Preserving and promoting the value of national heritage of Hue folk songs

Preserving and promoting the inherent heritage value of Hue singing after being honored as a national intangible cultural heritage is a difficult problem.

Ca Hue is a unique cultural feature of the ancient capital, recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage. However, to promote the inherent value of Ca Hue is still a difficult problem.

Over the past 3 decades, the performance of Ca Hue on the Perfume River has become an attractive tourism product, attracting tourists when visiting the ancient capital of Hue. However, due to the need to serve the masses, Ca Hue on the Perfume River has gradually become distorted, the ancient versions of Ca Hue such as: "Qua phu", "Nam Xuan", "Nam Ai", "Phu Luc", "Tu Dai Canh" ... have almost disappeared. Instead, most artists and musicians perform folk songs, melodies, ho ... leading to the distortion of the traditional form of Ca Hue performance.

Hue Songs

Ca Hue artist Thu Hien, who has been performing Ca Hue on the Perfume River for 20 years, worries: “Up until now, the money for Ca Hue performances for artists has been very low, making life difficult. But we still practice our profession to keep Ca Hue developing. I also hope that artists will think of ways to improve the quality so that more and more people will come to listen to Ca Hue.”

When Ca Hue was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage last June, the preservation and promotion of the value of Ca Hue received attention. However, one of the major challenges facing Ca Hue at the present time is how to make this art form increasingly attract young people, while veteran Ca Hue artists such as Minh Man, Thanh Luong, Kim Vang... are old and weak.

In Hue, there are currently two units training in majors of Ca Hue, namely Hue College of Culture and Arts and Hue Academy of Music, directly training artists, actors and musicians for the art of Ca Hue.

Artist Vo Que said that in order to truly integrate and receive widely, it is also necessary to compose new lyrics for Ca Hue to be rich: “The image of Ca Hue on the Perfume River with chamber Ca Hue is entering the consciousness of many people. Therefore, there is also a need for integration in lyrics with systematic content. Especially the great songs of Ca Hue, new content is needed to have a shape, contributing to the preservation as well as the development of the art form of Ca Hue”.

In Hue, there are over 400 artists, actors and musicians participating in Ca Hue performances for tourists on the Perfume River. Recently, Thua Thien-Hue province has issued regulations that each Ca Hue performance must be at least 60 minutes long, must have at least 3 musical instruments in the following categories: lute, pipa, erhu, moon, gourd and flute; 7 actors and musicians when performing on a single boat, 8 actors and musicians for a double boat...

Mr. Cao Chi Hai, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thua Thien-Hue province, said: Due to limited performance services, academic and scholarly Ca Hue melodies or classic Ca Hue songs cannot be brought on dragon boats to serve tourists. Furthermore, due to the rapid training process, many young Ca Hue performers cannot sing ancient melodies...

Mr. Cao Chi Hai believes that bringing back Hue singing to the auditorium space is the best solution to preserve and promote the value of Hue singing: “Hue singing is now recognized as a national heritage, so we must strive to increasingly improve the quality of Hue singing performances on the Perfume River to serve tourists. In the coming time, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will coordinate with the city and clubs to continue to restore Hue singing in the auditoriums in the palaces and garden houses to create a very unique product, linked to tourism activities”.

Faced with the challenges posed to Ca Hue, the functional sectors of Thua Thien-Hue province are urgently organizing the collection and compilation of documents of ancient Ca Hue songs, organizing appraisal councils to improve the quality of Ca Hue on the Perfume River. In particular, honoring artists and artisans who have contributed to preserving, performing and disseminating Ca Hue, in order to contribute to honoring and promoting the value of the unique art form of the ancient capital./.

According to VOV.VN