Quietly "keeping the fire" for Hue heritage

Each worker, in addition to technique, must also have heart and vision.

Sowing seeds from love of the profession

Behind the stage lights of the Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theatre are the diligent rehearsals of the young actors and artists. They practice how to play their roles in excerpts from classical plays and repertoires of royal music. Meritorious Artist Hoang Trong Cuong - Director of the Theatre shared: "Training new people is difficult, keeping them is even more difficult".

Performing traditional arts, especially those such as opera, dance or royal court music, requires not only talent but also perseverance and hard work. “Some students learn opera early, but it takes them a decade to play the main role. If they didn’t have passion, they would have given up a long time ago,” said Mr. Cuong.

The difficulty comes not only from the specificity of royal art, but also from modern life, which makes artists’ incomes insufficient for them to feel secure in their commitment. That is why the Theater has chosen the “direct mentoring” training direction, while the Hue Monuments Conservation Center supports the mechanism for artists to have additional income from performances, projects and creative spaces.

Recently, with the sponsorship of Vingroup Innovation Fund (VinIF), the Theater launched a 3-month training course on Tuong mask painting techniques. As a result, 15 young artists completed 300 Tuong masks - the vivid faces of Tru Vuong, Dao Tam Xuan, Ly Ngu Tinh... Each mask carries the colors, lines of Tuong art and contains love for heritage.

The course is taught directly by Meritorious Artist La Hung. “He not only teaches the profession, but also the history of each mask feature,” said Ms. Le Mai Phuong, Head of the Theater’s Applied Research Department. The project is only 3 months long but has long-term significance, helping young artists apply makeup and design masks according to royal art standards. From this result, the Theater plans to open annual classes, so that every artist entering the profession can “memorize” the traditional identity.

“We don’t force you, we let you find it yourself. Only when you truly love it will you have the patience to pursue a special subject like royal opera,” Ms. Phuong said.

Retaining good workers

Not only artists, artisans, skilled workers, and those who restore and reconstruct relics are also facing the problem of human resource shortage. According to Mr. Hoang Viet Trung - Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, this force is gradually aging, while the young generation is less interested because the job is hard and the income is not high. "A worker quitting is a big loss. It takes decades to pass on the profession," he said.

In a conversation with us, artisan Ngo Dinh Trong - Head of the Painting Team, Hue Monuments Restoration Joint Stock Company shared: The gold leaf technique cannot be learned in a day or two, but is a lifelong journey of training. The red lacquer and gold leaf structures are the soul of royal architecture. Most of the skilled workers in the team were taught by the late painter Do Ky Hoang, a lecturer at Hue University of Arts. The craftsman must have a deep understanding and love for the profession in order to infuse the soul into each layer of gilding and painting stroke.

Currently, many special crafts are only passed down orally, “from father to son”, without certification. “There needs to be a policy to recognize, support and honor them as “living heritage”. They are not just craftsmen, but also the ones who preserve the soul of the heritage”, Mr. Trung emphasized.

“We hope to have a specialized training center with traditional professions specializing in heritage restoration. There, students and craftsmen will learn through practical experience and be able to touch the heritage. The center highly appreciates the role and contributions of artisans. The unit has awarded certificates of merit to hundreds of artisans and skilled workers in the restoration of Thai Hoa Palace. It is not only a thank you, but also a motivation to keep them in the profession,” added the Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center.

In the heart of the ancient capital, the drum beats of Tuong classes still resonate, the sound of hammers and chisels still resonates in the restoration sites, and the hands of young craftsmen are still learning every stroke of their ancestors. Keeping them involved in the restoration work is keeping the heritage.

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/lang-tham-giu-lua-cho-di-san-hue-153260.html