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Ca Huế - a classical Huế singing performing art- has taken
roots since the 18th century in Huế, the old imperial city in
central Vietnam. Ca Huế is an elaborated chamber music, lying at
the convergence of the Huế imperial traditional music (nhă ca)
and folkloric songs. According to the historian Đào Duy Anh,
Ca Huế originally evolved from the intermingling of the two musical
movements of China and Champa [1]. The historian Tô
Ngọc Thanh went further to describe Ca Huế as the acculturation of
these two cultures giving rise to a third cultural heritage, Ca Huế,
that had selected out the particulars of each culture and mixed
with the aboriginal characteristics to create a
distinct, richer and more modern type of music [2].
Nowadays, visitors to Huế can still enjoy Ca Huế
in the tourist sampans floating down the Perfume River as the
sun sets. However, the Ca Huế authentic cream of
the crops are two venerable maestros in their
80's who are living in the dark and under hardship but whose
voices are still powerful: Mrs. Minh Mẫn and Mrs. Thanh Hương.
To preserve this exquisite traditional art, VHI sets out to help them with
teacher's grants by which Mrs. Minh Man and Thanh Huong would
teach the young generation this skillful art accompanied by Mr.
Hung on his four-chorded lute. All students attend this class free of charge and at their
own volition, as the grant provides the modest yearly salaries
for the three artists. Mrs. Nguyễn Thi Lợi, herself a painter
and a musician, friend of the masters and head of the
non-profit Ca Huế Club for the past 10 years, has helped
us set up this program with the masters teaching twice a week
for three hours. The class gathers 16 children,
ages 10-15 from Huế Vocational Training Center, a home for
orphans and street kids estranged from their families run by the
local government. Recently, a group of catholic nuns approached
Mrs. Lợi and asked to learn from our maestros too.
Unfortunately, this arrangement is still pending due to a tragic
event: very sadly, at the end of 2004, Mrs. Lợi passed away
after battling a severe disease for some times. Family and
friends all mourned her. To commemorate her
and with her family consent, we named this program after Mrs. Lợi to always honor her memory. May our friend rest in peace.
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Mrs. Nguyen Thi Loi (black dress) playing the koto at the Ca |
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Hue Club at her home. |
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Mr. Hung, Mrs. Minh Man and Thanh Huong and students. |
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The students were called up to demonstrate their progress |
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in turn. |
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[1] Đào Duy Anh, Việt Nam Văn Hóa Sử Cương, Nxb Bốn
Phương, Viện Giáo Khoa, Hiên Tân Biên, 1951, tr. 292-293
Dao Duy Anh, Annals of
Vietnamese Culture, Publisher Bon Phuong, Academia, Hien
Tan bien, 1951, pp. 292-293[2] Tô Ngọc Thanh- Hồng Thao, T́m hiểu âm nhạc cổ truyền, tập 1,
Nxb Văn Hoá, Hà Nội, 1986, tr.49-50
To Ngoc Thanh- Hong Thao,
Understanding traditional classical music, vol. 1, Publisher Van
Hoa, Hanoi, 1986, pp.49-50 |
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Phú Xuân 
