The Sloong hao singing festival and the highland spring market fair in Luc Ngan originate from the "Tan Son love market" taking place on the 12th day of the first lunar year by the romantic Luoi waterfall.

Singing Sloong hao songs at the singing festival 2019.

It is called the love market because people in highland communes such as Tan Son, Cam Son, Ho Dap, Son Hai, Sa Ly, Phong Minh, Phong Van... come to the market not only to buy and sell goods, but also to chat, date and seek lovers.

The market starts from the 11th day of the first lunar month. On this day, the hillsides and banks of the streams are full of the earnest sounds of the horns calling lovers, Sli and Luon songs, and the melodious Sloong hao melodies...

The boys and girls, all in the most beautiful and unique costumes, go to the market. Indigo shirts are blue like the color of the homeland’s forests and mountains. They sing together at any place where they can sing. At first they sing in groups and then separately in pairs. Just like that, the lyrics resound around the clock and there were many couples who met each other and got married.

According to Vi Van Then, Vice Chairman of the Tan Son commune People's Committee, the unique feature of the Tan Son love market is that it is a place for not only unmarried people but also married ones who come to sing together and remember their past beautiful stories. The couples, who used to know each other during the singing festival, and for some reasons, could not get married, meet on this day every year at the market, where they knew each other before.

Both husband and wife can go to the market to sing and they respect each other's private things. However, they together know how to preserve the happiness of their family, not because of their old lovers to ruin the happiness of the current family. That is the noble humane value that people here still keep.

To maintain and develop the traditional festival of the nation, this year, the Organizing Committee will deploy many new activities. Lanh Van Tap, Deputy Director of Luc Ngan district’s Culture, Information and Sports Center, said as one of the new features in this year 's Sloong hao singing festival and the highland spring market fair, the annual Sloong hao singing exchange programme will be developed into "The first Sloong hao singing contest".

The competition will attract the participation of 11 Sloong hao singing clubs from the communes of Tan Son, Phong Van, Son Hai, Ho Dap, Bien Son, Kim Son, Tan Hoa, Kien Thanh, Kien Lao, Giap Son and Quy Son.

At the end of the event, the Organizing Committee will award prizes to the clubs with the best performance. A culinary competition is also scheduled with the main dishes such as roast pork - a specialty of Luc Ngan highlands; long chung cake of ethnic minorities; gio cake; sticky rice with 3 colours or more; khau nhuc (caramelized and steamed pork); and castrated chicken. The competition will take place on the 12th day of the first lunar month in the center of Tan Son commune.

The festival will last for six days instead of five, starting from the 10th of the first lunar month. The space for the festival extends from Phong Van highland commune to Tan Son commune.

Visitors to the festival this year will immerse themselves in the festive atmosphere with more cultural and sports activities, including art exchanges, a festival featuring sweet and profound Sloong hao melodies, football and volleyball tournaments, and folk games...

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Duc Tho