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Vietnam is losing living heritages

Published: 02/01/2011 05:00

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Six years ago when Vietnam was compiling the file of Quan ho folk music to
submit to the UNESCO to be recognized as a world intangible cultural heritage,
the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism conferred the “Living heritage”
titles to six senior Quan ho artists.


Six years ago when Vietnam was compiling the file of Quan ho folk music to
submit to the UNESCO to be recognized as a world intangible cultural heritage,
the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism conferred the “Living heritage”
titles to six senior Quan ho artists.

By September 2009, when Quan ho was officially honored as
World Intangible Cultural Heritage, four “Living heritages” had passed away.
The two remaining living heritages are Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nguyen, 89 and Mrs. Ngo
Thi Nhi (photo), 88, in Bac Ninh city.

The six “Living heritages”:

Nguyen Thi Khuou, 103,
began singing Quan ho at the age of 13 from Tien Du district

Nguyen Van Thi, 97,
began singing Quan ho at the age of 16 from Hoa Long commune, Bac Ninh city

Vu Thi Chich, 84, began
singing Quan ho at the age of 15, from Kinh Bac ward, Bac Ninh city

Nguyen Thi Nguyen, 83,
began singing Quan ho at the age of 15, from Kha Le village, Vo Cuong Ward,
Bac Ninh city

Ngo Thi Nhi, 82, began
singing Quan ho at the age of 13, from Phong Khe commune, Bac Ninh city

Nguyen Thi Be, 84,
started singing Quan ho at the age of 13, from Phong Khe commune, Bac Ninh
city.

“I don’t sing very well now but I still teach Quan ho to the
young generation in order to maintain the standards of ancient Quan ho,” said
Mrs. Nguyen.

“I’m so happy because Quan ho has been honored in the world.
Quan ho singers who have passed away would be very happy if they knew this. The
living people should have to try to preserve it,” she added.

This year Mrs. Nguyen turned 89 but her memory still serves
her well and she can sing many ancient Quan ho melodies.

She said the “Living heritage” title is the State’s
acknowledgement of the contribution of Quan ho artists but the title will be
less valuable if artists don’t sing or teach Quan ho.

According to the artist, to preserve traditional Quan ho,
the most important thing is training Quan ho specialists, who know everything
about traditional Quan ho.

“Many people can sing Quan ho right now but old people like
me don’t like the way they sing because their singing style is different,” Mrs.
Nguyen said.

She is now teaching two groups of leading Quan ho singers
and members of the Quan ho club of Kha Le village, Bac Ninh city. The leading
singers are elderly people who can sing Quan ho very well.

Like Mrs. Nguyen, Mrs. Ngo Thi Nhi, 88, from Diem village
comes from a family with four generations of famous Quan ho singers. When she
was young, Mrs. Nhi was honored as the leading female singer in her village.

The senior Quan ho singer still remembers around 200 ancient
Quan ho songs and she can sing with 36 different voices.

The two “Living heritages” are still busy training
transmitting ancient Quan ho to the younger generations.

Quan ho singing is a Vietnamese folk music style
characterized both by its antiphonal nature, with alternating groups of
female and male singers issuing musical challenges and responses, and by the
fact that most of the songs in the repertoire deal with topics of love and sentimentality
as experienced by young adults.

Quan ho was recognised as the Intangible Cultural Heritage
by the UNESCO in 2009.

The quan ho style originated in what is now Bac Ninh
Province and was first
recorded in the 13th century, and has traditionally been associated with the
spring festivals that follow the celebration of Tet (the Vietnamese New
Year).

Historically, the singing began on the evening before the
festival, but today it is much more common for the singing to occur on the
main day of the festival. In general, an initial “challenge phrase”
from the known body of songs is sung by a pair of female singers, following
which a pair of male singers will respond by selecting and singing a
“matching phrase”, which must repeat the melody of the challenge
phrase. Once they are finished, the order is reversed, and the men will issue
their own challenge phrase with a different melody.

While in the past the singing was unaccompanied, it is
common today for the singers to be accompanied by instruments, whether
traditional Vietnamese instruments or modern ones such as electric keyboards.

There are a huge number of quan họ melodies, with
thousands of different songs having been recorded and written down in score
form.

PV

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