VietNamNet Bridge - Art is not a copy, but a series of improvements leading to different styles of creativity. A group of pop singers modernised cai luong by performing in a classic piece, refreshing the old form while bringing it to new, younger audiences.

Cai luong originated in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta after World War I, but has since spread into the cities. Its most popular form in southern Viet Nam employs traditional song

But pop singer Minh Thuan and his colleagues gave audiences a contemporary twist on the genre at HCM City’s Ben Thanh Theatre last week, participating Lan va Diep, an instant classic when it was first staged in 1936.

Thuan spent over VND1.3 billion (US$80,000) to realise his dream of staging cai luong in a spectacle that employed only pop artists, who had no experience in traditional performance.

Unlike recent opera performances that look more like pop concerts, Thuan’s show was for the most part typical cai luong in both style and attendance, with nearly 1,500 people attending the two-night only performances.

However, the show did provide some fresh additions to the genre. High-tech equipment dazzled audiences with light and sound effects, something heretofore hardly associated with traditional cai luong.

Scenes from the opera Lan and Diep, whose cast includes famous pop singers in HCM City.

However, perseverance won out in the end, and got results.

“Unbelievably, audiences cried and laughed with us,” said Thuan after the first performance.

Love story

Written by Tran Huu Trang, a leading cai luong composer, Lan va Diep is about the tragic lives of rural people under the feudal system of the 1930s.

The work focuses on the doomed relationship between Lan, a beautiful but impoverished girl, and her first love, Diep, who goes on to marry for money.

Diep is the victim of a plot fabricated by his rich wife’s parents, who use his innocence to force him to betray his true love.

The roles of Lan and Diep have been performed countless times by legends like Nam Phi and Thanh Nga, and have continued to live on after the death of the performers.

Seventy two years after its premiere, Thuan is hoping this old-fashioned opera will spark a new passion in younger audiences focused more on the contemporary music scene.

Mixed reviews

“Through Lan va Diep, I can try a new form, discovering that the traditional art is really wonderful,” says Cam Ly, a dance-pop singer.

Like her peers, Ly spent days improving her vocal skills in preparation to play Lan because “She didn’t want cai luong lovers to turn on my poor performance”.

“As you know, singing and dancing in cai luong are different from the modern fields that I’m involved in,” she said.

Ly knew she had completed her mission when she saw tears streaming down audience members’ faces.

“We are living in a modern world. Why shouldn’t our cai luong be staged by modern artists combining the traditional and the modern on stage?” said Hoa Ha, the show’s director.

Ha asked young composers Duc Tri and Hoang Song Viet to create music for her show to bridge the gap between older and newer values.

But not everyone appreciated the experiment. “It’s not the cai luong that I prefer,” said Phan Thu Hoa, who moved from her native province of Ca Mau to HCM City.

“In cai luong, pop singers are unprofessional even though they tried best,” she said.

Hoa believes in a more natural cai luong performed by traditional artists who have spend at least ten years learning the craft. “I think we should preserve the traditional art and style.”

(Source: VNS)