Researcher Dang Hoanh Loan (left cover) - Photo: DAU DUNG
Mr. Loan told the story at the discussion and book launch of A Dao: A study on the history and musical system by author Bui Trong Hien, which took place on April 6 in Hanoi.
Depending on the performance environment, the "a dao" has many other names such as "singing at the communal house gate", "singing at the temple gate", "singing at the powerhouse gate", "singing at the silk house", "singing at the troupe house"...
Around the 19th century, hat a dao changed to hat co dau. In the second half of the 20th century, hat co dau was eliminated from social life. Some people who love this genre still talk and write about it but use a different word: ca tru.
On October 1, 2009, UNESCO officially listed Vietnam's Ca Tru art as an intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent protection.
Professor Tran Van Khe explains that A Dao is a masterpiece.
Researcher Dang Hoanh Loan, former deputy director of the Institute of Music, was the leader of the largest field trip in our country's history to study this genre, and was also the person who directly prepared the dossier to submit to UNESCO.
He said that in 2005, the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) assigned him to build a national dossier on the art masterpiece Ca Tru. At that time, he was "extremely confused".
When receiving that project, colleagues at the Institute of Music did not approve, saying "we don't have enough capacity because we don't understand what ca tru is".
According to him, at that time the ministry itself did not know how to build the national dossier of ca tru as a masterpiece and why it was called a masterpiece.
That confusion was later explained clearly and concisely by Professor Tran Van Khe: "Calling a masterpiece at that time was an art form that only that country had, and no other country in the world had. That's what a masterpiece is."
"We woke up, it turned out that only Vietnam has a type that humanity does not have. However, how to prove it is a masterpiece is extremely difficult," he said.
Documents about the prostitutes displayed at the discussion - Photo: DAU DUNG
The field trip "didn't know whether to be happy or sad"
The fieldwork took place over six months nationwide with many difficulties to prove that ca tru is a masterpiece.
"The most difficult thing was when asking about Ca Tru, all the cultural officials in the communes and districts did not know. But when I asked if there were any old people here who used to sing Co Dau, many of them nodded," he recalled.
The book is the result of nine years of research by author Bui Trong Hien - Photo: DAU DUNG
When the group went to see the old geisha singers, for example two in Thanh Hoa, they brushed it off, saying "no, I'm scared", "I'm very miserable" because the memories of the geishas being scorned and punished were still fresh in their minds.
Hearing that, I didn't know whether to be happy or sad," Mr. Loan shared.
What to do now? Information is scattered, artists have not yet escaped the trauma and refuse to share... It is very difficult to maintain the name: geisha, a dao, or ca tru.
But thinking back, all Han Nom documents recorded it as "ca tru". In the previous document sent to UNESCO, we also accidentally recorded it as "ca tru", so in the submitted documents, it was left as is.
"The word ca tru has a bookish character and has a documentary basis for research; but in terms of musicology, the word ca tru has no musical character," he said.
Therefore, when researcher Bui Trong Hien put the term "a dao" on the cover of this newly published book, Mr. Loan agreed. "The term "a dao" can only name the art form, the art content and the artists who play in that art," he said.
A dao is a genre at the highest level of technique, the pinnacle with the most complex, magnificent and difficult musical system.
Researcher Bui Trong Hien
Many young people attended the discussion and listened to researcher Bui Trong Hien talk about the geisha - Photo: DAU DUNG
The "top" type
A dao: A study of the history and musical system is the result of 9 years of research by Bui Trong Hien. In this research book, the author approaches the a dao by delving into the aspects of history, cultural space and musical system of this ancient music genre.
The A Dao once had a period of brilliant development, covering the whole North, even Thanh - Nghe - Tinh. In the second half of the 20th century, "the thousand-year-old art form ended", the A Dao gradually disappeared from social life.
In April 1976, Professor Tran Van Khe returned to Vietnam to record Quach Thi Ho's voice for UNESCO to print on vinyl. Bui Trong Hien called this a "historic recording session".
In 1983, the song Pipa Xing (35 minutes long, the longest song in the world) on this disc was voted one of the nine best performances at the Asian Music Forum in Pyongyang (North Korea).
With this book, Bui Trong Hien wants to bring the remaining fragments of the prostitute into scientific light.
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