(TITC) - Bai
Choi is a diverse art form combining music, poetry, stage acting,
painting and literature and expressing
the life, mind and emotion of people in Central Viet Nam.
According to Bai Choi artists,
this type of art originated from the need
of entertainment and exchange by songs among the huts in the fields. Now, the art of Bai Choi
is a common heritage of 9
provinces/city in Central Viet Nam, including
Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien - Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh
Dinh, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.
Characteristics
The art of Bai Choi is a funny and
intellectual folk game and also contains impromptu creativeness. It takes two main forms, namely Bai
Choi games and Bai Choi
performance. Bai Choi
games are played during Lunar New Year
by people of Central Viet Nam. To
play Bai Choi, nine or eleven bamboo huts are built in a U-shape within a
temple yard or in a vacant ground. The hut placed at the bottom of the U shape
is called main hut (choi cai), and the
game leaders, who can be either male or female, are called Hieu
artists. Players buy three cards and wait in the hut. The game leader takes a
card out of a tube of cards, and then sings for people to guess what the card
is. This part is called Ho Thai. Anyone
whose three cards match the cards sung by the Hieu
artists will be declared the winner and given the prize.
In Bai
Choi performance, Hieu artists either travel from place to place to perform, or otherwise are invited
to play for private families, forming rattan-peforming or mobile Bai
Choi styles. They perform on a
rattan mat. A single artist may also perform solo Bai Choi. In this case, the
artists performs a number of theatrical roles. They have skills at improving poems on the
spot and transforming folk stories into sung phrases. Bai Choi songs include
lessons on morality, compassion, as well as love for the
village, nation and national unity.
The
art of Bai Choi exhibits three distinct music styles which are specific to
three areas in Central Viet Nam. Bai Choi tends to be: slower
and more simple in the area of Quang Binh,
Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue; gentle, lyrical and light and flowing in Quang
Nam, Quang Ngai, and Da Nang;
and more dramatic in Binh
Dinh, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.
The people who maintain, practise and transmit the art of Bsi Choi are: Hieu artists, card-making folk artists, hut-making folk artists who
participate in the Bai Choi
game, and solo Bai Choi performers.
Outstanding
Values
The
art of Bai Choi is an important form of culture and recreation within the
village community, providing entertainment as well as a context for socialising
and enjoyment of the arts. Bai Choi performances are tragicomic, providing a
humorous commentary on life in general and on bad habits, which enable
audiences to both reflect and laugh.
Bai
Choi activities provide a context for artistic creativity, while at the same
time preserving the folk art, performing styles and cultural values of each
region. The cultural and artistic elements in Bai
Choi, which include poetry, music, painting, language and customs,
are naturally and simply transmitted to audiences in a way that easily grabs
attention, becoming a popular and essential cultural activity in Central
of Viet
Nam.
With its ability to transmit knowledge of folklore through games and
performances, Bai Choi is an important form of community activity
with educational value for younger generations.
The
preparation and organisation of Bai Choi performances brings people together
artists and members of the community. This creates an opportunity for artists
to exchange different performance styles, and connects Bai Choi practitioners
with each other and with their audiences. Members of the community have a
chance to understand folklore and to share their feelings, knowledge and life
experiences with each other.
Practicing the Art of Bai Choi
According
to the inventory result of 2014, there are 1,376 people (870 males and 506
females) in 86 teams, groups and clubs practising Bai
Choi in 9 provinces/city of Quang
Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien - Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai,
Binh Dinh, Phu
Yen, and Khanh
Hoa. In Binh Dinh and Quang
Ngai provinces, Bai Choi
has strongly developed with 37 clubs, 27 families and 106 folk artists
practising Bai Choi and these areas exert a large influence on the other seven
provinces.
On 7 December 2017, at the 12th
session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO held in Jeju, the Republic of Korea, the art of Bai Choi in
Central Viet Nam was recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Thu Giang
