The Myth of Life
Going, going, gong!
Experimental play mixes media and cultures to explore the Myth of Life
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=============== CONTENTS ===============
- Experimental play mixes media and cultures to explore the Myth of Life A new cross-cultural production called Huyen Thoai Cuoc Song (Myth of Life) debuts this month in Ho Chi Minh City, aiming to stir audiences with its experimental form. Go >>
- Featured art. This month we feature the art of Minh Phu, Hoang Minh and Minh Phuong Go >>
- November's recipe: Bun Ho (Beef with Fine Rice Noodles) Go >>
- Going, going, gong: Vietnam battles to save percussion tradition The Vietnamese government has spent more than US$1.57 million to study and preserve the historical musical gongs of its central highlands. Go >>
=== Experimental play mixes media and cultures to explore the Myth of Life ===
A new cross-cultural production called Huyen Thoai Cuoc Song (Myth of Life) debuts this month in Ho Chi Minh City, aiming to stir audiences with its experimental form.
Huyen Thoai Cuoc Song is written and directed by Vietnamese-Australian Le Quy Duong, who has gained international fame for his experimental dramas. The production takes a panoramic view of the present world where human beings are struggling with many challenging problems, such as spiritual crises, international conflicts, war, poverty, disease and natural disasters.
Maintaining peace, independence, freedom and human values in a rapidly changing world is the overarching theme of the play, according to the director. "It [the drama] was written and directed based on the philosophic premise: life is the myth. Life is a precious and sacred gift that needs to be protected and honoured," said Duong.
"Huyen Thoai Cuoc Song will take the audience on a journey to rediscover the first sparks of life. The resulting flame will connect humans with a brighter future filled with freedom, peace and happiness," he added.
After becoming an Australian citizen in 1999, Duong has directed three experimental dramas in Viet Nam-Luu Quang Vu's Bong Cuc Xanh Tren Dam Lay (A Green Marigold in the Marsh), John Romeril's Crowded House, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
A 1990 graduate of the Ha Noi College of Theatre and Cinema, Duong also received a diploma in directing from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). His first feature screenplay, Meat Party, won the 1999 Playbox Asialink Playwrighting Competition and the 2001 Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Best Drama. He completed a Fulbright scholarship in Hollywood last year and now runs the Vietnamese Arts Culture Exchange Programme (VACEP).
Huyen Thoai Cuoc Song is Duong's latest theatre production with the HCM City Drama Theatre, employing highly visual language and merging realism with symbolism.
"The play combines modern and traditional theatrical elements within the context of a cross cultural and hybrid performance," said Duong. Audiences have the opportunity to enjoy a new mixture of body drama, video work, installation, contemporary and folk dance, lighting and sound effects, abstract costumes and make-up techniques.
The drama's music is an experimental combination of techno music, composed by Darrin Verhagen, a famous composer in Europe and Australia, and Vietnamese traditional drums, composed by musician Nhut Dung.
The play's costumes highlight individual characteristics according to the colours of the five basic elements of Eastern philosophy: metal, wood, water, fire, earth. Make-up artist Xuan Chinh also presents his latest experiments in abstract make-up technique.
The production's key characters are given generic names like the Landlord, the Hero, and the Young Girl, in order to make them universal.
Huyen Thoai Cuoc Song is one of many impressive productions that auger well for a revitalized theatre culture in Viet Nam - its fresh take on universal themes with deft use of cross-media innovative techniques place it centre stage of this fine creative genre.
==== Featured artists ====
This month we feature the art of three of our favorite artists.
Minh Phu - Relationship 3 - $450 - more >>
Minh Phu's beautiful, fertile golds, pinks and reds make us imagine what Hanoi must feel like in the fall, resonating with sounds and smells of home, family, animals, food, planting and most importantly, kite-flying!
Hoang Minh - Game 1 - $300 - more >>
Hoang Minh's strengths are an eye for the abstract, and the ability to create beautiful backdrops with simple washes of colour.
Minh says: "To us, truth does not exist in the outside world, but in the unconsciousness. Legends of very sensitive feelings where a more splendid, never-world has been created and where only stay the truth and the beauty."
Minh Phuong - The Folding Fan 3 - $1000 - more >>
Phuong's minimal inkiness frames feelings of an asian fantasia, warm and illuminated beings in the midst of a calm ritual we're somehow included within.
=== November's recipe: Bun Ho (Beef with Fine Rice Noodles) ===
Here at Vietnam Art Gallery we don't forget that food is another of life's important artistic expressions - and also eloquently showcases a country's cultural history and heritage. Added to this, Vietnamese food just tastes good!
