CHÈO THEATRICAL ART AND CHÈO VILLAGES IN VIETNAM (PART 2)

Which village has contributed many artists to professional Chèo theatre companies?


Chèo artist from Khuốc village have more than once impressed Vietnamese and foreign audiences with their ardent, sweet, and moving singing. Khuốc is one of the three famous Chèo villages in Thái Bình Province. In turn, Thái Bình is one of Vietnam’s Chèo cradles.
No one knows the exact origins of Khuốc Chèo; villagers say they have performed since ancient times. At the peak of its theatrical development, the village had eight Chèo groups. Some Khuốc performers such as Phạm Văn Điền, Đào Thị Na, Hà Quang Bồng, and Cao Kim Trạch have become household names.
Khuốc village supplies talented artist to the Vietnam Chèo theatrical company as well as Chèo theatre in other provinces. Khuốc Chèo us unique; Chèo artist from Hà Tây, Hưng Yên, Hà Nam, and Hải Dương journey to Khuốc Village for training.
Khuốc villagers have staged many Chèo plays they them selves wrote. One of them, the Orange Orchard (Vườn Cam, 1958) marked the height of success for Khuốc Chèo. Other famous plays are An improved Plough (Chiếc cày cải tiến, 1965), The homeland of Rice and Humanity (Quê lúa tình người, 1972), the Mother’s Joy (Niềm vui của mẹ 1988) and Two Companions (Đôi bạn đồng hành, 1990). Meanwhile, the village continues to rehearse and perform classical plays, such as Lưu Bình and Dương Lễ, Trương Viện, and Thị Kính, the Goddess of Mercy.
The village has many activities to preserve its Chèo tradition, including an active Chèo club. Club members are all ages. One member, Khoa, shone with pride, saying, “Our club wins gold medals in all the Chèo festival and competitions we enter.”
In many families, three or even four generations perform together. The old pass down Chèo skills to the young. Every day, Mr. Cao Kim Trạch, age ninety-five, trains young artists how to sing Chèo lyrics. Chèo actors as young as thirteen have won gold and silver medals in Chèo contests.

Khuốc villagers have captures their love for Chèo in their following song:
Having had a good meal, I lie idle
But as soon as I hear the sounds of Chèo drums,
I tap my belly and set off to watch the performance.
Turning down high-class pork pies and spring rolls,
I just want to eat simple rice and watch popular Chèo.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tên gọi tiếng Anh của các cơ quan và chức danh ở địa phương

[SONG NGỮ] HỢP ĐỒNG CHUYỂN NHƯỢNG QUYỀN SỬ DỤNG ĐẤT

[Song ngữ] MẪU HỢP ĐỒNG MUA BÁN NHÀ Ở XÃ HỘI