scholars, researchers, experts, artists, enthusiasts and the public at-large to attend and/or submit original and unpublished works in Hát Xẩm studies [the folk music of the blind travelling beggars].

Hát Xẩm is a genre of folk songs by the traveling blind beggars, that have been present in the cultural life of Vietnam for hundreds of years. Motivated by the needs for daily subsistence, they travelled in small bands around the lower Red River Delta in the northern part of Viet Nam. It is believed among Xẩm artists that the founder of Hát Xẩm who invented the genre and the đàn xẩm or đàn song "the monochord", lived in the XVth Century. Đàn cò ke or đàn nhị “two-string fiddle”, sênh sứa “castanets”, cặp kè “twin wood clappers”, trống mảnh “twin one-face drums”, are the main musical instruments accompanying the lead male and/or female voices. Their performance spaces have always been in market corners, harvest festivals, river landings, cross country stations, later, the tramway and sidewalks, to make a living. Hát Xẩm eventually developed and formalized its own unique folk music genre, steeped in the Vietnamese national social, cultural and artistic values. Hát Xẩm musicians composed, improvised and performed their songs with lyrics depicting their life stories, social conditions, current events, injustice, satire, commentaries, bittersweet human bondages, sometimes in vulgar folk expressions. With changes in social and cultural conditions, however, this art has fallen into decline.

With the aim of safeguarding and promotion of this intangible national cultural values at risk of being marginalized and lost under the pressures of globalization, The Viet Nam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS), in cooperation with the Department of Culture & Sports of the People's Committee of Ninh Bình Province, the Center for Vietnamese Philosophy, Culture and Society of Temple University (the U.S.), the Center for Research, Preservation and Advancement of Vietnamese Folk Music (Hanoi), and the Faculty of Arts of Sàigòn University (HCM City), jointly organize The First International Conference on Safeguarding and Promotion of the Arts of Hát Xẩm in Contemporary Society, to occur on December 6-7, 2021 online.

The Conference will address such topics as:

1. The origin and development of Hát Xẩm.
2. The musicological issues of Hát Xẩm: system of genres, forms, musicality, and the musical instruments.
3. The influence of other folk music genres in Hát Xẩm and the influence of Hát Xẩm music in other folk music genres in Vietnam.
4. The literary arts of Hát Xẩm lyrics.
5. Manifestations of Vietnamese folkore in Hát Xẩm lyrics.
6. Research and development of Hát Xẩm today (new works, and new changes in presentation).
7. The current state of Hát Xẩm in contemporary Vietnamese musical life: The Problems in Revitalization, Advancement, Teaching and Learning of Hát Xẩm.
8. Problems and directions in resource collections for further studies.

Submitted papers must be original, not previously published. Papers must not be submitted concurrently to another conference with refereed proceedings.

Abstracts and Paper Drafts Submission:

1. Papers can be written in English, French, or Vietnamese.
2. All submitted papers must have an abstract in English.
3. Abstracts are limited to 300 words, full papers are limited to 3,000 to 5,000 words, with author’s name, title, professional address, contact telephone and email, and a short biography.
4. Format: on 8.5 x 11inch (letter) paper, standard 2.5 cm top and bottom margin, 3.5 cm left and 2.0 cm right margins, font family Times New Roman (Unicode standard), font size 14 pt., line spacing 1.5.

All submissions:

• in English to be sent by email to:
  • Mr. Bùi Vũ Duy Quang (VICAS Department of Sciences, Training and International Cooperation) at khhtqt.vicas@gmail.com, or tel. +84 39 226-4166.
• in Vietnamese to be sent by email to
  • Ms. Trần Thị Thuỷ (VICAS Department of Sciences, Training and International Cooperation) at tranthuyvicas@yahoo.com.vn or tel. +84 97 807-1176.
• by postal mail to
  • Viện Văn hoá Nghệ thuật quốc gia Việt Nam, 32 Hào Nam, Đê La Thành, Ô Chợ Dừa, Hà Nội, Việt Nam.

Papers Reviewing And Publication:

1. Submitted papers will be reviewed. Accepted papers will be published as a part of the final proceedings.
2. Format: on 8.5 x 11inch (letter) paper, standard 2.5 cm top and bottom margins, 3.5 cm left and 2.0 cm right margins, font Times New Roman (Unicode standard), font size 14 pt., line spacing 1.5.

Important Dates:

1. August 15, 2021: Deadline for abstracts.
2. October 1, 2021: Final paper submission.

Important Information about Coming to the Conference

1. The Conference organizers will cover the conference costs and food for participants.
2. Participants to the Conference will arrange and pay for their own transportation and lodging during the Conference.
3. The Organizing Committee has a limited amount of funds to support travel and lodging expenses for qualified participants.

Important Information about international support for the Conference

1. The Vietnamese Studies Group/Association for Asian Studies awards a grant for a qualified junior scholar to the Conference as a Special Project.
2. The Conference will select the best papers from its Proceedings to be published in a Special Issue of The Journal of Vietnamese Studies.