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Vietnam

Traditional Music Attracts Youths To Pray

Updated: June 14, 2005 05:00 PM GMT
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Prayer services that use folk music and traditional decor are striking a responsive chord with young Catholics in a southern Vietnam parish.

"I can now feel affection for God and listen to his call," Marie Nguyen Tran Chan Thuyen told UCA News, saying past prayer services did not inspire her in the same way. The 20-year-old student said she appreciated the use of folk music and traditional musical instruments.

Thuyen was one of 400 youths who attended the prayer session that Dat Viet National Music Club held June 4 at the Thanh Da parish church in Ho Chi Minh City, 1,710 kilometers south of Ha Noi. That second gathering, for which the theme was "Consolidation and Communion with Jesus Christ´s Love," came four weeks after the first session, which took place on May 7 at the same church.

Dat Viet, whose 60 members range in age from 18 to 30, formed in January with the approval of Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City. The group aims to perform at liturgies for youth, Religious and clergy.

Some of its women members in white "ao dai," traditional Vietnamese dresses, greeted arriving participants at the gate and handed them hymn leaflets. Electric lighting was turned off in favor of clay lanterns that had been placed on either side of the aisle from the front door to the sanctuary. Around the altar were paper lanterns, flower vases and even a bamboo plant.

Participants chanted short hymns that Father An Duc composed to folk rhythms. They also listened as some Dat Viet members played Vietnamese instruments such as "dan bau "(monochord), "dan nguyet" (two-string lute), "dan tranh" (16-string zither) and flute, as well as the organ and guitar. Other club members sang in the choir.

Eucharistic benediction was part of the service, as was a meditative prayer by a priest and spontaneous prayer by the youth.

In his meditation, Father Vincent Pham Trung Nghia of Thanh Da parish called on the young people to attach themselves to the Church and bear witness to the Good News through social activities and charitable action in their family, workplace, school and elsewhere.

Anna Tran Thi Thanh Nga, a Dat Viet founder, explained the use of Vietnamese melodies and instruments in prayer as a way "to help youths open their hearts to God." Many young people attend neither Mass nor pray, she said, expressing hope the new style would attract them by making liturgies and prayer services more interesting.

Responses from a number of participants bore out that hope.

Laurence Dam Dang "was really interested in and impressed by the atmosphere of the prayer, which created within each participant a sentiment of communion with God." Joseph Tran Huy Khoa, 20, a student, also found the prayer sessions interesting and attractive, and suggested they should be held regularly.

Jean Baptiste Ho Ngoc Sang was motivated to do more. The music and prayer made him feel he should do something for the poor and less unfortunate around him. Sang said he would erect a small altar in his room so he can pray daily.

Joseph Tran Bo, an expert in traditional musical instruments, told UCA News that he initiated the new prayer style after he and the choir of Sai Gon Notre Dame Parish visited the ecumenical Taize community in France in 2002. He said he thought traditional Vietnamese music should be used in Taize-style chanting and meditative prayer to attract Vietnamese people.

Bo, who played a stringed instrument at the session, sees inculturation as important for local Churches. He said the prayer services are an opportunity for him to bring native melodies into Church activities, something the composer has been working toward for 10 years. He trains Dat Viet members to sing folk songs and play native musical instruments.

END

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