Unique Yuanxi Five Plays

(NLDO)- Ngu tro Vien Khe - a familiar name for Dong Anh folk songs - along with Ho Song Ma and Tro Xuan Pha are typical folk art forms of Thanh Hoa.

Dong Anh folk songs and dances (also known as Vien Khe five-piece performance) is a system of performances accompanying folk songs, mainly circulated in Vien Khe village (Dong Anh commune, Dong Son district; now Thanh Hoa city, Thanh Hoa province).

The five Vien Khe troupes, still known by the familiar name of Dong Anh folk songs and dances, along with Song Ma folk songs and Xuan Pha troupes, are considered the "power trio" of folk performing arts of Thanh Hoa.

Dong Anh plays are classified as typical folk performing forms of Thanh land along with the Ho Song Ma suite and Xuan Pha plays. Dong Anh plays reflect the daily life and feelings of ancient Vietnamese farmers.

Legend has it that the eldest son of Emperor (Thai Thu) Le Ngoc, named Lang Dai Vuong, was the founder of games and performances. Legend has it that Lang Dai Vuong went to villages and hamlets to join in the fun with the people, from which dances were taught and popularized to everyone (from the 5th to 7th centuries).

The dances and songs that have been passed down to this day date back to the 11th century (during the Ly Dynasty), but were not staged into performances. People only sang them during hard work in the fields or on spring days when going to festivals.

Artists perform the Tien Cuoi play in the Dong Anh folk song performance.

In the late 14th and early 15th centuries, in Thach Khe commune, there was a man named Nguyen Mong Tuan who passed the doctoral exam at the end of the Tran Dynasty. During a visit to his hometown, he saw some very beautiful dances and songs, so he and his fellow villagers composed 12 dances and songs.

Since then, in the years of Rat, Horse, Cat, and Rooster during the crop cycle, the villages of Tuan Hoa, Thach Khe, and Quang Chieu communes (now Dong Anh, Dong Thinh, and Dong Khe communes, Thanh Hoa city) have organized performances and scored to compete at the Sam village festival in Vien Khe on a very large scale, attracting a large number of people in the region to participate, periodically every three years in the years of Dragon, Dog, Ox, and Goat.

The content of the performances is lyrics and dances to form a unique and very special folk melody of the residents of the Ma River Delta.

Lantern Dance performance at Lam Kinh historical site

It is called five plays because at first, the performances in Vien Khe village had 5 plays, but later, due to cultural assimilation, Dong Anh folk song and dance performances had up to 12 plays: Lamp dance, Tien Cuoi (or Tien Phuong), To Vu, Drum and Wooden Bell, Thiep, Van Vuong (or Hum play), Thuy (or Thuy Phuong), Leo Rope, Siamese (or Chiem Thanh/Sim Thanh), Ha Lan (or Hoa Lang), Tu Huan (or Luc Hon Nhung), Ngo Quoc. In addition, in Dong Anh, there are some other plays such as Dai Thanh play, Nu Quan play...

Among the performances, the Lamp Dance relatively fully converges the quintessence of Dong Anh folk songs and dances. Because Dong Anh is a place where rice is grown, to create a comfortable spirit, enthusiasm for production and to pass on experiences, people have created lyrics and songs associated with each agricultural production activity, from the time of sowing rice to the harvest and then the idle time.

The lamp in the performance is an object closely associated with ancient agricultural residents. It is used by people in dances as a symbol of the change of time in the year, a symbol of light that brings fertility and growth to all things and contains the desire for a prosperous and happy life of people.

Ngu tro Vien Khe (Dong Anh folk songs) is recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Unmarried girls of eighteen or twenty years old, carry lanterns on their heads and dance gracefully with their body movements, but must not let the lanterns fall or fall. Therefore, the technical requirements are very difficult. Perhaps because of its beauty, simplicity and meaning, the Lantern Dance is performed a lot and is passed down through generations.

Although it is a unique performance, closely associated with the lives of residents, over time, the performance has been lost, especially during the war years.

By 2000, the Vietnam National Institute of Music and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thanh Hoa province had collected, researched and restored 11 plays. In 2017, Ngu Tro Vien Khe was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

It is known that, to preserve and promote the value of this unique heritage, Dong Son district (now Thanh Hoa city) has established clubs, invited artisans to teach club members not only in Dong Anh commune but also in other localities, organized extracurricular activities for local students to get acquainted, participate in performances... thereby helping to preserve and promote the value of heritage.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/doc-dao-ngu-tro-vien-khe-196250201184001692.htm