The Everlasting Life of a Play
Anyone who lives in Xuan Truong knows the folk performance of Xuan Pha and knows by heart the legend of the birth of the ancient dance. The story goes that on the way to lead the army to suppress the rebellion of Ngo Xuong Xi in Binh Kieu Chau Ai (Thanh Hoa today) - the last warlord in the 12 warlords, Dinh Bo Linh when arriving at Quan Thanh land set up camp, stationed troops here and then sent an envoy to pray for help for the army to win the battle and unify the country.
The messenger received the order and traveled by water, upstream of the Chu River, but encountered a storm and had to stay at Xuan Pha Temple. Xuan Pha Temple is a place to worship Dai Hai Long Vuong, a very sacred god according to the beliefs of the Chau Ai people. At night, the village god of Xuan Pha appeared in the messenger's dream about a way to defeat the enemy. Seeing the good plan, Dinh Bo Linh followed it and defeated Ngo Xuong Xi's army, unifying the country.
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| The Flower Wolf Game |
In memory of the merits of the village god Xuan Pha, King Dinh Tien Hoang later brought all the tributes to the Dai Hai Long Vuong temple. King Dinh directly assigned Queen Nguyet Nuong the responsibility of teaching the villagers dances to perform annually at Xuan Pha communal house during the village festival. From then on, the dance named Xuan Pha or also known as "Ngu quoc nei bang do cong tien" was born.
The Xuan Pha play is a combination of 5 plays: Hoa Lang, Chiem Thanh, Ai Lao, Ngo Quoc and Tu Huan (Luc Hon Nhung). The plays depict scenes of the five directions coming to pay homage, bringing the best performances to congratulate the Emperor of ancient Vietnam.
Originating as a royal dance and then passed down to the people, over the centuries of existence, Xuan Pha performance has gradually perfected its techniques, costumes, props, music and lyrics. In particular, the ancient dances and lyrics are still preserved intact. This is the factor that creates the vitality and uniqueness of the performance, passed down from generation to generation throughout the historical process of existence and development with the ancient land of Tho Xuan.
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| Chiem dance with red costumes |
The musical instruments used in Xuan Pha dances are quite simple, mainly drums, cymbals, and wooden fish, creating cheerful sounds. Following the rhythm of the drums, sometimes urgent, sometimes leisurely, the performers continuously move their movements, sometimes gracefully and rhythmically, sometimes strongly and freely.
One special thing that has not changed for thousands of years is that the "main actors" of these dances are all farmers, who as soon as they step out of their fields and gardens, are absorbed in the play, put on their performance clothes and transform into their roles, passionately dancing to the beat of the drums, immersing themselves in the melody and lyrics...
In the book Thanh Hoa Gazetteer: Culture - Society, volume 2, it was written: "The Lang tro, especially the dance (Xuan Pha dance) is highly appreciated by art researchers, selected into the national dance curriculum of the Le dynasty and considered as "the echo of the dance of the vassals coming to the court" to praise Le Thai To, to praise the victory of our people over the Ming invaders in the 15th century".
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Every year on the 9th and 10th of the second lunar month, the people of Xuan Pha village reenact the ancient dance at the village festival. In 1936, Xuan Pha was invited by King Bao Dai to perform at the Hue Capital Fair.
In Lam Kinh Festival 2018, the biggest festival of Thanh Hoa province, Xuan Pha play was performed with the meaning of opening up a prosperous period, a happy and prosperous life for the people. These are the evidences of the eternal vitality of Xuan Pha play in the spiritual and cultural life of Thanh people.
The keepers of the capital
It was also a stroke of luck that, during a visit to the ancient land of Tho Xuan, right at the village’s communal house yard, I had the chance to meet artisans, “non-professional actors” and watch them practice and perform. And when talking to them, I understood that it was the love and pride for their homeland, passed down from generation to generation, that motivated the people here to preserve and conserve the ancient capital of their ancestors.
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| Laotian Game |
The artisans in Xuan Truong commune explained that each of the five Xuan Pha performers wore costumes of different colors. The Hoa Lang performer wore navy blue shirts. The Chiem Thanh performer wore red costumes. The Luc Hon performer wore indigo blue shirts. The Ngo Quoc performer wore azure blue shirts. The Ai Lao performer wore long pants and a white blouse, wrapped in indigo blue leggings, and had a piece of brocade woven with Lao patterns, draped diagonally from the right shoulder to the left hip.
