About
THE SHOW
The monthly gathering of the top class traditional musicians on a replication of a Hanoi's ancient music show, combines with contemporary installation arts.
The performances are delivered in one of the oldest venues in Hanoi ( former Khan Nhan Dai theater - 1900s) without technology interference, the only speaker - free show in Hanoi.
Carefully sellected performances of 6 original genres of ancient Tonkin's traditional music: the Ca Trù, the Hát Tuồng, the Hát Xẩm, the Hát Chèo the Hát Quan họ and the Hát Chầu Văn, the 90-minutes "Music Story of the Old Quarter" show is a rich and delicate introduction to the history of Vietnamese music.
The audiences of our monthly shows range from local Vietnamese, expats to travellers around the world.
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Music Story of the Old Quarter
Venue: 50 Dao Duy Tu str. Hanoi, Vietnam
The Programs
Ca Trù
Tally Card Songs (歌籌)
11th - 13th century
Hát Tuồng
Classical Vietnamese Opera
13th century
Sign languages along with full of symbols combine with matiral arts and circus, Hat Tuong is a symbolic genre of music, showing complicated techniques in a minimalist theater set-up.
Origin: Theater Yuan (China)
Hát Xẩm
Xẩm singing
14th century
Created by the princes of Trần Dynasty and sung by blind beggars on marketplaces and piers. Songs of Hát Xẩm focus on the topic of human morality and ironic satire about human life.
Hát Xẩm is no longer perform in public spaces.
Origin: Tran Dynasty.
Quan Họ
Quan Ho Singing
13th century
The Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO in 2009. Vietnamese folk music style characterized by the repertoire of topics of love and sentimentality as experienced by young adults, sung by boys and girls at village festivals.
Origin: Bac Ninh province
Ancient genre of chamber music featuring female vocalists. It was associated with a geisha-like form of entertainment, which combined entertaining wealthy people and performing religious songs for the royal court.
Origins: Northen Vietnam
Hát Chèo
Cheo Singing (theater)
12th century
Most popular form of folk theater singing with playfull lyrics, richness of melodies and rhythm.
Origin: Northen Vietnam
Chầu Văn
Chau Van
16th century
Trance singing and dancing. Chau Van is a ritual music form in the Vietnamese shamanistic religious "Four Palaces".
Origin: The Red River Delta
Vietnamese street food series
The New Xẩm
The ancient rhythm of Hát Xẩm sung along with contemporary poems by the most talented and controversal Vietnamese modern poet Nguyen Duy
