Innermost feelings of Xoan singers

      Xoan singing is a famous art of the midland province of Phu Tho. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has asked the Prime Minister for preparing a file to submit to UNESCO for recognition of Xoan singing as a world cultural heritage in need of urgent protection.
VietNamNet met with Xoan singing artisans in Phu Tho.
Xoan singers’ concerns
The people in Phu Tho all know that Xoan is folk singing performed in front of communal houses during spring festivals but many of them don’t know that Phu Tho province has only four ancient Xoan singing troupes located in Phuong Lau and Kim Duc communes, Viet Tri city, with a modest number of singers.
VietNamNet paid a visit to the home of Xoan singing artisan Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lich, nearly 60, one of the four senior artisans in Phuong Lau commune, which has been considered the home of Xoan singing since the Hung Kings’ age.
My paternal grandfather and father are famous Xoan singers here. I have followed them to become a Xoan singer but I’m not sure the next generation will preserve it or not,” said Lich.
Apart from Lich, there are several senior artisans in An Thai xoan troupe, including Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lien, Mrs. Bui Thi Hoi, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Mot and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Sinh (Lich’s mother). All of them are over 80 years old.
These old women can still sing but they are too old to perform Xoan singing in front of communal houses. “Our descendents have gone away. None of them stay at home to learn our traditional art,” said Mrs. Bui Thi Hoi.
Among senior Xoan singers of An Thai xoan singing troupe, only the family of Nguyen Thi Lich has transferred the ancient art to the current generation. Lich has opened a Xoan teaching class to preserve this art.
“My class has been in existence for nearly ten years but all of the trainees have gone away and it is very difficult to group them up,” Lich said.
According to Lich, the biggest difficulty in training Xoan singing is to help young people understand and love this folk art. It is difficult because in this modern world, young people have a chance to listen to many new, eventful genres of music.
Mr. Ngu, the chief of the Xoan troupe, said his troupe has 30 singers, including several senior artisans. The number of male artisans is very few and most of them are nearly 90 years old.
He said he has taught everything about Xoan singing to his son but his son seems to be not especially interested in Xoan singing.
“When I told him to go to the communal house to sing, he said he has to work to earn a living. In this situation, Xoan singing will possibly be lost in oblivion when our generation passes away,” Mrs. Ngu said.
The old artisan is trying his best to transfer his love for Xoan singing to the youth. He has organised a class for his grandchildren at the ages of 10-16 but the class is only held irregularly. He said it is easier to gather his grandchildren to teach Xoan singing because outsiders are not keen on this traditional art.
Xoan singing appeared long ago, from when the Hung Kings established the country. Xoan singing was usually organised in front of communal house during the village festivals in the spring, hence it is also called Hat cua dinh (singing in front of the communal house).
Xoan singing is organised not only to entertain villagers and honour the Hung Kings but also to pray for clement weather and good harvests, praise the natural landscapes and depict work and daily activities in rural areas.
Xoan singing is very difficult to learn. It requires a good singing voice, appearance and gestures. To convey the emotion of a song, the performer must sing from the heart. The old Xoan singing has a total 14 tempos, each being very long. The singer must be proficient in the rhythm before starting to learn song lyrics. The songs are attached with one another by movements, dances and performances in different scenes. The musical instruments are only a small drum and castanets.
In the past, young people who did not join Xoan singing groups or associations had to learn singing Xoan songs. It is said that those who didn’t sing the songs would find it difficult to marry.
Each Xoan singing group consists of 10-15 people led by a principal singer. The costume of a male singer includes a four-flapped gown, a turban and white trousers and the costumes of a female singer includes a five-flapped gown, a white loose-fitting blouse, a belt, brassiere bands of different colours and silk trousers.
The combination between the singing voice and costumes of the singer makes the songs profound and attractive.

      Urgent protection needed
There are only four troupes of Xoan singing because it is inconvenient to bring this form of art to professional stages like quan ho, cheo, tuong or ca tru. Moreover, the time for Xoan singing is in spring only. After this season, Xoan singers return to their normal lives.
Old artisans still perform Xoan singing.
According to Lich and Ngu, it is not so difficult to train good singers but it is extremely hard to keep them singing Xoan.
“The attraction of Xoan singing is young singers. If old women sing Xoan, this art’s natural attractiveness will no longer exist, and it is also difficult to attract the young when the performers are all elderly,” said folk art researcher Nguyen Khac Xuong.
According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Phu Tho province, the centre of Xoan singing art includes An Thai village in Phuong Lau commune and Thet, Phu Duc and Kim Dai villages in Kim Duc commune, Viet Tri Town.
The other areas which have connection to Xoan singing are 17 communes in Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc province. These communes often invite Xoan singers to perform at local festivals.
However, Xoan singing is performed permanently at the four original locations for Xoan singing art. Ancient xoan melodies are mainly preserved by these four Xoan singing troupes.