Preserving and promoting the Tong Goi Boat Cheo Singing Festival

Performance on a wooden boat

The Tong Goi Boat Rowing Festival is a long-standing traditional festival, taking place in the early spring of the lunar calendar, in the ancient village of Goi (now in Tan Hoi commune, Dan Phuong district, Hanoi ). The special highlight of the festival is the boat rowing ceremony on land - a form of folk performance that is both ritualistic and theatrical.

According to ancient legends, General Van Di Thanh was a descendant of a mandarin from the Tran Dynasty, born in the ancient Tong Goi region. As a highly educated and talented person, well-versed in the classics, he had the merit of recruiting soldiers and training soldiers to fight against the Ming invaders. He was famous for his 6 oaths and commanded the army to victory wherever they fought. Under his talented leadership, the enemy suffered heavy losses. After his death in Tong Goi, to praise the virtue of General Van Di Thanh, the people of Tong Goi created a unique art form of Cheo Tau singing. On the occasion of the 15th day of the first lunar month, the people of Tong Goi held the Traditional Cheo Tau Singing Festival.

During the rowing ceremony, people transform into sailors and captains to recreate a voyage through storms, expressing their wishes for favorable weather, bountiful harvests, and national peace and prosperity. The rowing, chanting, and singing movements, coordinated rhythmically with the sounds of drums and gongs, create a vibrant, sacred, and symbolic cultural space.

Meritorious Artist Ngo Thi Thu - Head of the Tong Goi Boat Cheo Singing Club shared that the most special thing in the Festival is the boat cheo singing performance with the response melodies between two boats - wooden dragon boats, not launched but symbolically rowed on land. Each boat has 13 people including the boat lady, 2 boats and 10 ships. When performing, the boat lady plays the gong, the 2 ships lead the singing and the ships sing in response. Behind is a pair of elephants with two elephant trainers whose job is to blow the horn and signal. The content of the songs in the boat cheo performance are individual songs and response songs of the "boats" and "elephants", all to praise the merits of the Thanh Hoang Tong Goi Van Di Thanh. The boat cheo singing includes 20 melodies, divided into forms such as: Hat trinh, hat thuyen and hat bo bo.

Need to promote on digital platforms

Despite its unique cultural value, the Boating Festival is facing a series of difficulties in its preservation. According to folk artists, because the Boating Festival requires a large space and a long time, in the past, the Boating Festival was only held once every 25 years, when the weather was favorable and the people's lives were prosperous. In recent years, in accordance with the wishes of the people, the annual festival has been assigned to a village to host the main festival and every 5 years it will be a communal festival.

The decline of the artisan generation as those with experience and knowledge of rituals, lyrics, and dances are getting older or disappearing. It is very difficult for young people to start learning to sing Cheo Tau, because of the ancient lyrics and distinctive accents. Tan Hoi Commune is making efforts to preserve this type of Cheo Tau by forming clubs, organizing training courses, and teaching. Currently, the artisans have collected 300 songs, but there are usually 8 songs performed. However, the Tong Goi Cheo Tau Association has not been effectively exploited in developing cultural tourism .

In order for the heritage to be promoted and not to be forgotten, it is necessary for the authorities to organize classes and folk clubs at schools and cultural houses to teach the younger generation the songs, dances and rituals of the Boat Rowing Festival. Elderly artisans should be invited to teach and demonstrate to pass on their skills to the younger generation; Contents of the Boat Rowing Festival should be included in the localeducation program in the history and culture subject, and at the same time, students should be encouraged to participate in performances and practice to become more attached to the heritage;...

In the digital age, the Rowing Club needs to be introduced more widely on digital platforms: YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, local websites, travel sites...

The boat rowing festival is not only a folk activity but can also become an attractive tourism product. The coordination between local authorities and travel companies will help bring the boat rowing festival closer to domestic and foreign tourists as well as the international community in the process of preserving and promoting heritage values.

Bao Chau

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/gin-giu-va-phat-huy-hoi-hat-cheo-tau-tong-goi-post548737.html