Quan Ho Folk Singing - Pure Local Art

Quan Ho from earlier days was also a kind of performing art, but more intimate with almost no borders between “performers” and “audiences”. Also, there was nothing call “money” or “revenue” drawn from Quan Ho.

Quan Ho In The Past - Endless Plays 

From the beginning time when it has just been created, “Quan Họ” was only regarded as a cultural activity at which people in Bac Ninh and some other areas nearby gathered, shared their passions, with their fascinating voices. They “played” Quan họ, not “performed” it, with the main purpose to satisfy their demand to meet and make friends with other people who have same hobbies, and exchange their love on traditional art in a large community.

Quan Ho Revived At A Local Village Event

In the past, Quan Ho was mostly performed at the occasions like festivals, ceremonies or parties, so both audiences and Quan Ho singers only had chances to enjoy this unique art at certain times. Generally, when the time came, “Quan Ho” singers appointed their singing friends at the occasion, then sang together until they were both exhausted or the events ended and then came back to their normal life with a memory in their mind to meet their Quan Ho friends the next years. It can be said that Quan Ho at that time was truly a way for people to balance their lives, relax and free their mind on the flow of smooth Quan Ho songs.

One of the most unique features of Quan Ho in the past that might not be seen in Quan Ho today that once becoming Quan Ho singers, some couples of them were believed to be born for singing Quan Ho with each other ever after. That is the fate of Quan Ho singers.

Quan Ho Today, When Professionalism Sometimes Means Commercialism

After dozens year of being interrupted by wars and forgotten during the reconstruction of the nation, luckily, Quan Ho has been well conserved by Kinh Bắc people, and returned in a completely fresh appearance. It could be a good new to people who love this type of art, but for elderly in Kinh Bắc area who are often nostalgic of the tradition Quan họ, it could not be what they expect Quan Ho to become. Quan Ho today is not pure like it was before.

It can be said that the modern Quan Ho started when Bac Ninh Folk Group of Quan Ho appeared in 1969. That event marked a significant milestone in the development of this traditional art when Quan Ho wore a completely new cover to become more professional, but also much more commercial than it had been before. Quan Ho at that time almost lost their original purpose to satisfy demand of traditional art to people, and transformed to an artistic products which is “performed” rather than “played” for fun.

Quan Ho Performance

Quan Ho today is performed everywhere and every time, not only in special occasions like before. Travelers to Bac Ninh only need to pay small amount of money they can have some Quan Ho singers sing for them. People in other regions, maybe other countries can also listen to Quan Ho via recorded CD or on the Internet anytime and anywhere they like. It could be the good news, yet it could be bad news either.

In addition, Quan Ho singers now are not purely amateur singers who sing with only their passion and emotion, but actors and actress who perform certain songs that are professionally choreographed. They are trained carefully, from gestures, moving to emotion and eye contact to be suitable for staging performances and they sing with anyone, not only their fated mates as in the past. That is the sign of the forever disappearance of artistic relationship between Quan Ho singers.

However, in Bac Ninh, the homeland of Quan Ho, there are also other people, mostly elder singers and some young enthusiastic people who always recall the memory of traditional Quan Hoand dream to reproduce the original Quan Ho with no commercial term inside. They gather in clubs, exchange their knowledge and Quan Ho rhythm, as well as train other younger generation how to perfectly sing Quan Ho songs. But more importantly, they spread the spirit of original Quan Ho to their descendants, with the hope to see traditional Quan Ho return in foreseeable future.