From past Hue Festivals

In 2000, Hue held its first festival. At that time, festivals were no longer strange to the world , but in Vietnam, they were still not popular. And for Hue people, festivals were still something very strange and vague.

Just two years later, in the Huong River magazine, a director enthusiastically updated: From now on, the Vietnamese dictionary has a new word. That is festival.

Happy and excited, that's right. Because Hue at that time had just successfully organized two international festivals. Moreover, the Central Government had also decided to invest in building it into a typical festival city of Vietnam, reaching international standards. Along with this decision, the Ministry of Home Affairs at that time also allowed Thua Thien Hue to establish a new provincial unit specializing in organizing festivals. Compared to the whole country, the Hue Festival model at that time was only one, the only one.

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With the support and technology transfer of festival organization from the French friend, Hue soon took the first steps to assert itself. Hue Festival in the early 2010s really exploded when in response to Hue's invitation, embassies sent letters of introduction to artists and cultural ambassadors of the country to perform. Among these were international artists whose names alone were enough to form a grand music festival.

Music lovers must still remember the appearance of the legendary Mexican guitarist Paco Renteria - who was personally appointed by Mexican President Felipe Calderon as the Ambassador of Mexican Music Abroad. This person made the stage in the Imperial Palace sway with fiery Latin American style in two consecutive Hue Festivals. The guitar in Paco Renteria's hand at that time was both a musical instrument and a prop. It was rotated, flipped and sometimes stood upright every time the artist withdrew his hand to play music in the 12th key, making everyone present hold their breath.

Or at Hue Festival 2012, American singer and songwriter Mary Mc Bride captivated the audience when she performed her voice in all three genres: country, rock & roll, and blues with a strong American feel. The songs “No one’s gonna love you like me”, “That thing you do to me”, “Tricky tricky would” “When will we know” popular in the 1960s-1970s, performed by Mary Mc Bride, were revived, “captivating” the young audience.

In the same year 2012, the appearance of Senegalese singer Naby made the An Dinh Palace stage explode. Or DJ Tim Exile made the entire audience participate and turn the music night into a true EDM party. In 2016, right on Ham Nghi stage, the Lideo puppet of L'Homme Debout left a big impression with a performance combining light.

Perhaps, or perhaps certainly, I have missed many names in the list. Because at this time, the number of international artist groups participating in Hue Festival is never below 2 digits. The stages connecting stages in the Imperial City, An Dinh Palace, and some streets in the city are really challenges for audiences who do not want to miss any program. For journalists, accessing and finding information about groups and artists is very abundant at this time. Simply because they are international artists with a wealth of information online.

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The success of the Hue Festivals in the early 2010s created excitement, leading to a chaotic response and performance program in the following festivals. Folk festivals, traditional festivals, and less attractive performances were also restored and included in the program, making the Hue Festivals of the late 2010s both bland and too comprehensive. The local character at this time somewhat overshadowed the international character that the previous Hue Festivals had built. The Hue College of Tourism at this time had a research topic on the Hue Festival, calling for change...

The Hue Festival in early 2020 was a festival of new experimentation when local leaders wanted to elevate traditional festivals, folk festivals, and religious festivals into festival programs.

With the desire to always have a festive atmosphere in the city, Hue has proactively built a 4-season festival. The good point of the 4-season festival is to avoid cultural overload, and Hue has festivals in any season to serve tourists.

However, in this divergence, the Hue Festival with international scope has been mixed in with the summer festival cluster. This means that, in the eyes of tourists, it is ranked similarly to the spring, autumn, and winter festivals.

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Back to the summer festival, which is essentially the Hue Festival 2024 that just ended. This is the Hue Festival with the least preparation time for the opening ceremony among all the festivals held.

According to the Organizing Committee members, on May 23, Thua Thien Hue bid for the script and organizing unit, and on June 7, the Hue Festival was opened. With such a short preparation time, the opening ceremony had unexpected things happen. For example, the opening program was heavy on tradition. The connection between traditional and integrated themes was not seamless. The appearance of two consecutive hip hop performances and a rap performance taking up nearly 40% of the time on the opening stage of the Hue Festival also made many people question whether it was suitable for a serious cultural festival?

On some forums, many opinions say that the stage of Lau Kien Trung saved the opening and closing ceremonies. However, for many others, it is not necessarily so. Lau Kien Trung is not a beautiful work in terms of architectural lines. It attracts viewers with its decorative motifs and modules embossed with porcelain. Choosing Lau Kien Trung as a stage, if it is to introduce a newly restored work, is fine. But if it is to show off its beauty, it is not necessarily so, because the stage lighting has overwhelmed and obscured the most attractive point of this work.

Another point to mention is that compared to previous Hue Festivals, this time there are the fewest international delegations participating. Moreover, a part of these delegations are from provinces and cities that have sister relations with Hue City. That shows that, although Hue Festival 2024 ensures international standards, whether the scope and quality will reach that level or not is something that needs further consideration.

The end of a festival is also the time to look back and prepare for further steps.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/tu-nhung-ky-festival-hue-da-qua-post814199.html