The art of Cổ Loa tuồng singing

Tuồng – also called hát bội or hát bộ – is a scholarly theatrical art form of the Vietnamese people. But in a village corner by the Cổ Loa citadel, tuồng is not only theater. It is the breath of people who have loved it for decades, some for more than forty years.

According to recorded documents, tuồng singing art emerged around the 17th century, developed by Đào Duy Từ from folk performance into the tuồng stage. In the past, tuồng was performed in the royal court as entertainment for the aristocracy; by the 18th century, tuồng developed strongly, especially in Đàng Trong, both among the people and in the court.

In Cổ Loa, there are currently two tuồng clubs – the Thành Loa Ancient Tuồng Club and the Loa Thành Traditional Tuồng Club. The two clubs have more than 50 members aged 40 to 80, operate on a socialized basis, under the professional guidance of the Đông Anh Commune People's Committee. Notably, 100% of members can both sing and perform.

Tuồng is an art heavily reliant on dance. The performer must sing while accurately expressing movements; must articulate clearly, with round words, no lisping, no sound changes. The outstanding singing technique of tuồng is 'nói lối'. The melodies the club still preserves include: nói lối, hát tẩu, hát nam, nam ai – nam xuân, ất khách, bạch sương, 1-2-3 nhịp 3 người, thán, thán bắc.

The plays the club is performing include: Tình sử Loa Thành, San Hậu, Lý Hoài Hiền giáo tử, Đào Tam Xuân loạn trào, Bách đao từ Hải Thọ, Tô Hoài Phụng, Bao Công trảm Quách Hoè, Lưu Tuần Định – Lưu Tuần Nghĩa, Hai Bà Trưng, Ngô Quyền xưng vương, Trần Quốc Toản ra quân. Among them, 'Tình sử Loa Thành' and 'Hai Bà Trưng' are plays tied to the history and culture of the region and the nation.

With tuồng, just by looking at the costume and face, the audience knows who the character is. The king wears a yellow long robe embroidered with five-clawed dragons and a nine-dragon crown; the queen wears a robe embroidered with phoenixes and a nine-phoenix crown lacquered in vermilion and gilded. The four-pillar mandarins wear purple, blue, or dark green mãng robes; sycophantic officials wear black mãng robes. Civil mandarins wear red crowns, military mandarins wear black crowns; generals going into battle wear golden helmets, villainous generals wear black golden helmets, and heroic generals wear blue or white golden helmets.

Beards are also a language: good characters usually wear long black beards or long silver beards; military generals wear long three-tufted black beards or silver long beards; rebellious officials wear short black beards; hot-tempered characters wear curly beards. Masks – that is, facial makeup – are also clearly differentiated: good characters usually have pinkish-white faces; civil-and-martial characters have red faces; sycophants and villains have mold-colored (pale white) or bruised-red faces. Makeup is therefore very meticulous and time-consuming.

The orchestra includes trống chầu (the largest drum, which opens the performance and accompanies the singers), trống chiến, trống lệnh, thanh la, cồng, mõ, kèn, nhị, etc. Among them, kèn is the most important instrument, expressing the tragic-heroic quality of tuồng and bringing the performance to its climax. Props include horse whips, double swords, long spears, single axes, double maces, halberds, great sabers, etc.

According to Ms. Nguyễn Thị Huệ – Deputy Head of the Thành Loa Ancient Tuồng Club, the tuồng ancestor is worshipped from generation to generation, no one knows since when. At her private home there is currently a shrine to the tuồng ancestral profession, with a conferral title of Nhị vị tướng quân (Đông Phương Sóc). In the shrine are two wooden dolls wearing cloth clothes; every year on the ancestor's death anniversary, she changes new clothes for the two dolls.

Old people recount that they were two brothers who loved tuồng singing, ran away from home to the theater to watch singing, fell asleep late at night, and froze to death in the theater without anyone knowing. Some also say they were two princes, sons of the king, who loved watching singing so much that they sneaked off to watch, and because the road was crowded they were trampled to death. Therefore, the actors regard the two as the patron saints of tuồng and set up an altar to worship them, hoping for success in performance. Mr. Nguyễn Văn Viển – a predecessor who played an important role in the development of Cổ Loa tuồng – after his death is also worshipped by club members.

When performing at temples and communal houses during festivals, each performer before going on stage bows toward the ancestors, hoping the patron saint of the craft will bless the performance with success. The profession has its own taboos: performers do not rub their hands on the drum face, and do not eat sugarcane in the dressing room. The ancestor worship ceremony takes place on the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month and the 12th day of the 8th lunar month every year.

The audience is mainly elderly people in the village and commune. Members only teach each other during practice sessions; anyone who is a tuồng-loving audience member and wants to learn can contact the performers and will be taught for free. The expertise has hardly changed; only the costumes are more diverse and colorful.

The practitioners clearly stated their wishes: to organize systematic teaching; to confer the title of artisan on elderly people who have contributed to preservation; for authorities and organizations at all levels to care for both material and spiritual needs; to strengthen propaganda so that all classes understand the value of tuồng. According to them, tuồng plots are imbued with the moral and humanistic thoughts of ancestors and therefore have high educational value; if tuồng were to decline, it would be truly regrettable.