Rice and noodles are the pillars of Vietnamese cooking and each plays a different role in daily meals. Rice noodles are more popular than wheat ones and are thick, round, or flat. Unlike dry wheat noodles, those made with rice flour only require blanching in boiling water for a few minutes to cook. This dish is interesting in its multi-layered presentation and can be served warm or cold.
- 6 oz rice noodles
- 1 fat clove of garlic, crushed
- 1 medium onion, sliced fine
- 2 inches of lemon grass root, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 4 tbsp nuoc mam (fish sauce)
- pinch of sugar
- 1 lb fillet or sirloin steak, thinly sliced
- 3 oz bean sprouts
- 4 oz crisp salad greens, shredded
- 3 tbsp shredded cucumber
- 1 small bunch mint
- 2 tbsp oil
- 4 tbsp chopped peanuts
Blanch rice noodles for 5 minutes, drain and set aside. Combine garlic, onion, lemon grass, salt, pepper, half the nuoc mam and sugar and marinade beef in this mixture for half an hour. Divide bean sprouts, salad greens, cucumber, and mint, put in individual deep bowls and top with rice noodles. Heat oil in skillet and fry beef to preferred taste. Divide into four and add to bowls. Dribble over with remaining nuoc mam, add chopped nuts, and serve.
= Going, going, gong: Vietnam battles to save the percussion tradition =
The Vietnamese government has spent more than US$1.57 million to study and preserve the historical musical gongs of its central highlands. It has also nominated them for UNESCO recognition as an intangible world cultural heritage.
Cong chieng, as the gongs are known, beat out four other art forms - traditional water puppetry, Bac Ninh province's quan ho folk music, ca tru (1,000 year-old chamber music), and Tay Nguyen epics - for the UNESCO nomination.
No one knows exactly when the gongs were first made. But they have been an integral part of ethnic minority cultures in Lam Dong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Daklak, and Dak Nong provinces in the Central Highlands.
In ancient times, they were sometimes cast in gold or silver. But nowadays, most are made from an alloy of copper, zinc and lead. Tay Nguyen gongs come in a variety of shapes and sizes: cong have a nipple and produce a single, uniform sound, while chieng are flat and offer a wider range of notes. Different sized gongs are characterized by names like Mother, Father, and Older Sister.
Resting on the thigh or hanging from a frame, gongs can be drummed by hand or with a cloth-covered stick, and fathers teach sons how to play.
"Central Highlands gongs are not only musical, but also serve a cultural function for about 20 ethnic minorities as they herald life changes," the Vietnam News Agency quoted Professor To Ngoc Thanh, general secretary of the Viet Nam Folklore Arts and Literature Association, as saying.
Thanh said ethnic people in Tay Nguyen had used the cong and chieng as a means to communicate with deities during festivals and ceremonies like weddings, house warming, and harvest celebrations.
To welcome a newborn, ethnic minorities perform the le thoi tai (blowing in the ears) ceremony. They believe that if a person hears a gong as a baby, he will grow up to be upright.
At weddings, gongs ring merry melodies and remind the couple to follow cultural traditions. They also bid farewell to the dead at funerals.
They are also played at ceremonies to pray for rain or celebrate a good harvest, and can serve a practical function as well. To warn the community of an imminent threat, gongs are used at communal houses as an alarm, calling all young men to congregate.
The Tay Nguyen ethnic minorities have gong groups ranging from three to 21 members or instruments.
Each group has created its own unique gong style: Ba Na and Gia Rai people use cong gongs for bass rhythms, whereas M'nong people stage gong dialogues.
However, in the past decade gongs were losing out to modern forms of music. Young people were losing interest in playing them while many gong experts died without finding interested young people to pass the traditions on to.
So, the Government has invested in promoting the study of the gong culture and epics.
Using the money, the local provinces collected more than 500 epics, preserved thousands of sets of gongs, and established more than 300 gong troupes.
The Ministry of Culture and Information launched a similar project to stop the slide and raise ethic youths' awareness of their cultural heritage.
Under the project, studies will be carried out on, besides the gong, also the buffalo sacrifice, new rice and wharf festivals to restore and promote them.
These cultural activities will also be held in communal houses in the region, thus attracting not only local but also foreign tourists.
Thank you for reading! We wish you peace and good fortune for the holidays and for both New Years!
============== Artist Roster ==============
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