NGUYỄN TRUNG

Quan họ folk singing of Bắc Ninh is one of the few types of folk which have been existing and developing until today. Through historical changes of time and space, many elements have made direct and indirect impacts upon the contents as well as ways of performing this type of folk. 

On forums, in some writings or contemporary art performance programs, two terms are concurrently using known as: “Old Quan họ” and “New Quan họ”. First, we need to clarify the definitions of these two terms.

1.     Ancient Quan họ is understood as singing sentences created by the men (liền anh), the women (liền chị) and handed down from generations to generations during Quan họ cultural activities.

2.     New Quan họ is understood as Quan họ singing sentences which have been staged under various forms of singing. Most of old Quan họ singing sentences staged are those having good lyrics and coherent music structure.

Being formed and existing during the period of underdeveloped socio-economy, “Ancient Quan họ” is consequently handed down within only 49 Quan họ villages of Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang provinces nowadays. The purpose of “Ancient Quan họ” singing is primarily an exchange of affections between Quan họ singers to make friends. In other words, Quan họ folk artists themselves sing for each other and therefore, “Ancient Quan họ” has different forms of singing such as: singing for wishes (hát chúc), singing for celebration (hát mừng), singing at festivals (hát hội), worship singing (hát thờ), singing at a host’s house (hát canh), etc. Each form has its own regulations on ways of singing, on space and time for organizing singing occasions. However, those regulations of the form “hát canh” are still considered as the most typical and unique forms among Quan họ singing forms

Different from “Ancient Quan họ”, “New Quan họ” is the way of singing and performing to serve the audience. “New Quan họ” can be performed at any time, in any space, and Quan họ singers are not only non-professional people but also include a group of professional artists. Besides the modification to “Ancient Quan họ” songs in conformity with the modern life, a challenge facing artists nowadays is to effectively exploit and use those features of “Ancient Quan họ” songs in their own musical works.

Concerning the modification of new lyrics for Quan họ, there were various authors achieving success in this field. It could be listed some typical names such as: folk artist Nguyễn Đức Sôi, Musicians Hồng Thao, Dân Huyền and Đức Miêng, etc. with new lyric songs of Quan họ favoured by the majority of people. An exceptional case cited as an example is folk artist Nguyễn Đức Sôi - the first master of Quan họ Bắc Ninh Folk Songs Association. Some Quan họ songs such as: Ăn ở trong rừng (Living in the forest), Chè mạn hảo (Mạn hảo Tea), Nhớ mãi khôn nguôi (Keep missing) and tens of other Quan họ songs composed by him had been recognized as ancient Quan họ songs while it should be noted that: “Composed by Nguyễn Đức Sôi”.

The second success that could be listed here is the case of musician Xuân Tứ. In 1958, he modified an ancient Quan họ sentence “Chuông vàng gác cửa tam quan” (Golden bell keeping three door entrance) and made it become a new Quan họ songs entitled “Người ơi người ở đừng về” (Don’t you go away, my friend); in which the development of the last section was successfully presented by many artists, favoured by domestic and overseas audience and was usually mis-introduced as an ancient Quan họ songs.

In the letter sent to musician Hồng Thao, musician Xuân Tứ wrote:

“After deeply research into the whole song, I shorten the song focusing on the theme of farewell, advice giving and longing. The first sentence “Chuông vàng gác cửa tam quan” (Golden bell keeping three door entrance) is deleted because it does not focus on the theme and becomes redundant. Some sentences are re-written concisely that make the melody more gentle and lissom (my favour). The simulation sentence “Người ơi người ở đừng về” (Don’t you go away, my friend) is raised so high which does not intend to emphasize or show the singers’ voice, but to further describe the inmost feelings of the person saying farewell to his friends while still wanting to pull them back for ever. Despite their embarrasing feelings, the men (liền anh) and the women (liền chị) ought to separate from each other; they have to say “người ở đừng về” (don’t you go away). Thinking of this situation, I decide to have that sentence reappeared and arouse the emotion to describe it deeper” (extracted from Bắc Ninh Quan họ Folks Music - Hồng Thao, Music Publisher, 1997)

In addition to conscious modification of ancient Quan họ songs, there appears an unconscious modification which is expressed at different levels. It is expressed at pitch, duration, melody; and sometimes at rhythm, bar line, accompanying sounds, structure, etc. However, it is perhaps the use of accompanying instruments for singing in various forms that have direct and most powerful impact on the modification of new Quan họ songs.   

