Singing Kieu in Nghe An

(Baonghean)Vi dam has great appeal perhaps because this is a singing style of love, competition, and testing of strength between men and women. The great poet Nguyen Du once described a vi singing session in a fabric guild very vividly: "In the yard, there were nine or ten girls from the village, vi girls, singing girls, spinning girls, shuttle girls, and there was also a girl who brought betel to the mouth, beautiful women like flowers" (Funeral oration for two girls of Truong Luu).

Nguyen Du also admitted: “Thon ca so hoc tang ma ngu” (Countryside songs help us understand the language of mulberry and hemp growers) in (Thanh minh tu nghinh). The life and cultural capital that folk artists apply in the vi singing sessions are knowledge about productive labor, folk songs, folk tales, anonymous Nom stories and especially about the Tale of Kieu. The details and verses in the Tale of Kieu are applied a lot and very skillfully in the vi singing sessions.

The beginning of the singing, especially the Vi Phuong Vai singing, is usually a prelude or welcome song describing a good meeting. The young man hopes that the reunion will have the opportunity to form a relationship like the Kim - Kieu couple during the Spring outing:

Stay home and go out,
Just during the festival week, met Kieu Nhi on the road.

Or just going out and meeting the person you secretly love "Just going out and meeting a beautiful person" is compared:

Also Kim Trong met Kieu on Thanh minh festival.

But many times to meet the person you love takes a lot of hard work:

Step down to Lam river to find the swimming fish,
Climb Hong Linh to pick each blackberry.
I came here to find you only if we love each other,
See you now!
like Kim Khap Kieu

Sometimes the women's side sings first. They boldly speak their hearts out:

Late at night the dew falls on the quiet ground,
Music headphones
Kim approached.
And innocently poeticize people and scenery:
Whose shadow is faintly visible in the flower garden,
Looks like Kim Trong
to Kieu - Van's house
The beauty is also confident and proud:
I am really Kieu,
Waiting for Kim Trong
morning in and out

After the introduction and welcome songs, there are the antiphonal and riddle songs. This is an exciting and challenging stage. Both sides must apply their knowledge in many aspects. The content of the Tale of Kieu becomes a rich subject to test the talents and abilities of young men and women.

Female: - I know the Tale of Kieu by heart,
I bet you can say one sentence.
five people?
Nam: - Hey husband, hey mom, hey dad,
This is my younger brother, this is my sister-in-law.
Female: - I know the Tale of Kieu by heart.
Can you name a line of Chinese characters?

Nam: - Ho Cong decided to inherit the position.
Ceremony first, then soldiers practice flag carving.

When faced with a question that cannot be answered, the man retaliates by asking the woman a question. For example, when the woman sings:

Rumor has it that he knows the story of Kieu.
Boat donation, please ask a few questions
categorical:
What year did Kieu marry Thuc Sinh?
Every year Kieu had to sell herself
ransom father?

The man replied:

- I ask you that is right,
He asked his concubine Tu Hai whose son she was?
Should be Kieu a Van em,
Why is it called Kim - Van - Kieu?

The end of the vi singing session is usually the end of the xe singing session. Here, all the feelings and thoughts are often expressed. The Kieu verses are used again, sometimes to express steadfast vows:

Remember the vow of three lives
Through thick and thin
still have me, have you
Sometimes to remind and encourage each other:
We are like Kim Trong and Thuy Kieu
Sometimes bitter, sometimes spicy.

Nghe An men and women passionately sing "like butterflies drunk on flowers, like bees drunk on honey"... Many times:

Sing until the restaurant collapses,
Let the rocks roll, let the sky shake.

The Tale of Kieu has long been one of the most attractive spiritual foods of the people of Nghe An. People organize recitation of Kieu's poems, performance of Kieu plays (also called Kieu Cheo), comment on Kieu, recite Kieu, practice Kieu, sing Kieu verses, tell Kieu fortunes... as indispensable spiritual pleasures in the countryside...

Ho Sy Huy (Hung Dung Ward - Vinh City)