In-home theaters preserve the past

While state-owned theatres in Hanoi are quiet, many artists are building mini-theatres at their homes to support their families and preserve the traditional arts.
There is no official stage for ca tru in the capital city. To preserve this art, some singers have turned their houses into stages. Addresses like the Thia Ha, Trang An and Bich Cau ca tru clubs have become familiar destinations for many foreign visitors and residents.
Artists of other traditional arts like quan ho, hat van, xam and cheo have also learned from these ca tru clubs and opened small home theatres. The most successful club of this kind is Am Sac Viet (Vietnamese Sound) club by Meritorious Art, cheo singer Thanh Ngoan, who can sing different kinds of traditional songs.
Am Sac Viet club was established at 75 Hang Ba in 2005 by three artists – Thanh Ngoan, Thuy Hoa and Thu Uyen. In 2007, this club was divided into three mini-stages, one at Thanh Ngoan’s home on Nguyen Trai road, Thanh Xuan district, one in Nghi Tam ward, Tay Ho district by Thuy Hoa and one at the Tay Ho District Cultural House, operated by Thu Uyen. The three clubs have a close relationship and they mainly perform ca tru, cheo, chau van and hat xam.
A famous family band in Hanoi is Tre Viet (Vietnamese Bamboo). The band has four members, Dong Van Minh and Mai Lai and their children Dong Quang Vinh and Dong Minh Anh. This band uses bamboo-made musical instruments, made by Dong Van Minh. The most special musical instrument is a bamboo-made piano. Dong Van Minh has set up a small stage on the fourth floor of his home, where artists and audience are very close.
The latest mini-theatre in Hanoi belongs to Meritorious Artist Hoang Anh Tu on Hoang Hoa Tham road, which opened in mid-2009. This stage introduces music played by Vietnamese dan bau (monochord) and traditional singing arts of quan ho Bac Ninh (Bac Ninh love duet) and cheo.
“Folk music is only suitable for small stages, where the gap between artists and audience is zero. So I decided to open this theatre,” Tu explained. The artists don’t have to use microphones, even though it is the largest mini-theatre in Hanoi.
“The history of family theatre is not long, but this is a new approach to the audience and a good way to preserve traditional music,” Tu remarked.
Ca tru is an ancient genre of chamber music featuring female vocalists, with origins in northern Vietnam. For much of its history, it was associated with a geisha-like form of entertainment.
Quan ho singing is a Vietnamese folk music style characterized both by its antiphonal nature, with alternating groups of female and male singers issuing musical challenges and responses, and by the fact that most of the songs in the repertoire deal with topics of love and sentimentality as experienced by young adults. Quan ho is recognised as the Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO in 2009. The quan họ style originated in what is now BacNinh Province and was first recorded in the 13th century, and has traditionally been associated with the spring festivals that follow the celebration of the Vietnamese New Year.
Hat chau van or hat van is a traditional Vietnamese folk art which combines trance singing and dancing. Its music and poetry are combined with a variety of instruments, rhythms, pauses, and tempos. Hat chau van originated in the 16th century and spread quickly. The main musical instrument used in hat van performance is the dan nguyet or moon-shaped lute. The genre is famous for its use in rituals for deity mediumship. Chau Van serves two purposes: to help hypnotize the medium for reception of the deities and to accompany the medium's actions with appropriate music.
Cheo is a form of generally satirical musical theatre, often encompassing dance, traditionally performed by Vietnamese peasants in northern Vietnam. It is usually performed outdoors by semi-amateur touring groups, stereotypically in a village square or the courtyard of a public building, although it is today increasingly also performed indoors and by professional performers.
Cheo's origins date to the 12th century during the Ly Dynasty and has existed in its present form since roughly the 16th century. It derives from folk traditions, and was orally transmitted; unlike courtly theater traditions, it employs no scenery and sparse costumes and makeup. It involves a combination of traditional set pieces and improvisational routines appropriate to amateur theatre. Like the Commedia dell'arte, it often carries of a message of satirical criticism of the existing social order. The traditional musical ensemble consisted of fiddle, flute, and drum, though in modern recreations more instruments are used.
Xam singing is a type of Vietnamese folk music which was popular in the Northern region of Vietnam but is considered nowadays an endangered form of traditional music in Vietnam. In the dynastic time, xẩm was generally performed by blind artists who wandered from town to town and earned their living by singing in common place. Xam artists often play dan bau or dan nhi to accompany the songs themselves, sometimes they form a band with one singer and others who play traditional instruments such as drum or phách. The melodies of xam are borrowed from different types of Vietnamese folk music such as trống quân or quan họ while its themes are generally The Tale of Kieu, Luc Van Tien and other popular Vietnamese stories.