| Description |
Bài Chòi is a diverse art form combining music, poetry, stage acting, painting and literature. It takes two main forms: "Bài Chòi games" and "Bài Chòi performance".
"Bài Chòi games" are played during Lunar New Year by Việt people of Central Việt Nam. To play Bài Chòi, nine or eleven bamboo huts are built in a U-shape within a temple yard or in a vacant ground. The hut placed at the bottom of the U shape is called "main hut" (chòi cái), and the game leaders, who can be either male or female, are called Hiệu artists. The game leader takes a card out of a tube of cards, and then sings for people to guess what the card is. This part is called "Hô Thai". Players buy three cards and wait in the hut. Anyone whose three cards match the cards sung by the Hiệu artists will be declared the winner and given the prize. A new session will then restart.
"Bài Chòi performance", male and female Hiệu artists perform on a rattan mat. They either travel from place to place to perform, or otherwise are invited to play for private families, forming rattan-peforming or mobile Bài Chòi styles. A single artist may also perform "solo Bài Chòi". In this case, the artists performs a number of theatrical roles. For some artists, Bài Chòi performances are a mean of earning a living.
Musical instruments accompanying Bài Chòi include the two-stringed fiddle, clappers, shawm and war drums. |
| Social and cultural significance |
The art of Bài Chòi is an important form of culture and recreation within the village community, providing entertainment as well as a context for socialising and enjoyment of the arts. Through listening to Bài Chòi, members of the community have a chance to understand folklore and to share their feelings, knowledge and life experiences with each other. Bài Chòi stories include lessons on morality, compassion, as well as love for the village, nation and national unity. Bài Chòi performances are tragicomic, providing a humorous commentary on life in general and on bad habits, which enable audiences to both reflect and laugh.
Bài Chòi activities provide a context for artistic creativity, while at the same time preserving the folk art, performing styles and cultural values of each region. The cultural and artistic elements in Bài Chòi, which include poetry, music, painting, language and customs, are naturally and simply transmitted to audiences in a way that easily grabs attention, becoming a popular and essential cultural activitiy in central of Việt Nam.
The preparation and organisation of Bài Chòi performances brings people together artists and members of the community. This creates an opportunity for artists to exchange different performance styles, and connects Bài Chòi practitioners with each other and with their audiences. |
| Transmission method |
Most male and female Hiệu performers learn the folllowing skills within their family. People who play Bài Chòi have a deep knowledge of folk poetry and stories which they apply to their performances. Besides enriching their own individual knowledge of poems and stories, Bài Chòi artists thus also transmit this knowledge to the public through performances.
People learn to play musical instruments through oral transmission. A wide range of performance skills are transmitted in this way including: the technical skills; methods to express complex feelings; and how to support other performers.
Folk artists who specialise in playing music and singing also transmit Bài Chòi at clubs, schools and associations.
The way to build and decorate huts, and to make cards, flags and bamboo percussion instruments are learnt by practising these techniques in villages. |
| Community |
The people who maintain, practise and transmit the art of Bài Chòi are: Hiệu artists, solo Bài Chòi performers, card-making folk artists, hut-making folk artists who participate in the Bài Chòi game.
Male or female Hiệu artists have beautiful voices and know many folk melodies and stories. They are also talented at telling stories and improvising poems, and are humurous entertainers and performers. Notable performers of the art include Ms. Nguyễn Thị Đỉu, Ms. Lê Thị Ngảnh, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Đáng, Ms. Lê Thị Đào; Mr. Trần Rí; Ms. Trần Thị Hằng and Mr. Hồ Thanh Châu. Apart from practising Bài Chòi, performers are also responsible for:
- Leading and conducting performances, creating a good quality game, and expressing the different styles of Bài Chòi which are found in the different regions;
- Inspiring audiences to enjoy and develop a passion for learning and playing Bài hòi;
- Conserving and promoting the literature and folk art of the Central Việt Nam for the benefit of people living locally and in other regions.
In addition to performing Bài Chòi on a day-to-day basis, Bài Chòi folk artists thus also continuously transmit this heritage to the next generation through families, clubs and schools. |
| Type of UNESCO List |
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity |
| Incribed year in UNESCO List |
2017 |
