VietNamNet Bridge – At four years old, when most kids are busy with their toys, Nguyen Van Quan discovered his fondness for the traditional folk art and music of Viet Nam.

Lives of the saints: With an attractive face and his demeanor and attitude, Quan is suited to play male saints. The most difficult challenge for stage performers is to accurately reflect the spirit of each saint, says Quan. Photo Nguyen The Nam

Since then, he dreamed of being on stage and performing Vietnamese folk art and folk music for an audience.

His dream seems to have come true. His popularity among young people soared since winning first prize with a hau dong performance at the Ha Noi Law University’s Got Talent competition held recently in the city.

Quan, who was born in 1994 in the northern province of Hung Yen, is a college senior. He is interested in all forms of folk music but he feels a special bond with hau dong.

Hau dong (also known as len dong) is popular in Vietnamese spiritual culture. It is one of the main rituals of dao Mau, and exemplifies the worship of mother goddesses in Viet Nam. During these rituals, mediums go into trances so their bodies can receive the spirits of various deities.

The young man said that his passion comes from his grandmother taking him to temples and pagodas to attend hau dong rituals. He observed and listened to the elders practising those religious rituals. Slowly, he became fascinated by their songs and performances.

Quan has also been active in theatrical arts since childhood, when he often acted in plays purely from instinct, without having had theatrical training.

At the age of 18, Quan entered the Ha Noi Law University, an institution completely unrelated to traditional art and music. His fire for the art forms, however, still continued to burn.

Quan always dreamed of performing regularly on stage. So he decided to enroll in the Viet Nam Music Art Development Centre in Ha Noi (VMADC), which is dedicated to preserving Vietnamese folk music such as xam and trong quan, as well as chau van singing. The VMADC offers training for lovers of such music.

At first, Quan wanted to learn to sing different forms of folk music. But senior teachers who devoted their whole lives to preserve the traditional music of Viet Nam - including musician Thao Giang and accomplished artist Van Ty - urged him to pursue hau dong.

Hau dong includes 36 gia (sessions) representing 36 deities with different names and personalities. It is always accompanied with chau van singing.

Quan has an attractive face with grave manners and attitude, well-suited to play male saint characters, according to musician Thao Giang, 58, the director of the VMADC.

“Stage performers are different from real practitioners,” said musician Thao Giang. “Practitioners incarnate all deities and spirits, both male and female, to meet their spiritual and religious needs. While performers only need to consider and choose characters that suit them well."

After enrolling in the VMADC, Quan has had more opportunities to study traditional arts. Teachers have given him valuable advice, as well as taught him the stories and contributions of saints and deities. This helps him to understand and to act their spirit and life stories accurately.

Quan also learns from books and experienced artists and visits temples and pagodas to watch real hau dong performances. Then he draws inspiration from all of his life experiences when he performs.

Impressing the audience: Quan performs hau dong at the Hanoi Law University’s Got Talent competition. Photo Phan Hong Anh

Hau dong combines both singing and dancing. So Quan spends a lot of time memorizing chau van lyrics, so that he can later devote himself to learning and refining this traditional dance form.                     

Quan and other VMADC members are currently performing folk games and music onstage at the Dong Xuan Market and on Ma May Street in Ha Noi, as well as in other provinces.

The 22-year-old student says that the most difficult thing for performers on stage is to accurately reflect the spirit of each saint. Performers are not believers in these spiritual figures. Performers just portray saints as characters in performances lasting 10 to 15 minutes.

Viet Nam is seeking UNESCO recognition of hau dong as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. So the preservation of this belief’s true value via performing on stage is very important.

“I have never met the saints. So making audiences clearly visualize the character I am playing is the hardest thing. Using my imagination, I have to act accurate facial expressions, gestures and postures, all without losing the sacredness,” Quan shared.

The admiration and cheers of audiences after his performances are great motivation for him to confront any such difficulties. Such acknowledgement is also a precious gift for every artist.

Quan’s family and friends don’t work in the arts. But they always stimulate a passion for folk music in him.

“My family absolutely support him to pursue and preserve Vietnamese cultural heritage, if he can balance the amount of time for studying and performing.” Nguyen Van Den, Quan’s father said.

Vietnamese young people today are the heirs and guardians of these folk music and arts for future generations. However, most young folks ignore folk music because of the strong influence of modern music from aboard.

After Quan’s victory performing chau van singing and hau dong in the school competition, he is very happy. Chau van and hau dong mean "songs for the souls" in Vietnamese. Quan hopes to make these "soul songs" popular and loved by more students who can introduce the unique performing arts of Viet Nam to the world.

“The traditional folk music created by the Vietnamese is a gem of Vietnamese spiritual life. I always want to preserve it and to make this folk music popular, like other kinds of music,” Quan said.

Minh Trang

VNS