Ca tru comes back to life

After many ups and downs, ca tru (traditional ceremonial singing), seemingly neglected for years, has been revived spectacularly, attracting not only middle-aged people but also youth.
Efforts pay off
Most villagers in Tieu Than Hamlet, Van Ninh Commune in Bac Ninh Province are rice farmers. Life is hard, but always animated in festivals with traditional performances, including ca tru. However, ca tru started to blur when high-technology entered the village.
With the ambition of restoring ca tru, in 2003, Tran Dinh Luyen, director of the provincial department of Culture, Sports and Tourism at that time, suggested a local ca tru club. But the suggestion came to no avail as just a few villagers could perform ca tru.
Thereafter, Hoang Van Thuy, an elderly man with a profound passion for the traditional genre, gathered some villagers and taught them how to perform. His efforts resulted in the Tieu Than ca tru club.
In September, the club gave their first public performance and gained much appreciation. The club has since performed in many places not only to preserve the tradition but also to call people to restore ca tru.
Expansion and revision
Ca tru, a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, was silent for a long time but is now in vogue as a treasure which was nearly lost.
Born in about the 15th century and peaking in the 19th century, ca tru seemed to die in the late 19th century. Ca tru melodies seem to appear rarely on radio programs or else only behind the doors of families with old ca tru artists or lovers.
Five years ago, Vietnamese youth had almost no idea about ca tru as this is a kind of music which is considered highly developed and for choosy audiences.
Ca tru, like many ancient and highly developed arts, has many forms. The most widely known and widely performed type involves only three performers: a female vocalist, a lute player and a spectator who also takes part in the performance.
The female singer provides the vocals while playing her phach, small wooden sticks beaten on a small bamboo platform to serve as percussion. She is accompanied by a man who plays the dan day, a long-necked, 3-string lute used almost exclusively for the ca tru genre. Last is the spectator (often a scholar or connoisseur of the art) who strikes a trong chau (praise drum) in praise of the singer’s performance, usually with every passage of the song.
Fortunately, today, ca tru appears around provinces and cities in the North and the Central from Ha Tinh to Thanh Hoa, Hai Duong, Hai Phong and Ha Tay.
Professional ca tru performers are not made overnight but many young people are studying bamboo percussion, dan day and trong chau at the ancient house, 87 Ma May, Hanoi, or joining festivals and events associated with ca tru.
Preoccupation of young ca tru singers
“I am proud of being a ca tru singer as this is my life, my destiny, even if sometimes the job can not ensure me a material life. But I can feel there is strength of traditional arts living in my blood-vessels and in my heart. It has established my human character,” said artist Pham Thi Hue.
To do something to revive ca tru, apart from performing, Hue spends time teaching young people and also set up the Thang Long ca tru club. Her dream has come true as the club attracts many young people and now has 20 artists. The youngest member of the club is nine years old.
In order to develop more strongly and widely and to promote the traditional art to foreign tourists, the club performs monthly and opens trong chau training courses every Friday at 7:30 p.m.
“I am happy to see young people perform ca tru. However we really need authorities’ help such as bringing ca tru to schools and traditional festivals professionally like other genres of art,” said Hue.