Вьетнамдық ән айту өнері: Ка тру

Vietnamese musical storytelling genre

Ca trù (, , "tally card songs"), also known as hát cô đầu or hát nói, is a Vietnamese genre of musical storytelling performed by a featuring female vocalist, with origins in northern Vietnam. For much of its history, it was associated with a pansori like form of entertainment, which combined entertaining wealthy people as well as performing religious songs for the royal court. Ca trù is inscribed on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2009. What is known for sure is that ca trù started off like many of Vietnam's arts as being a form of entertainment for the royal court. Officially ca tru count the age of their profession since The Later Le dynasty (, 1428–1789), at that time musicians called performed only on religious court ceremonies. It was only later on that it branched out into being performed at small inns. Indeed, it was mainly scholars and other members of the elite who enjoyed the genere. In the 15th century ca tru spread through Northern Vietnam. The artists might be called to celebrate a son's birth, or to celebrate the signing of a contract. Ca tru were outside of the caste system, so they could entertain the most noble clients. In the 20th century, ca trù nearly died out. When the Communists came to power after the 1945 August Revolution, Ca Trù was systematically suppressed, becoming associated with prostitution and the degradation of women. Consequently, before 1976 there existed only two ca tru: Later they both started to revive the tradition of ca tru. In actuality, men were allowed many wives in the past and having extramarital affairs was nothing shocking. Thus, it was commonly known that many famous ca trù singers did indeed have affairs with important men, but it was just something to be accepted as a part of society back then, and not a part of the profession itself. As of 2009, extensive efforts are being made to invigorate the genre, including many festivals and events where several types of ca trù (among other related arts) are performed. Vietnam has also completed documents to have ca trù recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. By 2011 there were 140 ca tru from 23 clubs.

Ca trù, like many ancient and highly developed arts, has many forms. However, the most widely known and widely performed type of ca trù involves only three performers: the female vocalist, lute player and a spectator (who also takes part in the performance). Sometimes dance is also performed at the same time. The female singer provides the vocals whilst playing her phách (small wooden sticks beaten on a small bamboo bar to serve as percussion). She is accompanied by a man who plays the đàn đáy, a long necked, 3 string lute used almost exclusively for the ca trù genre. Last is the spectator (often a scholar or connoisseur of the art) who strikes a trống chầu (praise drum) in praise (or disapproval) of the singer's performance, usually with every passage of the song. The way in which he strikes the drum shows whether he likes or dislikes the performance,

Mê Thảo, Thời Vang Bóng. Directed by Việt Linh.