HCM CITY — People’s Artist Bạch Tuyết, a cải lương (reformed opera) guru, is working with rapper Wowy of HCM City to launch a new music project aimed at young people. 

The project offers music videos which combine rap and cải lương, a 100-year-old art gerne of Vietnamese theatre in the South.

Tuyết and Wowy have worked to write, compose and produce a series of songs featuring topics on love and life. Social issues are also included. 

The first video is complete and is expected to be released on YouTube and TikTok next month. 

“I hope our project will attract and encourage young audiences to love and learn more about cải lương,” said Tuyết. “To preserve our traditional music, we need to expand it among younger generations.”

Last year, Tuyết launched a project called Tinh Hoa Cải Lương (Beauty of Vietnamese Theatre) on TikTok. 

The project offers clips featuring famous extracts from dramatic and historical plays performed by Tuyết and her younger colleagues. 

“Cải lương should be released on YouTube and TikTok to attract youngsters,” said Tuyết. 

Cải lương plays are performed at traditional festivals and anniversaries in the Cửu Long (Mekong) River Delta provinces of Cần Thơ, Sóc Trăng, Cà Mau and Bạc Liêu.

The art features the hopes and dreams of southern people, who love singing cải lương after a hard day of working in the fields.

Tuyết began offering her art on YouTube in 2018. In her videos, she combines cải lương and pop and rap music. 

Her video, Mang Tiền Về Cho Mẹ (Bring Money to Your Mother), is a cải lương version of the same song by rapper Đen Vâu. 

It was released on her official YouTube channel in January, 2022 and has attracted more than 358,000 views and 1,384 comments. 

Many fans wrote in their comments that they fell in love with cải lương after listening to Tuyết’s Mang Tiền Về Cho Mẹ version. 

Another video by Tuyết that has attracted young fans is Về Nghe Mẹ Ru (Coming Home Lullaby), released on YouTube last year. The video has attracted more than 18 million views.

In the work, Tuyết and young pop idol Hoàng Dũng create and sing a cải lương version of a hit by Dũng. 

Tuyết was a theatre star in the 1960-70s and performed for several leading cải lương theatres in the region.

She has offered training courses providing young participants with performance skills to sing vọng cổ (nostalgia tunes) and cải lương, and has wrote and released many books and documents on the operatic art form.

Rapper Wowy, 35, whose real name is Nguyễn Ngọc Minh Huy, has been in the industry for more than 15 years.

He is also considered a pioneer of rap in the South and has been particularly successful in combining rap with social and cultural issues. — VNS