Due to the impact of accompanying music, some Quan họ songs are not gentle in pitch according to the equal temperament. For example, in the song Gọi đò (Calling for ferry-boat by Thị Cầu) or the song Con nhện giăng mùng (The spider spins her web by musician Hồng Thao) recording the folk artists voices and being renotated, measures number 3, 4, 5 have correlative pitches of above semitone; but when they are staged, the artists of Quan họ Bắc Ninh Folk Songs Association as well as most current figurants sing the songs with correlative pitches of semitone.

For duration, those ending sounds of a sentence or a paragraph in ancient Quan họ are usually stretched and most of them have many combined measures such as 2/4, 3/4 while other songs of new Quan họ mainly focus on using one type of measure: 2/4 or 4/4.

Besides the modification of ancient Quan họ songs, the composition of Quan họ folk songs have been successfully manifested by a great number of musicians: Phó Đức Phương with Những cô gái Quan họ (Girls singing love duets), Ngọc Lĩnh with Một thoáng sông Cầu (A glance at Cầu River), Câu Quan họ người ơi (A love duet line), Đức Miêng with Nón ba tầm (the large round Quan họ hat ) and Gửi về Quan họ (Something to express for Love duet), Nguyễn Trung with Tìm trong chiều Hội Lim (Go searching in an afternoon of Lim festival) and Hội Diềm (Diềm festival), Trọng Tĩnh với Khúc giao duyên (A music piece to exchange love), etc. There is a particularly art song named Dòng trăng lúng liếng (Rocking moonlight stream) composed by musician Ngô Quốc Tính. The word in this song is so concise with profound philosophy, and the melody is skillfully mixed with the harmony of folk music which is presented in the way of singing without the accompany of music; this way of singing is so close to that of ancient Quan họ. The song Dòng trăng lúng liếng has contributed to giving the state award of year 2012 to the musician Ngô Quốc Tính. 

However, it is really a great pity that there is not much art song like Dòng trăng lúng liếng to be composed. In reality, in this date and time, most of songs with the harmony of folk music generally and songs with the harmony of Quan họ particularly are successfully performed thanks to the great support of the instrument as accompanied music. If we take a deep look at some traditional art forms such as: Tuồng, Chèo, Cải lương, Nhã nhạc cung đình Huế (Vietnamese court music), we can see that these art forms have been undergone a prolonged evolution; as a result, these forms have their own styles. On the contrary, it is totally a different matter for the instrument of Quan họ. Most of musicians nowadays still choose the way of generally composing with rhythm oriented. This way of composing is the most pre-eminent as a great deal of good art methods is possibly acquired. It is also suitable with Quan họ folk songs in creating contrasts which make the melody more velvety and lively. This way of composing also can help to decrease the workforce of the orchestra to be more orderly and suitable with the current market structure. However, there are still some weaknesses of this way of composing such as: the harmony for the background music is so delicate; the melody is still undiversified and emphasized on singing; the chorus sometimes blurs the lyrics of the song which causes the loss of precise music ligatures and presses of Quan họ folk music. Most of musicians make the instrumental mixture basing on the mixture of European style, and the traditional style is not brought into play and developed accordingly. Regarding the rhythm, although many research and creation have been made, some rhythms of light music when being put in the song have nothing to do with the song and this has created unworthy offensivenesses.

The evolution of Quan họ folk music from “ancient Quan họ” to “new Quan họ” is an indispensable rule which is in conformity with the open nature of Quan họ folk music; it is also a condition for the singing of Quan họ to be developed more and more in the public. The exploitation and using of Quan họ features to apply in the new songs are just on the first step of a long journey doing research and experiencing, in order to meet the requirements of the public’s music nowadays. This work requires devotion from many people, especially the musician, the researcher and the composer who feel responsible for Quan họ folk music - An intangible cultural heritage of the mankind.