Children are encouraged to join Bui Xa Hat Trong Quan Club. (Photo: VNA) Bac Ninh (VNS/VNA) - The art of folksinging alongside drums, hat trong quan in Vietnamese, started in BuiXa village, in today’s Thuan Thanh district, the northern province of Bac Ninh,in the 13th century, but locals still practise the art.
According to Le Thi Mao, 94, the art reached itsgolden time before the August Revolution in 1945.
"At that time, this kind of folk singingwas the only kind of entertainment among locals," she recalled.
“In the village, all people, old and young, knewhow to sing,” she says. “Many young couples got married after singingrehearsals. They courted one another through the songs.”
Mao said she loved the art at a young age andaccompanied her brothers and sisters to performances.
At 18, she performed at night shows. She alsogot married to a drum player after performing at such shows.
After 1945, the art got less popular, until itwas revived in 1993.
In 2003, the first club of folk singing andplaying drums was established, which now features dozens of members.
People sing live without any musicalinstruments, apart from the drums of course.
“At performances, artists sing in order songs ofgreetings, welcoming, wishing and asking,” said Le Ba Dao, 77, a member of theclub.
“Different from singing with drums in otherareas in the north, local lyrics are simple, with quick rhythms, while thesounds echo well for a long time,” he said.
The techniques require a strong voice, passionand the capability to respond quickly at contests, he adds.
Artists in the village play a special instrument– a drum made of clay.
The instrument consists of a bar of wood placed vertically,with two bamboo sticks on the two sides of the bar. Women would stand on astick side, while men on the opposite. The two sticks are connected by a metalstring. In the middle of the string, a drum is placed on the wooden bar. Thestring is placed on the face of the drum. When the player beats the string endnear a stick, the string vibrates on the drum and creates sound.
In the past, people used the clay drumexclusively, but now a normal wooden drum can be used instead.
The club meets each weekend night with about 30members in attendance, where they practise old songs and write down lyrics andrecord songs on CDs based on ancient melodies composed by the artists.
As many as 130 songs have been recorded.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourismadded the art to its list of national intangible cultural heritages, and threeveteran artists have been honoured for their contributions to teaching the artto youths.
Thu said her biggest fear is that teachingactivities are now mostly aimed at those above the age of 50 in the club.
“Our first and foremost desire is to besupported by local cultural authorities to open more training classes foryounger people,” she said.
“Besides training at the club, we also shouldset up a teaching programme at schools for children,” she suggested/.