International and domestic r esearchers and artists of folk music
presented suggestions about how to preserve and promote Bai choi singing
at a workshop on October 29 in central Quang Nam province.
The workshop was co-held by the provincial Department of Culture, Sports
and Tourism and the Vietnam National Academic of Music (VNAM) with the
aim of studying the folk songs peculiar to Quang Nam towards the goal of
applying for UNESCO recognition as part of the world intangible
cultural heritage.
Addressing the workshop, VNAM
Head Nguyen Binh Dinh highlighted Bai choi singing as a combination of
poetry, music, singing, performance and improvisation.
The Vietnam National Academy of Music and 11 provinces and cities in
the central region, ranging from Quang Binh to Binh Thuan, have been
tasked with the preparation of the application dossier, which is to be
submitted prior to March 31, 2015.
Unique to the coastal central region, bai choi singing is often seen at
local spring festivals and resembles a game, using playing cards and
village huts.
The stage for bai choi performances encompasses nine cottages, each
containing five or six ‘players’. One of the cottages, the central
house, contains a troupe of musicians and instruments. A deck of playing
cards is split in half, with one stack distributed amongst the players,
and the other placed in the central house. The cards are stuck onto
bamboo poles and erected outside the cottages.
The game singer delivers a flag to each cottage, all the while
singing bai choi, and then draws a card from the central house. Whoever
holds the card closest in value to the game singer’s card wins.
The bai choi songs are about festivals, daily life and work, and are accompanied by musical instruments.
The game and songs were developed by Mandarin Dao Duy Tu (1572-1634)
to help locals protect their crops, according to Hoang Chuong, Director
of the Centre for Preservation and Promotion of National Culture.
Vietnam is currently home to eight
cultural practices in the UNESCO intangible heritage list, namely Hue’s
royal court music, the space of Gong culture in the Central Highlands,
Quan ho (love duet) singing, the Giong festival, Ca Tru ceremonial
singing, Xoan singing, Worshipping the Hung Kings, and Don ca tai tu
(amateur singing).-VNA