The king of cheo gets a princely reward

For locals in Viet Nam’s northern region, Tran Dinh Ngon, 73, is “King of cheo” (traditional opera).

“The King of cheo” Tran Dinh Ngon.

Known for his compositions for many cheo plays, Ngon has conquered cheo lovers within and outside the country over four decades.

He is the owner of more than 110 long scripts on differenttopics from folk literature such as plays on history, culture, andmodern-day people as well as leaders.

According to statistics from the Institute of Theatre, 33per cent of gold medals and 25 per cent of silver medals won by artistsat national stage performances between 1955 and 2005 performed on Ngon’sscripts.

In 2013, national stage performances of Ngon’s plays ChuongNgan Rung Truc (Bell Modulation in Bamboo Forest) and Chu Van An, NguoiThay Cua Muon Doi (Chu Van An, The Teacher of All Times) won goldmedals, while his plays Phung Khac Khoan and the Qua cau vang (GoldenBetel Nut) have won gold medals at the National Television Festival.

He is one of the four leading drama composers – Chu Thom,Xuan Duc, and Ha Dinh Can are the other three – and has been assigned bythe Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to compose works fornational festivals.

Associate professional and cheo researcher Nguyen Tat Thangagrees that Ngon has been Viet Nam’s leading composer and most of hisplays have been performed on stage.

Recently, the Literature Publishing House released a booklisting Ngon’s scripts. They include 15 on folk culture, 26 on culturalactivists and historians, 43 on revolutionaries and leaders, and 5 onforeign chronicles and the rewrites of ancient cheo.

Thang says that Ngon’s capacity to write cheo scripts is so excellent and strong that no one has so far managed to follow him.

“I’m very worried that apart from Ngon, very few authors arecomposing cheo scripts,” Thang notes, adding that Viet Nam has 18professional cheo troupes, but they lack scripts due to a lack ofauthors.

When national stage festival nears, these troupes often rushto Ngon, requesting him to write for them. That’s why his works make uphalf of the total works at the festival.

For example, at a recent cheo festival in the northernprovince of Thai Binh, four out of six works that won gold and silvermedals were Ngon’s.

At the festival, a young author received much applause from lovers. He was Traân Dinh Van, Ngon’s son and student.

 

A scene from the play Magic Task (Menh lenh than ky), written by Tran Dinh Ngon. 

Unfortunately, Van died last month at the age of 40 due to a sudden cold.

Despite being the No1 cheo composer in the country, Ngon says his monthly income is just enough to cover his daily expenses.

He recalls that the royalties he received from his firstscript, modulated from Tat Den (Turn off Lamp) of famous author Ngo TatTo, was so modest. It was merely enough for him to buy a made-in-Chinabicycle.

Today, only a few audiences from big cities such as Ha Noi and HCM City come to enjoy traditional cheo plays.

Cheo troupes often have to go to rural areas where people are still interested in this art very much, Ngon says.

“To sustain this art form, the State should assist cheotroupes. This is the only way we can preserve this rare traditionalopera,” he affirms.

Although retired, Ngon is strong and remains devoted to researching and composing cheo.

Last year, he actively assisted youngsters in puttingtogether a project called “Cheo 48 Hours. I Row back to our Native Land”that aimed to bring the art to young Vietnamese in an effort to remindthem to preserve cheo art.

Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 20, from Ha Noi’s Hai Ba Trung District’sart club, who was also part of the project, says that before joining acheo class, she had access to the traditional opera, but its language,mainly Han-Vietnamese, is very difficult to understand, particularly theway it is sung.

“After attending classes and listening to Dr Ngon teachinghow to sing and dance, I learnt the values of our traditional culture,particularly cheo. Now, I’m fascinated. “When I finish the class, I willperform cheo at home for my parents and my friends,” Anh adds.

Ngon was born in Hai Duong Province’s An Binh Village of NamSach District, the cradle of ancient cheo art, a specific trait of thewet rice civilisation.

His father, Tran Dinh Viet, who had learned by heart many cheo melodies, had passed them on to Ngon.

As a result, at the age of 10, Ngon composed a play and puttogether a performance with his classmates at his school’s year-endfestival.

In 1962, after graduating from high school, Ngon joined the Ta Ngan Cheo troupe, and later the Hai Phong Cheo troupe.

Years later, he decided to join in-service training at theNational University’s Literature Department, where leading theorists andprofessors Hoang Xuan Nhi, Le Dinh Ky and Ha Minh Duc polished hisliterature knowledge. He had a doctorate in literature in 1996.

Ngon devoted his time and effort to learning the art so histalent expanded, in addition to reading cheo researches of famousprofessors Tran Bang, Ha Van Cau, and Hoang Kieu, which helped himcompose many cheo plays.

Ngon, a rare author who learned by heart and standard, singsmore than 100 of the 150 melodies of the country’s traditional cheoart.

When Viet Nam News called him for an interview, we learnedthat the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism was considering aproject in which it can pay notable writers like him VND100 to VND140million per play.

But no concrete decision had been made as of printing time. 

VNS

Ha Nguyen

The king of cheo gets a princely reward

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