Music takes flight from tradition

Music products are "dressed in new clothes"

For those who witnessed the group performance in the 4th round of “Anh trai vu ngan cong gai”, this was truly a sumptuous “party” of music, with traditional musical elements from the north to the south skillfully combined in many performances, leaving the audience amazed and surprised by the beauty of folk music when it was dressed in a new coat.

Performance "Rain on Hue Street". (Photo: Yeah1)

“Rain on Hue Street” by the talented Chin Muoi including Neko Le, Thien Minh, Kay Tran, Bui Cong Nam, BB Tran, ST Son Thach, Liem Binh Phat and Tang Phuc. “Rain on Hue Street” combines a few parts of the song, the X-part created by the talented artists, and a unique instrumental performance combined with choreography using Hue’s signature cup dance. Many traditional and modern elements blend together to create such a high-quality performance that many audiences commented that they could hardly listen to and watch “Rain on Hue Street” as usual anymore.

Cup dancers combine with choreography. (Photo: Yeah1)

Director Ninh Quang Truong of VTV once commented that “Rain on Hue Street” is a perfect and top-notch combination of music, background screen, stage, choreography and instrumental performances by the artists participating in the program, precise and beautiful down to every detail, from the purple light combined with the multi-hued purple on the costumes of the Hue Royal Court Music musicians, of the talents participating in the program, of the props and of the Led screen.

Guest artists including Meritorious Artist Anh Tan, artist Ho Nga and the Red Sun group also contributed to the success of the performance. (Photo: Yeah1)

The combination of electronic music with traditional materials as the background for the artists' choreography, built on the traditional conical hat and cup dances of Hue, created a vibrant, joyful and surprisingly attractive performance, although the original "Rain on Hue Street" is a song with a melancholy melody.

Young artists play traditional musical instruments combined with a flying-on-wire dance performance. (Photo: Yeah1)

The most explosive point of “Rain on Hue Street” is the performance of traditional musical instruments by three talented people Bui Cong Nam, Tang Phuc and Neko Le. Bui Cong Nam plays the moon lute, Tang Phuc plays the lute and Neko Le plays the pipa. To have this short performance of just a few minutes, all three talented people had to study and practice traditional musical instruments with teachers outside. All of these things have turned “Rain on Hue Street” into a performance that has left a strong impression on the audience and up to now, this MV on Youtube has surpassed 1.8 million views.

Performance "Dao Lieu". (Photo: Yeah1)

“Rain on Hue Street” is just one of the performances that “put on a new coat” for folk music and is extremely loved by the audience, along with “Dao Lieu”, “Da co hoai lang” and “Chiec khan pieu”... In “Dao Lieu”, the audience gets to see rappers Binz, Dinh Tien Dat and Quoc Thien sing cheo with People’s Artist Thu Huyen, along with X-parts and explosive choreography from the whole group. Like “Rain on Hue Street”, “Dao Lieu” has a completely different color, vibrant, bustling but no less smooth, graceful and lyrical.

People's Artist Tu Long, young artists Cuong Seven and Soobin Hoang Son in "Drum Rice". (Photo: Yeah1)

However, the most talked about performance of “Anh trai vu ngan cong gai” is “Trong com” performed by People’s Artist Tu Long, young artists Cuong Seven and Soobin Hoang Son. From a folk song, the artists have truly breathed contemporary life into it, bringing the heroic, powerful atmosphere of young men setting out with the desire to bring glory back. On the background of the folk song “Trong com”, the artists used the creative electronic music X-part to bring the song closer to the young audience, combined with dance moves that range from soft and gentle to strong and open. The artists also wore ao dai and turban costumes that were modified to match the dance moves to perform this performance.

Soobin plays the monochord in "Drum Rice". (Photo: Yeah1)

The most explosive part was Soobin Hoang Son's playing of the monochord. Having learned the monochord since childhood and having been hesitant and embarrassed in front of his friends because of this, today, a mature Soobin Hoang Son has brought a new, unique and attractive vitality to the monochord in front of thousands of audiences. Soobin's "burning" monochord combined with electronic music has truly brought "Trông cốm" to a new level, very close to young audiences but without losing its charming traditional character.

