Artist Huyen Thuong brings the art of Cheo closer to the public

For many years now, the name “Huyền Thương chèo” - the stage name of artist Huyền Thương (Cheo Art Troupe, Hà Nam Province Cultural and Art Center) has become familiar to the public. Not only performing in cheo plays, art programs serving political tasks and the people's enjoyment needs, Huyền Thương is also known as a pioneer artist of Hà Nam when making many quality MVs, posting on social networking platforms (Facebook, Youtobe, Tiktok), attracting a large number of interested people and followers.

Huyen Thuong belongs to the "9X" generation and is considered a worthy successor to the famous seniors of Ha Nam Cheo, such as: People's Artist Luong Duyen, Meritorious Artist Hai Yen, Meritorious Artist Bich Nhan... According to the assessment of Musician Nguyen Khac Hien, Deputy Director of the Provincial Center for Culture and Arts, Huyen Thuong possesses a Cheo singing voice rich in emotion but also full of inner strength. The most valuable thing about Thuong is her passion for creativity and her passionate, burning love for Cheo. Besides learning from her predecessors about the technique of vibrato, how to pronounce words, and break words to make them clear and round while still ensuring the original Cheo melody is really standard, Huyen Thuong is also one of the actors who is diligent in practicing, daring to commit, and "throw themselves" into the profession.

Huyen Thuong is a multi-talented artist. In addition to singing Cheo, she also left her mark on the public with Ha Nam folk songs, Bac Ninh quan ho folk songs, Van singing, Xam singing, and Cai Luong. “Every person is born with a mission. Farmers work hard in the fields to produce golden rice grains. Workers sweat and work hard day and night to create products to serve life. And for me, being a Cheo artist requires hard work day and night, like a silkworm spinning silk, to give life the sweetest and most passionate songs” - Huyen Thuong confided.

Huyen Thuong records music videos introducing the art of Cheo.

Watching Huyen Thuong perform, the audience is not only convinced by her smooth voice and delicate acting, but also clearly feels the confidence and bravery of a professional artist. Whether given the main or supporting role, Huyen Thuong always tries to find her own acting style, crying and laughing with the most genuine emotions of the character on stage, in order to convey to the audience meaningful life messages. After nearly 20 years of being attached to the art of Cheo, Huyen Thuong has won many awards: Promising Talent Award (National Cheo Actor Talent Competition 2020); Silver Medal (National Cheo Festival 2022); Silver Medal (National Festival of Good Stage Art Excerpts 2023) ...

With the strong development of digital technology and the increasing number of social network users, the dissemination and promotion of traditional cultural values ​​of the nation on digital platforms has become an urgent requirement, because it helps traditional art spread easily and creates opportunities for more audiences to access and enjoy. The concern: what to do?, how? to contribute to preserving precious traditional assets has always urged an artist who understands and respects her profession like Huyen Thuong. And then, without knowing when, she volunteered to devote herself, tirelessly researching and innovating to better adapt to the needs of the public in the new context.

In 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and performing arts activities were suspended, Huyen Thuong was one of the artists who kept the "fire of the profession" alive by posting her works on technology platforms and was fortunate to receive positive feedback from the audience.

Every person is born with a mission. Farmers work hard in the fields to produce golden rice grains. Workers sweat and toil day and night to create products to serve life. And for me, being a Cheo artist requires hard work day and night, like a silkworm spinning silk, to give life the sweetest and most passionate songs.
Huyen Thuong

Seeing the advantage of digital technology that audiences anywhere can follow and look more closely at traditional art forms, when the Covid-19 epidemic was under control, Huyen Thuong continued to produce a series of Music Clips - Music Videos (MVs). To attract all audiences, Huyen Thuong both sang ancient Cheo songs and ancient melodies to meet the enjoyment needs of older audiences, and sang new lyrics on the background of ancient melodies to contribute to encouraging and supporting new Cheo writers. Thanks to her smooth, soulful voice and the way she chose to perform songs about her homeland, country, love, etc., Huyen Thuong has spread the vitality and beauty of Cheo art and folk songs to a large number of people.

Huyền Thương shared that the happiest thing that motivated her to be determined to achieve the goal of bringing the art of Cheo in particular, and traditional art in general, closer to the audience through social networking platforms, is thanks to the understanding, support, and encouragement of her life partner (teacher Thanh Dong). “I myself am not familiar with technology, MV production is very hard, time-consuming and costly, but with the great support of my husband, everything went very smoothly. Regardless of distance, day or night, regardless of the heat of summer or the cold of winter, he is always by my side. Many times he had to put aside his own work to accompany and support me in fulfilling my wishes. He was the one who chose the setting, filmed and edited the video, and also took on the role of driver, logistics, and even carried things for his wife. He was quick, intelligent, handled all situations that arose promptly and effectively, helping me have impressive scenes, and then meticulously and carefully completed the post-production stages so that the sound and images were close, simple, and suitable for the content of the song, bringing emotional MVs to viewers” ​​- Huyen Thuong confided.

On her husband Thanh Dong's Facebook page with 5.3 thousand followers and her Facebook page with 6.7 thousand followers, and her YouTube page "Huyen Thuong Studio", Huyen Thuong regularly posts videos of singing Cheo, Ha Nam folk songs, Bac Ninh Quan Ho..., and broadcasts live some performances, interacting with the audience. Many messages and comments of support and love are sent to Huyen Thuong, including many young audiences. The reception of everyone is the motivation for Huyen Thuong to constantly create, continue to build better quality MVs to send to the public.

After nearly 4 years of persistently bringing traditional art closer to the public, Huyen Thuong's Facebook and YouTube pages have attracted more and more followers. The MVs are always carefully invested in before being posted on social networks because Huyen Thuong does not pursue quantity but focuses on quality. Many MVs have reached tens and hundreds of thousands of views, typically: "Dao Lieu", "Luyen nam cung", "Cong cha nghia me", "Tinh lua duyen trang", "Tray hoi xuan", "Cheo ve que huong Binh Luc" (Cheo singing); "Hat tham" (Ha Nam folk song); "Nguyet atch mai dinh", "Co ai thuoi ve" (Quan ho folk song); “Chau To” (Van singing), “Giac mo tu tai” (Buddhist music)… Along with that, many impressive scenes in the MVs have contributed to promoting famous landscapes and typical tourist attractions of Ha Nam to domestic and foreign tourists such as: Tam Chuc Pagoda, Dia Tang Phi Lai Pagoda, Phat Quang Pagoda, Nguyen Khuyen Temple…

In the current context, traditional art in general and Cheo art in particular still face many difficulties due to the influence of other modern art forms. The investment in producing Cheo and folk music videos posted on social media platforms by artist Huyen Thuong has contributed to preserving and promoting the nation's traditional art.

Hoang Oanh, Provincial Center for Culture and Arts

Source: https://baohanam.com.vn/van-hoa/van-hoc-nghe-thuat/nghe-sy-huyen-thuong-dua-nghe-thuat-cheo-den-gan-hon-voi-cong-chung-131364.html