Preserving ancient rowing or new rowing?

Ancient rowing, new rowing, classic rowing, improvised rowing

Dr. Barley Norton (University of London, UK) presented the journey of many stages of Cheo in the international scientific conference "Protecting and promoting the value of folk performing heritage and Cheo art in contemporary society", held on November 23 in Thai Binh . Accordingly, there were periods when Cheo was changed, "innovatively" on purpose. That was the period of the 1970s when there was a Cheo research committee, and the Cheo reforms of artist Tran Bang which were later called "improved Cheo".

Image of character Suy Van was included in the discussion by Dr. Barley Norton

Dr. Barley Norton said that in 1976, there was a reprint of the content of cheo plays such as Kim Nham, Chu Mai Than, Tu Thuc, Suy Van . These were also the contents that were classicized for cheo works of the 20th century. "For example, Suy Van has more sympathetic words, and also has a more rebellious voice against polygamy, to conform to the 1959 Marriage and Family Law," said Dr. Barley Norton.

According to Dr. Barley Norton, such changes, recordings, and printings lead to "the classicization of Cheo, instead of the performance based on improvisation". He raises the question: Will a collection of Cheo pieces that are classicized like that be an intangible heritage, or is improvisation the intangible heritage that needs to be honored?

"These changes will involve different performance skills. It also involves whether we should canonize such Cheo scripts. Then the controversial thing in the 20th century, the so-called new Cheo, is it considered intangible heritage or not? So, are Suy Van, Kim Nham , or even non-classical content like that heritage?", Dr. Barley Norton asked.

Professor Peter Larsen, University of Geneva (Switzerland), raised the issue of practicing Cheo in a space other than the traditional space. He related it to the performance of Mother Goddess costumes in Hue City, which caused controversy among researchers. One side argued that Mother Goddess should not be taken out of the sacred space, while the other side argued that it was still acceptable.

This view is also similar to Dr. Barley Norton. Accordingly, Dr. Norton wonders whether Cheo should be preserved as an intangible heritage. This issue is raised because we want to respect the diversity of forms as well as the freedom of creativity.

Dr. Barley said: "Some people say that such innovation is no different from destroying Cheo. There used to be a view that Cheo should be innovated in a "xoi dau" way, that is, balancing the ways of expression. We still need pieces that are performed in a way that inspires more improvisation, compared to the old pieces that have fixed lyrics."

Regret for folk character

Associate Professor, Dr. Ha Thi Hoa, Central University of Art Education, pays close attention to the folk value of Cheo. According to Ms. Hoa, different artists and Cheo villages have different ways of emphasizing when singing a tune. In particular, if you compare this way of singing with the standard singing style of professional Cheo troupes, it will be very different. Associate Professor, Dr. Hoa, who is originally from the Cheo village of Khuoc (Thai Binh), performed a few Cheo verses with different styles, the style of the Cheo village and the style of artists of professional Cheo troupes. She said after singing: "I dare anyone to transcribe the way the artists sing. Cheo must retain its folk character, otherwise it will be lost. Cheo needs to be trained in a folk way".

Khuoc Cheo Village (Thai Binh) still preserves many ancient Cheo tunes.

People's Artist Tran Quoc Chiem, former Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports, noted that artists performing Cheo plays need to pay attention to details. For example, when artists from the Cheo village perform Xa Truong Me Dop , the character of Me Dop should not paint her toenails or fingernails red, or wear gold earrings, because she is a poor character wearing patched clothes...

Dr. Nguyen Thu Trang, Department of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), stated: "Building a dossier to submit to UNESCO means implementing the spirit of the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. That spirit is that the community plays a key role in deciding the elements of the heritage that need to be protected, deciding the measures, level of protection and promotion of their heritage. Managers, researchers, artists, and communities outside the subject cannot impose or force the community to perform or interpret their heritage in the way of outsiders."

Regarding the preservation of which Cheo and which Cheo value, Professor Nguyen Thi Hien, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Sciences (Hanoi National University), said that nowadays, in addition to festivals at village temples, village pagodas, and main stages, Cheo clubs are also organized to serve local political tasks. The strong operation of Cheo clubs also speaks to the Vietnamese soul. These are people who have almost never attended any art school, but they always devote themselves to serving the spiritual life of themselves and the local people...

Professor Hien commented: "Cheo is a type of folk performance, folk theater always adapts to the context to survive and develop, because Cheo is an indispensable part of the cultural life of Vietnamese people in the North."

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/bao-ton-cheo-co-hay-cheo-moi-185231124000110532.htm