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Sour notes over Vietnam's musical
coup
By Tran Dinh Thanh Lam
HO CHI MINH CITY - Efforts to revive the nha
nhac, court music that harks back to Vietnam's
ancient past, have been successful - perhaps too
successful. That warning is being issued by experts who
had campaigned long and hard to win United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) recognition in November of nha nhac as
one of "humanity's intangible oral masterpieces".
After that success in reviving this ritual music
that had nearly been confined to oblivion, officials of
the Ministry of Culture and Information have been busy
planning the nomination of other cultural forms to gain
similar UNESCO recognition. But cultural officials may
have to be more vigilant in efforts to revive - and in
some cases tinker with - ancient heritage if their
authenticity is to be maintained.
The other cultural
art forms Vietnamese officials are pushing include water
puppetry, Quan Ho folk singing, Ca Tru choral chamber
music, and gong performances and epics from the Central
Highlands.
"The Cultural Heritage Council should
consider what organizations should be entrusted for this
task in order to preserve their originality," said
Professor To Ngoc Thanh, general secretary of the
Vietnam Folklore Arts and Literature Association. "It
will be a great mistake to entrust to the Hue Center for
Conservation the task of preserving nha nhac just
because it once flourished in that imperial city."
Thanh, who was instrumental in the campaign to
get nha nhac recognized as intangible cultural
heritage, said that even at the cradle of this music, it
has been remodeled by the Hue Center for Conservation
(HCC) in such a queer manner that it has lost most of
its traditional values - and has become far from
elegant.
Nha nhac, which means "elegant
music", is mentioned in Ho Dynasty records dating back
to 1402. The court music reached its zenith during
Vietnam's last feudal dynasty - the Nguyen - which
regarded it as the most sacred form of music. It was
performed at grand royal ceremonies, religious events,
coronations, funerals and official receptions.
The turbulent events that shook Vietnam in the
last century, especially the collapse of the dynasty in
1945 and subsequent decades of devastating wars,
threatened the survival of nha nhac. Deprived of
its court context, this musical tradition lost part of
its original social function to praise royalty and to be
performed in court. "Mainly for this reason, it nearly
disappeared," said Thanh.
Happily for nha
nhac, some royal court musicians have worked hard to
preserve the music, and some musicians in the imperial
city of Hue have actually kept on playing the music and
passed on its technique to others.
These
activities met UNESCO's qualifications for classifying
art forms as intangible heritage.
According to
Dang Van Bai, head of Cultural Heritage Department at
the Culture Ministry, nha nhac possesses two
factors that helped it survive: first, those holding the
"secret" must wish to pass them down to younger
generations who want to learn it; and second, the
cultural environment and institutions must be available
to conserve and promote it.
Many of the original
venues in Hue for nha nhac have been rebuilt. The
reopening of the Duyet Dao Duong royal theater inside
the royal court complex, along with UNESCO recognition,
have given new life to the music.
Inspired by
all these successes, HCC has founded its own nha
nhac orchestra to perform at the royal theater. This
Vietnamese court music in general is similar to
yayue in China, gagaku in Japan, and
hyang-ak in Korea. But the typical instruments of
two-chord fiddle, three-chord zither and bamboo flute
used in nha nhac distinguish it from the others.
In the Vietnamese royal band, musicians perform
individually but listen to one another and follow the
big drums that control the rhythm. "The old nha
nhac is a kind of 'unity through diversity', a
creative artistic style favored by artists all over the
world," Thanh said.
But the Hue center's
renovated nha nhac bears many changes from the
original one, revisions strongly criticized by cultural
experts. Said Phan Thuy Anh, an expert in Hue's cultural
values: "This is the work of unqualified curators who
want to make imposing and grandiose a form of art that
used to be delicate and gentle. The performance of some
instruments has been modernized and has become totally
different from the original one."
Anh added that
the Hue center's nha nhac band increases the
number of conducting drums from two to seven - with
players performing like a band of pop music. Thanh was
more blunt, saying nha nhac has been modified in
a horrible manner.
In the traditional band, one
or two musicians perform instruments to bring all their
talents into play. The HCC has increased the number of
musicians and organized its nha nhac band in the
style of a Western symphonic orchestra, "but with each
musician playing for himself", Thanh pointed out.
He said there are two main branches of nha
nhac. Tieu Nhac (small music) used to be played
during royal gatherings and parties, and Dai Nhac (grand
music) provided background for important events. But the
Hue center has mistaken the meaning of dai nhac,
thinking it would make the music grand and imposing by
increasing the number of musicians. "Turning the nha
nhac band into a symphonic orchestra is like
replacing the curbed-tiled roof of the Royal Palace with
a flat concrete roof," retorted Thanh.
"The
'symphonized nha nhac' could make UNESCO
reconsider its choice," he warned.
Thankfully,
he says, authentic nha nhac is still played at
Master Tran Kich's club. Tran Kich's nha nhac
band has been invited to perform in many countries, and
the music it and its students play helped convince
UNESCO experts to give recognition to nha nhac in
the first place.
(Inter Press Service)
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