Y Geu, 80, a Ro Ngao ethnic minority resident of K’roong K’lả village in Kon Tum city’s K’roong Commune, has spent almost her entire life, and even her family’s possessions, preserving many sets of gongs, the typical musical instrument used in ethnic festivals in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. These instruments are under imminent threat of being lost.

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According to A Chung, the head of the village, Y Geu has most ancient Gongs in the area.

“I’ve visited many places, but can’t find any gongs which look as beautiful or sound as good as Geu’s,” he added.

“Somebody asked to buy my gongs but I refused. If I sell them, I must be guilty with God and my ancestors. When I die, my later generations will continue to keep them,” Y Geu shared.

Y Geu’s family is one of the richest households in the village, but most of their money has been spent on buying gongs to preserve. Y Geu said her biggest set consists of 12 gongs bought from Laos. To buy them, her family had to exchange 30 cows.

In 2009, Y Geu had 40 cows. She divided them for her 10 children to earn a living and did not allow any of her children to sell the gongs. Even today, though her children can afford the whole family’s life, Geu still farms.

“She still takes care of our cattle every day. We have asked her to stay at home but she doesn’t listen since working has become a habit,” Y Giup, one of Geu’s daughters, said.

“Not only her, but the entire Ro Ngao people considers the gongs our treasures,” village patriarch AB Loi said.

In recent years, half of the gong artisans in the Central Highlands that were mentioned in the national dossier sent to UNESCO in 2005 to register the craft’s World Cultural Heritage status have given up practicing the art, local music researcher Bui Trong Hien found in a study.

According to some experts on the culture of the Central Highlands, a major cause of the loss of gong culture in the area is hydropower projects. Since gong performances are part of ceremonies such as the worship of the Lords of Water and Forest, the culture is falling apart as these resources have been depleted by construction work.