Melodies formed from tuong and bai choi opera

Some melodies of the South Central region were born from Bai Choi. Photo: LE TRONG KHANG

Creativity in the plays

Musician Tran Hong and a number of authors, artists of tuong and folk opera bai choi in the South Central region have for many years carefully recorded the melodies in the content of tuong or folk opera bai choi plays.

For example, the tune “Ly thuong nhau” was formed from the folk song and play “Thoai Khanh - Chau Tuan” by author Nguyen Tuong Nhan, sung by artist Van Phuoc Khoi and recorded by musician Tran Hong.

Among them, there are two pairs of six-eight verses imbued with sorrow and pain in the tearful farewell performance between Thoại Khanh and Châu Tuấn: “ Love each other forever, forever/ Pomegranate juice lingers in the night like needles/ Needles prick the night, it hurts/ A thousand miles apart, missing each other every day ”.

There are quite typical melodies of Quang region such as "Ly tang tit" through the lullaby of the tuong artist Ngo Thi Lieu playing the role of Ms. Ngo who goes to the station to work as a nanny for the Western mother to carry out the mission of military propaganda.

She sang while carrying her baby around the observation post and improvised this song to lull her baby to sleep. Therefore, it is also called “Lullaby” or “Ly tang tit” originating from the play “Chi Ngo” by author Nguyen Lai.

This tune was sung by the Tuong artist Ngo Thi Lieu and recorded by musician Tran Hong: “ Ru oi ru oi... oi la ru/ listen and listen, ru ma qua sings around and around, around and around the guardhouse to watch for fun/ tang tit tang non nang tit tang tang/ tang tit tang non nang tit tang tang tit/ ba lit tit tang non nang tit tang tang ”.

Also originating from the play “Chi Ngo”, the tune “Ly Dong Nai” was born. In this play, there is a scene where two actors play two guards, who usually guard the mandarin’s house or go to guard the border gate together, one from Dang Trong, the other from Dang Ngoai, when talking and asking each other about their hometown, we see that they have a very clever way of playing with words. That is the type of word reversal, word reversal... used quite a lot in folk poetry.

This tune was sung by artist Van Phuoc Khoi and recorded by musician Tran Hong: “ Rice from the North costs seven coins per bowl/Rice from the South costs seven coins per bowl/If you don’t believe it, go back to Dong Nai and take a look/There are troops practicing, there are target shooting huts .”

Similarly, the dance "Ly di cho" was created by the girls playing the roles in the play "Hai Duong Thach Truc", expressing the daily life of the people of Quang Nam at the riverside and estuary.

This tune was sung by the Tuong artist Ngo Thi Lieu and recorded by musician Tran Hong: “ Let's go to the Han River market together/ Before, it's time to sell things, after, it's time to buy food/ If the weather is favorable, the whole street will be full of goods/ Shrimp, crab, squash, and luffa, there's no shortage of vendors/ People come and go with each other/ If you buy well and sell well, you'll be happy .”

Philosophy in every tune

Similarly, there is the tune “Ly ban quan” which was born from the play “Ngu ho” by author Nguyen Dieu. In the play, there is a detail describing a small shop selling all kinds of things, but with a rich imagination, Mr. Son plays the role of a shop owner from the countryside who comes to Vinh Dien town to notice the goods sold in the small shops, then he edits the tune to sing the song “Ly ban quan”. In which, the ending is to blame the bad habits of the arrogant person who eats and runs away.

This melody was sung by artist Van Phuoc Khoi and recorded by musician Tran Hong: “ I sell food in the middle of the street/ People passing by, people coming and going/ Men, women/ Old ladies, children/ Some soldiers, some young men/ Some merchants, some sellers/ Everyone comes and goes often/ My shop sells everything/ Pork, dog meat, chicken/ Rice, soup, tea, wine/ Dry cakes, popped cakes/ Rice cakes, honey cakes, sugar cakes/ Lam tea, dried kao/ Sweet potatoes, peanuts/ Betel and areca nuts, tobacco, paper…/ Think about it, there’s nothing missing/ You eat, you leave, you leave/ You ask for money, you don’t pay/ I want to hold on, want to pull/ You talk nonsense, talk nonsense/ You want to smash, want to kick/ You want to destroy my shop/ Do you think you’re too stubborn? ”

For the tune "Ly Thuong", from the simple content of author Dao Tan in the play "Ho Sanh Dan", the female actors playing the roles of ethnic girls imagined and visualized the lyrics to form the song "Ly Thuong" (also known as "Ly Thien Thai").

This melody was sung by artist Le Thi and recorded by musician Tran Hong: “ Looking up at Thien Thai mountain/ Seeing a pair of larks eating ripe mangoes/ Wanting to cross the nailed wooden bridge/ The shaky bamboo bridge is difficult to cross .”

And so, new melodies appeared one after another, suitable for the context of the play. During this period, musicians Phan Huynh Dieu, Le Cuong, and Tran Hong collected, recorded, and transcribed nearly one hundred melodies that were printed and widely distributed among both professionals and amateurs.

The melodies that came from the stage plays of tuong and bai choi, to this day still resonate alongside the melodies originating from folklore.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/nhung-dieu-ly-hinh-thanh-tu-tuong-va-ca-kich-bai-choi-3141943.html