There are 3 acts using masks. Hoa Lang wears a cowhide mask, with a straight and high nose, a black leather hat with a pointed tip, and a mustache. The Champa act wears a red painted wooden mask, with a low and short nose, and two eyes made of peacock feathers. Luc Hon wears a white painted wooden mask, the one with a pointed chin is a woman, the one with a round chin is a man, the mask with many teeth is an old person, the mask with few teeth is a young person, the masks of Luc Hon mainly show age.
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Meritorious artist Bui Van Hung, Head of the Xuan Pha Traditional Art Troupe, said that in the 60s and 70s of the last century, due to the country's war and turmoil, organizing the Xuan Pha festival and performances was very difficult, and at times it was almost interrupted.
It was not until the 1990s, when life began to stabilize, the State had a policy to restore and preserve the national cultural heritage, the government and the villagers of Xuan Pha were determined to restore these dances. At that time, the whole commune still had 5-6 seniors, including those who, in their youth, had walked from Thanh Hoa to Phu Xuan to perform at the Hue royal court. Therefore, the teaching was carried out quite smoothly.
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| The show Tu Huan is also known as "Luc Hon Nhung" |
Currently, in Xuan Truong, there are about 22 artists contributing to the preservation of Xuan Pha dances. Among them, there is 1 People's Artist and 15 Meritorious Artists. The person who was awarded the title of People's Artist is Mr. Do Dinh Ta, who is over 90 years old.
For more than 40 years pursuing the preservation of the ancient dance of his father, in the family of Meritorious Artist Bui Van Hung, besides him, there is also his wife, Mrs. Phung Thi Lien, although she considers herself "a person from another place, a daughter-in-law of the village", but she is also passionate about the ancient play. In the early 90s, when Mr. Hung was the Secretary of the Youth Union of the commune, he was one of the first 20 people to be taught Xuan Pha dance by the elders.
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Restoring the original folk dances seemed simple at first, but after experiencing it, we realized that there were too many difficulties in the way, such as recreating costumes, props for each act, patterns, masks... in general, it was very headache. Then, we just kept going. The historical value, the meaning of the plays and the journey of restoring the ancient capital of the people of Xuan Pha village were also recognized and honored accordingly.
“Good news travels fast”, someone living in France saw a photo of Xuan Pha dance from 1936 being displayed in a museum in France, took a photo and sent it to Mr. Hung. That photo helped him have more information not only about the costumes but also the patterns on the performance costumes. Then some Korean folklore researchers also came to Xuan Pha to learn about the story, because Hoa Lang dance is related to the ancient Korean people.
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| Artist Bui Van Hung |
Not only preserving, the artisans of Xuan Pha have begun to consider passing on to the next generations. So, the artisans in the dance troupe have had many performances, introducing and “hand-holding” the children in the village. First, they aimed at high school students. Last year, they boldly experimented with primary school students. It was also a joy when the young people in the village were very excited to learn and volunteered to participate.
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| Artists teach ancient Xuan Pha dance at schools in the district |
Mr. Do Ngoc Tung (village 2, Xuan Truong commune), an actor in the dance team, said that he joined the dance team in 2010, when he was only 20 years old, the sound of the drum beats seemed to have something to urge his determination. Being able to directly join the dance team, for him, is an honor, because "as a son of Xuan Truong hometown, you must know about Xuan Pha dance, not knowing is a sin". Tung learned the movements very quickly, he explained: "Because of passion, I learned very quickly, it was not difficult".
Tung is a farmer, his family has 10 acres of land, growing rice and fruit trees. When he stops farming, he goes to act. “Just a few days ago, I went to Hanoi, to the TV station to film,” he said.
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Now, the Xuan Pha dance has been performed by the villagers in many places such as Quang Nam, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Hue, Nghe An, Hanoi...
Not only maintaining the Art Troupe and promoting and performing in all regions, Meritorious Artist Bui Van Hung is also preserving Xuan Pha dances for future generations in writing and artifacts. All with the desire to preserve the value of Xuan Pha dances and pass them on to future generations.
Source: https://www.anninhthudo.vn/xuan-pha-dieu-mua-va-tich-tro-co-nghin-nam-o-xu-thanh-post597083.antd
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