(VOVWORLD) - A group of folk music artists have joined a project by researcher Nguyen Quang Long to honor Vietnam’s 18th century masterpiece ‘Truyen Kieu’ (The Tale of Kieu) by poet Nguyen Du (1765-1820). All 3,254 verses of the epic poem were recited and recorded in a total time of nearly 10 hours and introduced to the public on Long’s YouTube Channel ‘Folklore Songs and Music’.
 Artists and researchers exchange their opinions about the recital of The Tale of Kieu. (Photo: qdnd.vn) |
The Tale of Kieu’s recitation has become familiar to generations of Vietnamese through mothers’ lullabies, the older people’s teachings about life, or simply through the way someone enjoys the stories in their free time.
The recitation today is mostly practiced in several traditional art forms such as Cheo singing, Ca Tru (ceremonial singing), and Xam (blind busker’s singing). The Tale of Kieu recounts the life, trials and tribulations of Thuy Kieu, a beautiful and talented young woman, who has to sacrifice herself to save her family.
A project on reviving the recital of The Tale of Kieu was initiated by folklore music researcher Nguyen Quang Long, the founder of the YouTube Channel ‘Folklore Songs and Music’, with the aim to promote the value of the epic poem, as well as the charm of Vietnamese traditional music.
“The recital of The Tale of Kieu, once very popular in Vietnamese people’s daily life, has almost lost its influence and now exists only in traditional art forms. This is the very first time all 3,254 verses of the poem were recited and hopefully the recital of The Tale of Kieu will give it a comeback,” said Long.
 Folklore music researcher Nguyen Quang Long. (Photo: vov.vn) |
The recital featured the beautiful voices of People’s Artists Thanh Hoai and Thuy Nga, Meritorious Artist Quoc Khanh, Van Phuong and Thuy Nga, whose performances were accompanied by zitherist Tran Que Huong, instrumentalist Pham Duc Minh, flutist Le Tien Trung, and fiddle player Xuan Hai.
“The Tale of Kieu is widely regarded as the most significant work of Vietnamese literature. I feel honored to join this project with other young colleagues who devote all their time and efforts to national traditional arts,” artist Thuy Ngan told VOV.
The recordings of the recital are divided into 12 parts with an average length of 30 to 100 minutes, and introduced to viewers via the YouTube Channel ‘Folklore Songs and Music’ at 8 pm every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from April 1 to 24.