CẢI LƯƠNG LEGEND - People’s Artist Bạch Tuyết is working on her new training project on YouTube called Học Viện Cải Lương (Learning Vietnamese Opera), which encourages young people to learn cải lương (reformed opera), a 100-year-old genre of Vietnamese theatre. Photo courtesy of the producer.

HCM CITY — Seventeen artists of HCM City have performed in a new art project on YouTube to promote cải lương (reformed opera), a 100-year-old genre of Vietnamese theatre. 

The project, called Học Viện Cải Lương (Learning Vietnamese opera), encourages its participants, aged between 16 and 45 years old, and viewers to discover and learn cải lương. 

It offers online training courses for young people, including students of art schools and those who are working for drama troupes and theatres. 

It was launched by People’s Artist Bạch Tuyết, a guru of cải lương. 

The first participants were selected by Tuyết and her staff before commencing training.  

They have studied cải lương singing, Vietnamese music and dance. 

They have also trained at different performance levels with cải lương stars such as Thanh Hằng and Châu Thanh, as well as People’s Artist and musician Thanh Tuấn. 

Their performance on YouTube has attracted more than 26,000 views after three weeks of its release in February.

SPREADING ART - Theatre artists of HCM City have worked to preserve and expand cải lương (reformed opera) among young people. Photo courtesy of Hồ Chí Minh Television.

 “We are working to improve our art. We will introduce new tastes of cải lương in the next performances on YouTube,” said young artist Lâm Nguyễn of Thế Giới Trẻ Drama Club, who was selected to join the project. 

Nguyễn has seven years working in theatre. He performed for private drama troupes and art clubs before working as a lead actor for Thế Giới Trẻ Drama Club managed by the HCM City University of Theatre & Cinematography. 

“I love cải lương. I decided to challenge myself by joining Tuyết’s project Học Viện Cải Lương,” said 26-year-old Nguyễn. 

“Cải lương is an unique form of Vietnamese theatre in the South. So I offer online courses to help Vietnamese people worldwide, particularly youngsters, learn and improve their love for the art,” said the project’s creator Tuyết, who has 60 years of experience.

Tuyết said her project Học Viện Cải Lương would also help viewers discover Vietnamese culture and lifestyle through cải lương.

Tuyết was a theatre star in the 1960s-70s and performed for several leading cải lương theatres in the region. 

She has performed in several hundred plays and TV shows and recorded albums featuring both traditional and modern styles of cải lương.   

She has worked with HCM City Television (HTV) and several film studios to produce TV shows, videos and albums featuring quality cải lương plays on social issues.

She has also offered training courses providing young participants with performance skills in singing vọng cổ (nostalgia tunes) and cải lương, and has wrote and released many books and documents on the operatic art form.

In 2018, Tuyết began offering her art on YouTube. In her videos, she combines cải lương with pop and rap music. 

In 2022, she launched a project called Tinh Hoa Cải Lương (Beauty of Vietnamese Theatre) on TikTok. The project offers clips featuring famous extracts from dramatic and historical plays performed by Tuyết and her younger colleagues. 

Last year, Tuyết and rapper Wowy of HCM City began their cooperation with an online project of music videos combining rap and cải lương. 

The two artists have worked to write, compose and produce a series of songs featuring the topics of love and life. Their first video is complete and is expected to be released on YouTube and TikTok late this year. — VNS