Echoes from the Festival 'Singing of civil servants, public employees and workers of Nghe An province'

Sing and dance with all your heart

Opening the "Union Singing Festival" cluster 4 was the performance of Nghe An Civil Servants' Union with 5 elaborately invested performances, including: Mashup "Festival Drum Screen" and song "One Round of Vietnam"; Solo "Uncle Ho's Testament"; Singing and dancing choir "Forever Echoing Song of Vietnam Trade Union"; "Aspiration of Lam River"; "Immense on the New Road".

The special thing is that the program of the Civil Servants' Union is performed as a unified whole, on a newly arranged background music by musician Thanh Hai - Provincial Traditional Arts Center, even the introduction to the audience can see the difference compared to a competition program. The elaborate investment in both effort and budget has brought the audience a new feeling, complete in both hearing and seeing.

Ms. Dao Thi Thanh Mai - Vice President of Nghe An Civil Servants' Union said: Right from the time we received the official dispatch about the Union Singing Festival to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam Trade Union, we came up with the idea and expressed our intention to coordinate with the Provincial Traditional Arts Center in terms of artistic direction. From there, the Center Director assigned experienced staff and actors to come up with ideas for script production and practice. The songs we included in the program were also carefully surveyed and researched to ensure that they were both suitable for the program's criteria and ensured artistry and novelty.

Accordingly, the songs that the Civil Servants' Union program brought to the festival praised the Party, Uncle Ho, the homeland, and honored the Vietnam Trade Union. Although not too strange, through the arrangement, the songs were given a new coat, very soft, achieving high artistry.

Mr. Tran Luc - singer of the Provincial Traditional Center, was invited to be the instructor for the Civil Servants' Union's choir team and said: As soon as I approached the core choir members, I saw that they all had the qualities. The songs included in the program, although difficult and new, required a good vocal range and level of musical appreciation, they approached them very quickly. However, as amateurs, practicing always requires time and a certain amount of discipline. And we determined that only by being really strict in practicing will we be effective.

For an art program to be successful in both the audio and visual aspects, the accompanying dance performance is the most important factor. Therefore, with more than 20 non-professional dancers gathered from grassroots unions, it has shown that the Nghe An Civil Servants' Union is determined to win a high prize in this festival. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh - dancer of the Provincial Traditional Arts Center, who choreographed the dance for the program, said: When I received the program, I created a script based on the non-professional cast that the Union had selected. There were individuals who danced quite well, but there were also many individuals who had never performed on stage. Therefore, the element of staging for non-professionals was my top priority. And it was not too difficult but had to ensure that it was eye-catching, at the same time, comply with many factors in the choreography of the dance team that I proposed and was determined to carry out. Unexpectedly, after many days and months of hard work on the dance floor, the teachers and students produced very pleasing products.

It must be said that the art program of Nghe An Civil Servants' Union has brought to the festival a fresh, new and rich breeze but no less luxurious. Mr. Thai Minh Sy - Vice President of the Labor Federation said: It is not true that investing effort and material resources will win a high prize, but it is necessary to have passion, enthusiasm, participate in the festival with a high spirit and responsibility to create such a meticulous and wonderful art product.

And it was no surprise that all members of the Jury gave the program very high scores. The convincing First Prize and the Certificate of Merit honoring the excellent performance from the Organizing Committee were valuable rewards for the non-professional actors and the Executive Committee of the Nghe An Civil Servants' Union.

The festival left many impressions

The Provincial Civil Servants' Union was the most outstanding unit participating in the festival, bringing to the program lively and unique performances. However, the remaining 7 teams in Cluster 4 also had elaborate investments. The teams all invested in staging and props, and in general, they all participated with a high sense of responsibility. Those were the Health Sector Union and the Education Sector Union, both of which won second place in Cluster IV. The programs of these teams followed the criteria but all focused on bringing new, smooth and rich elements in both content and form. Typically, the Health Sector Union team practiced diligently for more than a month, with a great deal of concentration and mobilization of human and material resources. Or the Education sector with its core members in the schools, equal in both form and expertise.

The Health Sector Union mobilized 50 people, the Education Sector more than 30 people, they all choreographed dances according to grade levels to create depth for each work; the suites and choruses were all newly choreographed and arranged. Or like the Transport Sector Union, the Construction Sector Union, although not having many choices in their force due to the specific nature of their work, their innocent and passionate singing and dancing performances showed that they participated in the festival with a high sense of responsibility.

However, in the 4 groups that participated in the festival, there were still programs that did not guarantee both content and form. There were performances where the "dancers" did not remember the lines and blocks on stage, there were also performances that sang out of tune and out of rhythm... there were performances that used karaoke LED screens that made the audience uncomfortable...etc.

However, what remains after the festival up to this point is the spirit of passion, the joy of being on stage; the solidarity between the team members. After many days of practicing together, the members have more attachment and new friends. Perhaps that is the most successful thing in every mass art festival.