''Tuồng cải lương'' (, Hán-Nôm: 從改良) often referred to as ''Cải lương'' (

Chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

: 改良), roughly "reformed theater") is a form of modern folk opera in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It blends southern Vietnamese folk songs, classical music, '' hát tuồng'' (a classical theatre form based on

Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

), and modern spoken drama.

History and description

''Cải lương'' originated in

Southern Vietnam Southern Vietnam () is one of the three geographical regions of Vietnam, the other two being Northern and Central Vietnam. It includes 2 administrative subregions, which in turn are divided into 19 ''First Tier units'', of which 17 are provi ...

in the early 20th century and blossomed in the 1930s as a theatre of the middle class during the country's French colonial period. ''Cải lương'' is now promoted as a national theatrical form. Unlike the other folk forms, it continued to prove popular with the masses as late as the 1970s and the 1980s, although it is now in decline. Beyond remedy for Cai luong. VietNamNet Bridge. 21 August 2008 ''Cải lương'' can be compared to a sort of play with the added aspect of Vọng cổ. This term literally means "nostalgia for the past", it is a special type of singing with the background music often being the '' đàn tranh'' zither or the '' đàn ghi-ta'' (Vietnamized guitar). In a typical ''cải lương'' play, the actresses and actors would use a combination of regular spoken dialogue and ''vọng cổ'' to express their thoughts and emotions. Cải lương normally highlights/praises traditional Vietnamese moral values. There are mainly two genres of ''cải lương'': ancient stories (''tuồng cổ'') and societal (''xã hội''). The societal genre (cải lương xã hội) consists of stories about modern Vietnamese society. The plots deal with a romantic love story blended with family or social relationships. The stories also explore cultural norms, social norms, and other aspects of Vietnamese society, e.g. ''Đời Cô Lựu'', ''Tô Ánh Nguyệt''. This genre can be somehow described as tragedy, but with a happy ending. However, a few societal plays such as "Ra Giêng Anh Cưới Em" are comedic and light-hearted. In the ancient stories, the actor/actress dresses in an old fashioned costume. The plot is based on a tale, legend or historical story of the feudal system, where kings and warriors still existed. For example, ''Bên Cầu Dệt Lụa'', ''Lục Vân Tiên'', ''Tiếng Trống Mê Linh'' etc. Many plots come from Chinese historic or ancient legends. ''Lương Sơn Bá-Chúc Anh Đài'' is based on the Chinese legend of

butterfly lovers The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend centered around the tragic romance between Liang Shanbo () and Zhu Yingtai (), whose names form the Chinese title of the story. The title is often abbreviated as Liang Zhu (). The story was selected a ...

. In ancient stories, ''Hồ Quảng'', a genre of

may be mixed. Hence, some ancient stories may be called ''Cải lương Hồ Quảng'', which is more like a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

. In addition to regular speech, ''ca cải lương'', and ''vọng cổ'', several melodies are incorporated into the play. These melodies are reused through different plays, however the words are changed to fit the context of the plays. Ancient stories can be characterized by beautiful, elaborate costumes comprising beautiful and colourful dress pieces; large, beautiful glittery hairpieces; elaborate warrior armour; and elaborate warrior head pieces.

Notable singers

Before 1975

* Tám Danh (1901–1976) * Ba Du (1904–1980) * Năm Phỉ (1906–1954) * Năm Châu (1906–1977) * Ba Vân (1908–1988) * Phùng Há (1911–2009) * Tư Sạng (1911–1955) * Bảy Nam (1913–2004) * Út Trà Ôn (1919–2001) * Lê Thanh Trí (1924–2002) * Viễn Châu (1924–2016) * Kim Chưởng (1926–2014) * Văn Chung (1928–2018) * Hữu Phước (1932–1997) * Phi Hùng (born 1932) * Thành Được (1934–2023) * Văn Hường (1934–2023) * Tùng Lâm (born 1934) * Út Bạch Lan (1935–2016) * Hùng Cường (1936–1996) * Thanh Hương (1936–1974) * Kim Cương (born 1937) * Nam Hùng (1937–2020) * Minh Cảnh (born 1938) * Tấn Tài (1938–2011) * Ngọc Nuôi (1939–2002) * Út Hiền (1940–1986) * Diệp Lang (1941–2023) * Dũng Thanh Lâm (1942–2004) * Ngọc Hương (1942–2017) * Thanh Nga (1942–1978) * Phương Quang (1942–2018) * Thanh Thanh Hoa (1943–2009) * Thanh Sang (1943–2017) * Kim Ngọc (1944–2011) * Minh Phụng (1944–2008) * Bạch Tuyết (born 1945) * Hồng Nga (born 1945) * Ngọc Giàu (born 1945) * Diệu Hiền (born 1945) * Phương Bình (born 1947) * Phượng Liên (born 1947) * Thanh Nguyệt (born 1947) * Mộng Tuyền (born 1947) * Bo Bo Hoàng (born 1947) * Thanh Tòng (1948–2016) * Lệ Thủy (born 1948) * Thanh Tuấn (born 1948) * Minh Vương (born 1949) * Bảo Quốc (born 1949) * Mỹ Châu (born 1950) * Bạch Lê (born 1951) * Chí Tâm (born 1952) * Giang Châu (1952–2019) * Bích Hạnh (born 1953) * Thanh Kim Huệ (1954–2021) * Kim Thủy (1956–2021) * Hương Lan (born 1956) * Phượng Mai (born 1956) * Tài Linh (born 1956)

After 1975

* Thoại Miêu (born 1953) * Châu Thanh (born 1957) * Lương Tuấn (1957–2008) * Vũ Linh (1958–2023) * Linh Tuấn (born 1959) * Phương Hồng Thủy (born 1960) * Thanh Hằng (born 1962) * Linh Tâm (born 1962) * Thanh Thanh Tâm (born 1963) * Vân Hà (born 1964) * Kim Tử Long (born 1966) * Phượng Loan (born 1966) * Phượng Hằng (born 1967) * Thảo Nguyên (1967–2024) * Thoại Mỹ (born 1969) * Cẩm Tiên (born 1970) * Ngọc Huyền (born 1970) * Phi Nhung (1970–2021) * Mạnh Quỳnh (born 1971) * Vũ Luân (born 1972) * Thanh Ngân (born 1972) * Trọng Phúc (born 1972) * Kim Tiểu Long (born 1974) *

Hương Thủy Hương Thủy is a district-level town (''thị xã'') of Huế in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. As of 2020 the town had a population of 95,299. The town covers an area of 426.96 km². This district has five urban wards, ...

(born 1974) * Tú Sương (born 1977) * Trinh Trinh (born 1977) * Quế Trân (born 1981) * Lê Thanh Thảo * Tấn Giao * Chí Linh * Thanh Huyền

References

External links