‘Cua Dinh’ singing successfully revived after six decades of decline

A performance featuring ‘Cua Dinh’ folk singing will be held at the Viet Nam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies in Ha Noi on November 14, marking the successful revival of the musical genre after six decades of decline.

The restoration of the folk singing is a joint effort between cultural researcher Bui Trong Hien, veteran folklore artists and ‘Cua Dinh’ singing artists.

‘Cua Dinh’ (singing in front of the communal house), a form of the ‘Ca Tru’ (ceremonial singing) musical genre, aims to commemorate the gods and national heroes who made great contributions to national construction and defence, as well as to pray for peace, health and bumper crops.

Researcher Hien said that he started conducting research in September 2014 under the instruction of veteran artist Nguyen Phu De, who is among the last ‘Ca Tru’ master instrumentalists and vocalists of the 20th century.

Following four months of hard work the team successfully restored ‘Cua Dinh’ singing in January 2015.

They then expanded the project to conduct deeper research on the prosody of ‘Ca Tru’ singing and establish a standard theory for ‘Ca Tru’ singing, while providing training for vocalists according to the standard.

Accordingly, training courses have been organised since February 2017 by the Phu Thi troupe, with references to the documents of vocalists Nguyen Thi Cuc, Dinh Thi Ban, and Dinh Thi Nghia, as well as instrumentalist Dinh Khac Ban, who were ‘Ca Tru’ masters.