that young people still remember, preserve and promote local cultural and culinary experiences, so that local inhabitants and tourists can better understand the land of Nam O. In Thua Thien-Hue, there are also many projects and events organised by young people to protect cultural values, and I hope the same will happen here”.

The event ‘Co Van Ngu’ contributed to the preservation and promotion of local cultural spirit for the community and to connect Nam O fish sauce making villagers with tourists from near and far. As one of the Nam O fish sauce businesses participating in the event, Ms. Le Thi Nhut from Hoa Hiep Nam Ward, Lien Chieu District, said: Through such programmes like this, we hope that the Nam O fish sauce as well as the Nam O fishing village’s image will be known to more people”.

According to Vice Chairman of Hoa Hiep Nam Ward People's Committee Nguyen Thi Thuy Phuong, the locality is proud to receive the enthusiastic support of the Da Nang FPT Polytechnic College in organising the programme ‘Mass culture and arts of Nam O fish sauce craft village’ right in the ancient village of Nam O - where the fish sauce making profession has been honoured as a national intangible cultural heritage. ‘Co Van Ngu’ is also one of the outstanding activities in the series of events of the Hoa Hiep Nam Ward steering committee for summer activities of in 2024. From the enthusiasm of young people for traditional culture, the locality hopes to welcome more events like this in the time ahead.

Reporting by LAM VIEN - Translating by A.THU, P.TRA