From cải lương to hát chèo

From: Vsg [mailto:vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Esbjörn Wettermark

Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2018 5:26 AM

To: Bui, Kim Dinh <kim-dinh.bui@sowi.uni-goettingen.de>

Cc: VSG <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] From cải lương to hát chèo

Hello,

I fully agree with Jason that chèo (and several other Vietnamese theatre genres) could do with some more scholarly attention. Here are a few more references I had on my lists for Calvin and anyone else who might be interested in chèo.

In addition to her book and articles on Quan ho, Lauren Meeker has also written an article specifically on cheo

Meeker, L. (2015). Forgiving Thị Mầu, a Girl Who Dared to Defy: Performance Change and Chèo Theatre in Northern Vietnam. Asian Theatre Journal, 32(1), 136–158. https://doi.org/10.1353/atj.2015.0000

The Vietnamese institute for Musicology has published a large collection of 20th century writing on Vietnamese music culture, including cheo, tuong and cai luong, "Hợp tuyển tài liệu nghiên cứu- lý luận- phê bình âm nhạc Việt Nam thế kỷ XX", I think Bùi Trọng Hiền was the editor for the music theatre volume (2003).

Some additional Vietnamese sources:

Hoàng, N. P., & Huỳnh, L. (1958). Chèo và Tuồng. Hanoi: Nhà Xuất Bản Giáo Đục.

Hoàng, Kiều. (1974). Sử dụng làn điệu chèo. Hanoi:Nhà Xuất Bản Văn Hóa.

And for any aspiring chèo musicians, there is also this collection of music transcripts with comments:

Bùi, Đ. H. (2006). 150 làn điệu chèo cổ. Hanoi: Nhà Xuất Bản Văn Hóa Dân Tộc.

best,

Esbjörn Wettermark

Den sön 16 dec. 2018 kl 22:32 skrev Bui, Kim Dinh <kim-dinh.bui@sowi.uni-goettingen.de>:

Dear Calvin and list,

as far as I know, there’s a research of Đinh Gia Khánh on "sân khấu dân gian, chèo sân đình” in Đinh Gia Khánh - tuyển tập. You can read more about his work here https://phebinhvanhoc.com.vn/tiep-nhan-dinh-gia-khanh-tuyen-tap/

His book can be found here. https://books.google.de/books/about/%C4%90inh_Gia_Kh%C3%A1nh_tuy%E1%BB%83n_t%E1%BA%ADp.html?id=GOJ0swEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Unfortunately all are in Vietnamese.

Hope that the info is helpful for you.

Best,

--

Bùi Kim Đĩnh

phd. cand.

https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/557225.html

Georg-August-University Göttingen

Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology

and The Ethnographic Collection

Theaterplatz. 15

37073 Göttingen

On 16. Dec 2018, at 20:01, Gibbs, Jason (LIB) <Jason.Gibbs@sfpl.org> wrote:

Dear Calvin and list,

Hát chèo is very under-studied. Pham Duy gives a good overview of hát chèo in his book Musics of Vietnam (a translation of Đặc khảo về dân nhạc ở Việt-Nam). There was a 1974 book published in Saigon by Vũ Khắc Khoan entitled Tìm hiểu sân khấu chèo. The leading scholar on hát chèo in the north was Trần Việt Ngữ – see his 1996 book Về nghệ thuật chèo. The three volume set Tuyển tập chèo cải lương Nguyễn Ðình Nghị is very worthwhile. A distinction is made between chèo cổ and chèo cải lương. Chèo cổ was very modest in its means – no decor, very small ensemble. Chèo cải lương is essentially the hát chèo we see today and Nguyễn Đình Nghị was the driving force in the modernization of hát chèo.

Jason Gibbs

San Francisco

From: Vsg [mailto:vsg-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Cau Thai

Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2018 7:48 AM

To: Margaret Suzanne Barnhill Bodemer <mbodemer@calpoly.edu>

Cc: VSG <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] From cải lương to hát chèo

Thank you Maggie for the information on Prof. Lauren Meeker's work. I will check it out.

It seems there is not much work done on hát chèo, even by the French who were in the region for more than 60 years.

Regarding hát quan họ vs hát chèo, somehow I feel more upbeat when listening to the former than the latter. Could I get that wrong, any musicologist?

A little taste of hát quan họ and hát chèo is as follows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXDdVskvhbU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCU_yCif81U

Best,

Calvin Thai

Independent Researcher

On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 9:24 AM Margaret Suzanne Barnhill Bodemer <mbodemer@calpoly.edu> wrote: