Preserving and promoting Ariya singing of Cham people

Ariya singing of Cham people has just been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This is an honor and pride of Cham people in former Ninh Thuan Province. Khanh Hoa Province (after the merger with Ninh Thuan Province) will preserve and further promote this art of singing.

Ariya are poems, rhymes or verses of varying lengths. Some poems only have tens of six-eight verses, but some comprise of hundreds of verses. Cham Ariya poems have existed for a long time, not only being passed down orally like other forms of literature or folk art but also recorded by people in the past in ancient books in Cham script (Akhar Thrah). The subjects and contents of Ariya poems are diverse, including historical events, love, customs, calendars, family songs with moral values.

Cham people singing Ariya

One of the famous Ariya songs of Cham people is Bini - Cam (also known as Nai Mai Mang Makah), which tells a love story of a Cham girl following Brahmanism with a boy following Bani religion. Cham community doesn’t allow a marriage with people of other religions. When the Cham girl was burned as a punishment, the man joined and was burned to death with his lover. This song was the inspiration for the dance drama namely fire of love by Meritorious Artist Tho Thai and the song namely story of fire of love by musician Phan Quoc Anh.

Cham people often perform Ariya in form of recitative singing with melodies. Ariya is performed in festivals and cultural events of Cham community. Cham artisans perform Ariya wherever and whenever they have free time.  Ways of singing Ariya can vary according to singers. 

Ariya Bini – Cam, a famous Ariya work of Cham people (Photo: Thanh Danh)

The art of Ariya singing holds significant historical, cultural, linguistic, and artistic value. However, like many traditional cultural heritage forms, Ariya is facing challenges that threaten its existence. In recent years, former Ninh Thuan Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and former Ninh Thuan Provincial Cham Cultural Research Center have organized surveys and collected Ariya songs in the form of audio and video recordings; organized Ariya, etc. Additionally, these agencies had also paid attention to preparing documents to propose recognizing the art of Ariya as intangible cultural heritage to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

After the art of Ariya singing was included in the list of national intangible cultural heritages by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Khanh Hoa Province needs to continue to preserve and further promote this unique heritage through activities such as supporting and encouraging artisans to practice Ariya singing; boosting digitization of Ariya songs; opening more Ariya classes, especially for the youth; incorporating Ariya into contests and cultural events; and promoting the art of Ariya singing on social media sites.

Associate Professor, PhD. PHAN QUOC ANH - THANH DANH
Translated by H.N