Southern province to have 5-star hotel shaped into traditional Vietnamese musical instrument

TuoiTrenews.vn - A Vietnamese firm has secured the green light from officials in southern Vietnam to build a five-star hotel in the shape of a musical instrument used in don ca tai tu, a form of traditional Vietnamese music recognized by UNESCO.

Construction of the Bao Toan hotel will start next month in Bac Lieu City, which is the capital of the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu, the cradle of don ca tai tu, according to Ngo Xuan Pha, chairman of Bao Toan Automobile JSC, the developer of the project.

Don ca tai tu is a genre of chamber music in the traditional music of southern Vietnam.

The architectural design of the 5-star hotel has been approved by the provincial Party Committee and People's Committee, Pha told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Saturday.

Upon completion, the hotel will have 16 stories and be 50 meters in height.

According to the developer, the proposed hotel will cost some VND140 billion (US$6.3 million) and include five floors designed in the shape of a boat carrying the main part of the project that is shaped into the don kim, a two-cord musical instrument used in don ca tai tu.

The hotel will have two elevator systems designed as the two ‘strings’ of the don kim with the top end to feature an observatory and a coffee lounge.

Don ca tai tu was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in early 2014, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

The Vietnamese music genre was selected as one of the 11 new inscriptions on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at the 8th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage, held in Azerbaijan on December 5, 2013.

Stemming from the Hue court music and folk music of the southern region, don ca tai tu has been developing since the 19th century, changing according to local taste. It thrived in the early 20th century and remains crucial to the country’s traditional culture.

The music is typically performed at festivals, death anniversary rituals, and celebrations by farmer-artists.