Spreading the values of origin

The above-mentioned performances inspired by and based on folk music have had a strong vitality and influence, even after the program “Anh trai vu ngan cong gai” has ended. On Youtube, “Trong com” has surpassed 10 million views, “Dao Lieu” has surpassed 4.5 million views, “Chiec khan pieu” with Northwestern folk music has surpassed 4.8 million views, and “Mua tren pho Hue” has surpassed 1.8 million views, not to mention views in the music compilations.

At the two post-show concerts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the audience was deeply moved to witness tens of thousands of spectators singing Cai Luong, Cheo, Hue folk songs, Southern folk songs, etc. with the artists on stage. This was something that had never happened before at any large-scale art program.

These traditional performances are also performed by artists at many cultural events, and continue to be innovated and adapted accordingly. “Rain on Hue Street”, “Favouring the Water to Push the Boat”… were performed at the 2024 Mai Vang Awards ceremony of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper.

“Going with the flow”, a song inspired by the traditional music of ST. Son Thach. (Photo: Yeah1)

“Thuận nước phát luận cầu” (Flowing Water Pushing the Boat), the song that won the 2024 Mai Vàng award, was performed again by ST Sơn Thạch at a Shopee mini live concert with completely new choreography. This song was inspired by ca trù and chèo, depicting the image of a man going to the battlefield, promising to return to the girl he loves. The song was composed by ST Sơn Thạch, Thanh Hưng and Andiez.

The medley “Dao Lieu” - “Mua tren pho Hue” and “Trong com” were remixed at the Wechoice Awards 2024. (Photo: We Choice Awards)

At the Wechoice Awards 2024, the medley “Dao Lieu” – “Mua tren pho Hue” and “Trong com” exploded on stage when they were remixed and performed in a beautiful stage concept with Dong Ho paintings, Hang Trong paintings and traditional mother-of-pearl inlay art. The artists also performed all 3 acts in traditional five-panel costumes with beautiful motifs made by the Bach Hoa bo hanh group.

Talented Jun Pham in the MV "Son Thuy Khuc". (Photo: FB NV)

Not only the spread of the performances in the program, but also the vitality of folk materials has inspired new music products of the artists. The first "shooter" was Jun Pham with the MV "Son Thuy Khuc", a song written by Jun and APJ with the materials of cheo, xam, ca tru and the legendary story "Son Tinh Thuy Tinh". The MV has now reached more than 637 thousand views on Youtube. Jun Pham said that he started to have the idea of making the MV from the guidance of People's Artist Tu Long in the program "Anh trai vuon ngan cong gai". It was People's Artist Tu Long who inspired the creative inspiration with folk materials for many young artists through the program.

Vietnamese costume in the performance "One Round of Vietnam" by Phan Dinh Tung. (Photo: Yeah1)

The spread of tradition in music also affects young audiences in other aspects that few people may expect. At concerts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, many audiences wore Vietnamese costumes and Ao Dai to attend. Artists themselves also choose Vietnamese costumes when attending entertainment and cultural events... At the upcoming concert in Ho Chi Minh City, audiences in the fandoms of talented artists have begun to wear Vietnamese costumes to attend. It can be said that traditional values are returning to young people and contributing to connecting and creating civilized audiences who respect tradition.

As People's Artist Tu Long once said, it's not that young audiences don't love tradition, they do, but the important thing is to make them understand: "Culture is the essence, the origin, the nation. The cultural story we want to tell is to continue the value of tradition, to want today's young people to understand more, to approach more to love those traditional values of the nation more. What we do is to keep the originality of tradition, to innovate in the creative parts, to reach more young audiences, and to enrich the cultural treasure of Vietnam."

Traditional values are a treasure, a solid foundation for artists to put their creativity on. When inspired and guided in the right direction, works with folk materials are not only beautiful and attractive, but also have a strong connection, connecting artists with audiences, especially young audiences, connecting artists of different generations, connecting creativity, and more importantly, connecting both audiences and artists to a new height in art.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/am-nhac-cat-canh-tu-truyen-thong-post858342.html