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Replete in a stunning violet traditional dress while on an iconic dragon boat historically reserved for royalty, Le Nhi's dulcet tones created a melancholic ambience in the evening as she sang a Hue folk song on a river in central Vietnam.
Le Nhi, a young woman from Hue, Vietnam's former imperial capital on the Huong (Perfume) River, was singing "Tuong tu khuc" (The Song of Lovesickness), about an imperial maid who lived her whole life at the royal palace, but never got a chance to see the king.
Earlier in the "ca Hue" show, the name derived from the traditional music named after its place of origin, Hoai Nhi and three other songstresses, all wearing "Ao Dai" or traditional Vietnamese long dresses in different colors, sang four popular folk songs, namely "Luu Thuy", "Kim Tien", "Xuan Phong" and "Long Ho", as a way of wishing their audience good health, wealth and spirit.
Their soft, sweet voices were beautified by the unique musical accompaniment of bamboo castanets, a 16-chord zither, a monochord, a Chinese four-chord lute and a Vietnamese two-chord fiddle.
Unlike the singers who were young and smiling, all of the four instrumentalists, including three men and one woman, were middle-aged and looked deadly focused as they played. The three bandsmen wore traditional tunics and turbans, and all of the costumes were a resplendent sapphire blue.
Despite their gentle stage manner and delicate looks, Hue folk song singers have had to struggle with many difficulties to ensure the survival of the traditional music.
"From May 1, a ticket for a show of 'ca Hue' on the Huong River is 100,000 Vietnamese dong (nearly 4.5 U.S. dollars), and the minimum remuneration for each singer or instrumentalist is 150,000 Vietnamese dong (6.7 U.S. dollars)," Le Nhi told Xinhua on Sunday.
"Before that, we were paid only 50,000 Vietnamese dong (2.2 U.S. dollars) per show which lasts at least 60 minutes," Le Nhi said, adding, "We only get to perform one show per night."
Meanwhile, it takes a lot of time and frequent practice to master "ca Hue", a combination of sophisticated music with popular content, which came to existence at some point under the regime of the Nguyen Lords during the 16th century.
"Ca Hue" is based on "Nha nhac cung dinh Hue" or royal music of Hue, but is down-to-earth in terms of its themes and is heavily influenced by "ho" and "ly" (folk songs closely linked to working life on the water).
"Nha nhac" was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Culture Heritage of Humanity.
"To perform this kind of music, it takes us around five years of hard training, learning to sing and perform with traditional gentle mannerisms," an elderly singer named Thu Thuy told Xinhua recently.
As "ca Hue" is hard to sing and to listen to, some people mix the performance with northern folk songs, or even throw in a modern song such as "Mua tren xu Hue" (Rain in Hue). This kind of fusion, however, undermines the traditional music and makes a mockery of the supposed management of its preservation, Thu Thuy said.
Her colleague, a small and slender man named Trong Hai, who plays the Vietnamese two-chord fiddle, mentioned unhealthy competition as being another obstacle.
Although it just 4.5 U.S. dollars per passenger to board a dragon boat and enjoy a "ca Hue" show, many people enjoy it for just 2 U.S. dollars by boarding an overcrowded or a smaller boat, which travels in the wake of the dragon boat.
Another nuisance is the presence of impolite passengers. Many people board dragon boats with snacks and just amuse themselves, paying little attention to the singers, let alone the instrumentalists.
"We sing and we play musical instruments seriously, with our hearts, with our souls, but many audiences behave as if they were our bosses and seem to have a low regard for performers like us," Hai said with a long face.
Sometimes audiences get drunk and make unpleasant, suggestive comments to "ca Hue" singers, because in the old days the female singers were often associated with prostitution. In the past, the idea of a single woman boarding a boat to perform had very negative connotations.
Despite poor pay, improper working conditions and unwanted male attention, it is the singers themselves through their love of traditional "ca Hue" that is keeping the music alive.
Some years ago, there were nearly 400 singers and instrumentalists who plied their trade on about 100 boats along the Huong River.
Now, there are nearly 500 artists, most of whom either work for, or study at traditional theaters or arts colleges in Hue city, in the Thua Thien Hue province.
Assisting them are relevant agencies that have recently taken drastic measures to ensure the quality of "ca Hue" on the Huong River.
The Thua Thien Hue Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has granted licenses for qualified performers.
According to the Thua Thien Hue Transport Department, there are 128 dragon boats, including 78 single boats and 50 twin-boats offering "ca Hue" shows.
To ensure the safety of passengers on the Huong River, from June, all boats are required to carry certificates of technical safety and environmental protection, as well as papers relating to personnel insurance, and the captains' licenses.
"I think that 'ca Hue' has become over-commercialized a little bit and less respectful of tradition. But whenever our family comes back to Hue, we all board a dragon boat to enjoy listening to the sweet melodies of Hue folk songs and the harmonious and melancholy music of traditional musical instruments," Nguyen Trong Trinh, a Vietnamese-American man, said, while holding a colored lantern with a small candle inside it.
At the end of the "ca Hue" show, Thu Thuy and her colleagues offered these lanterns to passengers on the dragon boat so that they could place them on the surface of the Huong River and make a wish.
From a distance, the lanterns looked like small boats twinkling away into the darkness.
"Each lantern on the river symbolizes a wish. I wish the young have the same burning love for 'ca Hue' as people of my generation, and keep the music alive forever," the elderly singer said softly while leaning on the colored dragon head-shaped prow, her jet-black eyes fixed on the twinkling lanterns drifting downstream.
(APD)
