How did Le Tu handle Giang Chau's famous vọng cổ verse in Tiếng Hồ Sông Hậu?

Le Tu (right) considers the late artist Giang Chau his idol - Photo: LINH DOAN

In the play "Tieng ho song Hau" (script: Dieu Huyen) produced by Saigon 2 Opera Troupe, artist Giang Chau plays Thua. This is considered a role that needs to be mentioned in his career.

Giang Chau's long vọng cổ verse forced the audience to clap.

The new version of the play “Tieng Ho Song Hau” was premiered by Tran Huu Trang Theater earlier this year. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the country’s reunification, the play will be performed again at Tran Huu Trang Theater on the evening of April 26.

When re-staging the play, director Hoa Ha shared with Tuoi Tre Online : "The play has been around for decades, so when re-staging it, I focused on deepening the psychology, speeding up the pace, and requiring the actors to have a new, authentic way of acting that is suitable for today's young people.

However, in the notebook, the way the seniors handled things is very good, so I want the students to consider it a lesson, to learn and to keep their talented way of handling things.

Because of the emphasis on singing, Hoa Ha was quite worried about the famous vọng cổ verse of artist Giang Chau. She said it was in scene 2, when Thừa was pushed to the extreme and had very strong reactions.

At that time, artist Giang Chau sang 3 sentences of the vọng cổ song using long breaths to increase the rhythm and at the end forced the audience to burst out and clap their hands loudly.

At first, Hoa Ha thought the artist would not be able to do this, so she considered finding another singing option.

Le Tu (second from right, role of Thua) in the play "Tieng ho song song of Hau river" - Photo: LINH DOAN

When on the practice floor, she kept pushing her mentality and Le Tu sang and performed excellently, making Hoa Ha satisfied. She thought, if not Le Tu, it would be difficult for anyone else to do it.

"When I watched Tu Ca perform that part, I thought Giang Chau was probably relieved because there was someone who would continue his style" - Hoa Ha said emotionally.

Le Tu: The more you act, the stronger your singing will be!

Confiding to Tuoi Tre Online , Le Tu said that when he was in his hometown of Dong Thap, every time he went to the fields to weed, he turned on the radio to listen to cải lương. Tiếng Hoài Sông Hậu was the play that fascinated him the most, among which he loved the artist Giang Chau in the role of Thừa.

Because of his passion, Le Tu practiced singing along. He analyzed that artist Giang Chau sang well and was excellent at singing long breaths, so the composer wrote that vọng cổ verse to exploit his singing breath. With other people, they had to sing it twice, but Giang Chau "sang" it all in one breath.

The Hau River's cry is a spontaneous uprising of farmers under the oppression of landlords and colonialists - Photo: LINH DOAN

He used this singing style when playing the role of Tam in the play To Anh Nguyet . "In the past, whenever I heard the Song Hau song , I would wait for the part where Uncle Giang Chau sang this vọng cổ verse. It was so pleasing to the ears" - Le Tu recalled and he said that sometimes when he went to a show, he sang this vọng cổ verse, but only when he was well did he dare to sing it because it was very tiring.

When rehearsing the new version of Tieng ho song Hau , Le Tu expressed that he could have chosen another singing style which would have been reasonable, but he still wanted to keep the creativity that artist Giang Chau had worked so hard to research.

Because of his diligence and experimentation in handling his breath and singing style, Giang Chau's role as Thua is not the main role but is the most impressive role for the audience in the play.

"This type of singing can be a bit more performance-oriented and a bit more psychological. But cai luong should also let the audience listen to it to their heart's content, because if they listen to it with pleasure, they might forget about acting" - Le Tu emphasized and he also added that performing on stage takes more effort than recording.

Director Hoa Ha understood Le Tu's strength: the more he moves, the stronger his breath becomes. If the old version would save energy so that the artist could breathe really hard when singing, then with Le Tu, the director just exploited it really "heavily" for him.

That helped Le Tu have another good revolutionary role in his acting career.

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LINH DOAN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/le-tu-da-xu-ly-cau-vong-co-de-doi-cua-giang-chau-the-nao-trong-tieng-ho-song-hau-20250325151613176.htm