Viet Nam News
Generations ago, residents of Le Thuy District in the central province of Quang Binh developed unique chants to serve as the soundtrack to labour in the fields and at sea. Now, their descendants are fighting to safeguard the tradition. Phuong Ha reports
One year after it was honoured as a national intangible cultural heritage, Le Thuy chanting is expanding and reaching larger audiences. But the work of preserving and promoting the heritage is still difficult.
The performance introducing the Le Thuy chanting, a genre of Vietnamese folk music from Le Thuy District (Quang Binh Province), at the Hall of the Union of Literature and Art Associations in Ha Noi on May 25 attracted a large number of spectators. People were excited to encounter Le Thuy chanting, some of them for the first time.
The show began with ho lia trau, a type of folk singing consisting of six tunes, performed by a group of Le Thuy chanting club artists. The song brings out the tunes familiar to working people, sometimes witty and other times full of happiness and excitement, winning love from the audience.
Nguyen Thi Ly, president of the Le Thuy club, said that the club travelled from the central province of Quang Binh to Ha Noi to perform at the invitation of cultural researcher Nguyen Hung Vi and the Association of Vietnamese Folklorists in Ha Noi. “We are happy to have a chance to introduce our heritage to many people,” she said.
According to researcher Vi, the founding and developing process of Le Thuy chanting aligns with the process of the overall development of the people in Le Thuy. Previously, Le Thuy chants were sung by lumberjacks, peasants and fishermen as they were doing their work.
During the time of war in Viet Nam, Le Thuy chants were sung to encourage the people transporting food and weapons. In peacetime, the chants were performed on stage to bring a unique musical art to audiences.
Vi said that the uniqueness of the chants came from the differences in the special categories of chants, each sung during a different working activity.
Struggles in protecting heritage
With its cultural value and uniqueness, the Le Thuy chanting was recognised as national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. But it still hasn’t had much of a chance to reach a national audience.
There have been a few activities to introduce and promote Le Thuy chants, through Binh Tri Thien folk-song festivals, cultural events and television programmes. But the artists don’t have a regular stage on which to perform this art and introduce the heritage to people.
The representative of the Quang Binh Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism admitted that it was difficult to win the honour for Le Thuy chants, but even harder to then preserve and develop the value of this national heritage.
Researcher Vi and his colleagues who share his love for the art form have accompanied the club to perform in provinces from Ha Noi and Bac Ninh to Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Phu Yen. However, these activities are infrequent and therefore haven’t reached many people.
With the strong wish to protect their ancestors’ legacy, the president of the Le Thuy chant club, Nguyen Thi Ly, said efforts to preserve the art form were critical. After she established the Le Thuy chanting club in 2015, she and the members of the club have rehearsed, collected songs and performed to introduce the chants around the country.
The members of the club also teach young artists how to sing the Le Thuy chants. Artist Ly said that she wanted the club to have a stable funding source so that members could travel to perform in different places, spreading the heritage to more and more people.
“Other than funding, we also want the authorities and organisations to provide us more events in which to participate, such as contests and classes to teach the folk music to the young generation,” Ly said. — VNS