ART CHANGES NIGHT STREETS
When night falls, the yellow light shines from the high-pressure lamps or the lanterns strung across the streets. That is when the stage lights up. That's right, the streets, sidewalks, squares, communal houses' yards or even the playgrounds of the apartment buildings become the leading spaces for the performance of national cultural art.
On this street, a small Cheo play - only performing one excerpt, one Cheo piece - is joyfully playing. On the other sidewalk, a Xam troupe is passionately playing the erhu and releasing simple but magical and heart-melting Xam lyrics. And in the corner of another collective playground, flags are flying and the cheerful music of the Son Hau play is bustling.
There is no stage or backdrop above. There are no rows of chairs below. Everything appears on the sidewalk, on the street, the artists enthusiastically play and sing in front of a crowd of people sitting and standing at will, calmly holding draft beer or ice cream to enjoy with the art. No problem, just naturally like on... the sidewalk.
However, when the performance ended, the applause and whistles of appreciation resounded loudly, startling the sparrows perched on the electric wire and causing them to flap their wings and fly away. The audience - that is, the pedestrians walking around the night street - moved to another "stage" on another street to watch other performances. Meanwhile, here, the artists were preparing to perform a performance for the new audience that had just walked in.
Unconsciously, the street naturally becomes a giant stage complex, containing all kinds of cultural and artistic genres. And besides the bustling K-Pop, flashmob, Hip-hop or Rap of the young and trendy, there are still many folk songs of tuong, cheo, cai luong, xam, van, and a dao.
It is so wonderful that everything that belongs to the folk, to this open space, has returned to its rightful place. The open space of the street is extremely suitable for national art, from the popular like Xam, Cheo to the academic like Tuong, A Dao or colorful with beliefs like Hat Van.
Listening to the Quan Ho tune “Nguoi oi nguoi o dung ve” in the middle of a busy street with people coming and going feels more affectionate and sympathetic than sitting on a carved wooden chair in a grand theater. Obviously, these quintessence of national art are originally conceived and matured in open spaces, so they need close, simple contact between the artist and the audience more than a lavish, luxurious theater.
In an era of abundant entertainment, audiences are more reluctant to go to the theater to watch traditional art. The loss of organic connection between audiences and art is a common way for art to wither. But now, just going out to enjoy the air and enjoying art is so convenient and great. And the fire is close to the straw to ignite passion.
Creating conditions for traditional arts to appear in the night walking street space is a correct and accurate decision of the manager. Art has a place to show off; the public has the opportunity to come into contact with the quintessence of the nation to know, to understand, to love and to preserve; Tourism has products to "sell", to diversify its activities... it is truly "one strike, three, four conveniences".
Previously, the night walking street space was described as a “market”. People only sold or bought, from food and drinks to souvenirs... It was boring, because it only created an outdoor commercial space. But thanks to bringing traditional folk art to the street, that thinking and concept about this space has changed.
NIGHT STREET LEVELS ART
The achievements are the products of traditional street art. A typical example is the collaboration between the Vietnam Tuong Theater and the Old Quarter Management Board to organize a Tuong performance at Huong Tuong Temple, 64 Ma May Street. The performance attracted a lot of attention from the locals and many foreign tourists.
Tuong is an art form imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity and is highly academic because it is more difficult to learn and perform than other forms because it requires a harmonious coordination between dance, singing and acting. Each work has its own way of expression but all aim at humanistic values and profound messages.
However, on Ma May Street, which is usually full of food stalls, classic excerpts from plays such as: Ngheu, So, Oc, Hen; The old man carries his wife to see the festival; Son Hau... were performed by a group of talented artists. Despite the difficult outdoor conditions, the plays were still performed enthusiastically and warmly received.
Thanks to that, tuong has become a unique spiritual food for the people and tourists every time they go out. But above all, the beauty of tuong has been strongly approached by the public in both quantity and depth to know and love this art more. In return, artists have more opportunities to make a living from their profession.
Xam has also found its own land. Xam Bo Ho, Xam Xe Dien, Xam Cho Dong Xuan are examples of the formation of a folk art, but then disappeared and now revived. Xam used to belong to the sidewalk, to the poor, but now it belongs to street life.
The Tam Viet Xam Club of artist Dao Bach Linh and other blind Xam artists have been performing at Kim Ngan Temple (Hang Bac Street) every time the street lights come on. The rich and profound tones of Xam, while its content focuses on teaching people how to be human, lamenting the inner voice of human life in the sounds of the two-stringed fiddle, monochord, drums, and clappers, have gradually entered people's hearts.
And it is interesting that many foreign tourists and young people are interested in Xam, the performing form of this art. They even boldly ask to try playing musical instruments and be instructed in the basics of Xam. From the sidewalk, Xam has entered the recognition of world art.
Even water puppetry is still thriving in the context of traditional arts with few visitors coming to the streets at night. Special water puppet shows are performed by artisans of Thang Long Puppetry Theatre right on the sidewalk in front of the theatre, and puppetry on thin Cheo mats of Hanoi Cheo Theatre is performed next to Ba Kieu Temple.
The list of performances is bustling. At Bach Ma Temple (76 Hang Buom Street), there are often performances of Hat Van and soon there will be live performances of Cai Luong. A few dozen houses away, at Quan De Temple, is where the Old Quarter Traditional Club operates. O Quan Chuong is where the Thang Long Traditional Music Club sets up its stage.
Tuong artists believe that performing excerpts of Tuong on the street brings many benefits to Tuong itself. Performing Tuong for free helps the unit introduce the unique and attractive features of this traditional art form, thereby attracting people to come to full, complete plays on the theater stage.
Not only that, this space also creates opportunities for non-professional artists to come to traditional art. For example, the ancient town's Chau Van group consists of 10 members performing at Huong Tuong Temple or in front of Bach Ma Temple. The audience is quite large, even watching all night to complete a set of Chau Van.
Thus, the space around Hoan Kiem Lake with its poetic beauty and part of the 36-street area has become a large stage, accommodating all national arts. With land to settle down, these national quintessence will certainly avoid the risk of being lost and forgotten.
