Mekong Delta seeks to popularise traditional art

ART FOR STUDENTS: Bạc Liêu Province plans to bring ‘tài tử’ music to schools in the coming school year. VNA/VNS Photo Chanh Đa

MEKONG DELTA – The Mekong Delta provinces in recent years have launched several projects to bring tài tử music and other Southern traditional performing arts to younger generations.

Bạc Liêu Province, which is known as the cradle of tài tử music, a genre of traditional music of southern Việt Nam, is preparing to bring tài tử music to primary, secondary and high schools in the coming school year as part of the province’s project on preserving and promoting the art in 2024.

Tài tử music is considered the prototype for vọng cổ (nostalgic tunes) and cải lương (reformed opera) of the South.

It is a part of the region’s traditional music that began more than 100 years ago. The music is associated with farmers who sing while working in the fields or relaxing at the end of a hard day.

The songs, which feature the feelings, dreams and hopes of people, are often used in reformed opera.

The music was recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2013.

Under the project, the provincial departments of culture and education are in charge of creating lessons, arranging class schedules and organising trips to music clubs and theatres and meetings with performers and master singers.

Đặng Hữu Lộc, deputy director of the province’s Cultural Centre, said that in order to bring tài tử music to schools, the departments should offer training for teachers about the art, and develop teaching plans suitable to students at each level.

He said the schools also hosted activities such as discussions with cải lương (reformed opera) gurus, tài tử music performances, contests related to the art, and visits to music clubs and the Cao Văn Lầu Memorial Site to make students understand more about the art and learn how to appreciate it.

The memorial site, where guru of cải lương Cao Văn Lầu was buried in 1976, was recognised as a national historical cultural heritage in 2014.

Bạc Liêu is also the birthplace of Lầu’s most famous vọng cổ song Dạ Cổ Hoài Lang (Night Drumbeats Cause Longing for the Absent Husband), which was composed in 1919. It tells of the love, anguish and pride of a young woman who awaits her husband’s return from the battlefield as she listens to the sounds of war drums.

Dạ Cổ Hoài Lang was known as the first vọng cổ song, which quickly became popular across Việt Nam.

The song has been performed by generations of singers. Its title is also used for a cải lương play, dramas and movies, in which the song is used to highlight nostalgia.

The provincial department of culture is offering classes to teach Dạ Cổ Hoài Lang and other 20 classical songs for teachers and music club members.

The move is the province’s preparation for teachers to transfer knowledge on the art and educate younger generations about preserving and promoting the traditional and artistic values of tài tử music.

CLASSIC THEATRE: Meritorious Artist Hoàng Khanh plays Bùi Hữu Nghĩa in ‘Cánh Buồm Vượt Gió’ (Sail Against the Wind) which is introduced in the art programme. File photo from baocantho.com.vn

The Tây Đô Theatre in Cần Thơ City, one of the region’s leading cải lương troupes, is collaborating with the city’s Union of Students to launch an art programme to offer knowledge on tài tử music, cải lương, and traditional Vietnamese musical instruments to students and cải lương lovers in the city.

During the show, the artists from the theatre perform excerpts from famous cải lương plays, including Cánh Buồm Vượt Gió (Sail Against the Wind) written by playwrights Phạm Hữu Tùng and Đức Hiền and directed by People’s Artist Trần Ngọc Giàu.

The play features the life and integrity of Bùi Hữu Nghĩa, the mandarin of Trà Vang District (now Trà Vinh Province) during the Nguyễn Dynasty, who fought against greedy mandarins to protect the people.

Participants can also receive a brochure about the play and join mini games to help them learn more about the art and local historical knowledge.

Hồng Quốc Khánh, director of the Tây Đô Theatre, said the theatre would continue to stage more plays to introduce the life and career of historical figures in Cần Thơ to young people this year. VNS