The friend of Central Highland people
Recently, French ethnologist Georges Colominas received a medal from the Vietnamese government for his contributions to research on Central Highland culture.
To his friends and the minority people in the Central Highlands, Georges Colominas is tenderly known as Condo, or Yoo. He is the author of a number of books on ethnology and anthropology in Southeast Asia and Vietnam.
Georges Colominas was born in Hai Phong. His mother is Vietnamese and his father is French. Georges Colominas was soon taken round Vietnam by his father. While living in the Central Highlands with his family, he fell in love with the life of the minority people there. He returned to France determined to study ethnology.
In 1948, Georges Colominas and his wife, also an ethnologist, returned to Vietnam and the Central Highlands. Unfortunately, his wife soon had to leave Vietnam due to health problems, leaving Georges Colominas alone in the Central Highlands.
Georges Colominas lived with the Mnong Gar people in Sar Luk, a remote village. Two years later, he was almost a Mnong Gar himself. He dressed like them, built a small house, and spoke the Mnong Gar language. George Colominas also worked as a Mnong Gar man: hunted elephant, tilled fields and drank Ruou Can (wine drunk out through pipes). And he kept learning about the people’s custom and culture.
In 1949, his book Nous Avons Mangé la Forêt (We ate the forest) was published. It immediately attracted attention.
Once, Colominas heard a story about strange stones from local people. He immediately went to the stones, which he found in Ndut Liêng Krak, another village dozens of km from Sar Luk.
There were 11 stones, between 70 – 100cm. Colominas said that the stones were made by humans, and had rich musical sounds. He asked villagers if he could bring the stones to Paris. He later discovered that they were one of the oldest stone musical instruments in the world - believed to be nearly 3,000 years old.
Colominas and his discovery become famous. International researchers and students see his books as key documents in the research on Vietnam’s Central Highland culture.
In 1996, Colominas retuned to Vietnam and Sar Luk village, where the villagers warmly welcomed him as an old friend. They still called him Yoo, and built a house for him.
In June 2006, Colominas will host an exhibition in Paris, following the topic of his most recent book, L’Exotique Quotidian (Quotidian Discovery), on Central Highland cultures. It has already been published in Vietnamese.
Prof Georges Colominas is ex-director of South-East Research Institute of French National Science Research centre; ex-professor of France Science and Society University. He wrote some books on Vietnam’s Central Highland culture and contributed to the building of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.
VietNamNet Bridge / NLD - March 21, 2006.
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