The festival was held from October 11 to October 13, 2022, in 3 sites, namely the City Cultural Center, Dam Communal house relic (Tay Tuu ward, Bac Tu Liem district) and the People’s Committee of Van Phuc commune (Phuc Tho district). The festival created an atmosphere of joy and excitement among the people in the 68th Anniversary of the Hanoi Capital’s Liberation Day (October 10, 1954 – October 10, 2022).
The festival aims to preserve and promote traditional folk-art forms of Hanoi capital in particular, and the country in general; introduce and promote the unique cultural features of the nation including unique folk songs and traditional folk dances, reflecting distinctive features of each region to domestic people and international friends.
Activities to introduce and promote the unique cultural features of the nation in the festival.
People’s Artist Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Chairman of Hanoi Dance Artists Association – Head of the Jury commented on the art quality of the festival that: “66 performances were staged by skilful, delicate and enthusiastic musicians and choreographers, used mass actors to arrange and create performances with all their hearts. The performances contained sophisticated thoughts and emotions as well as the burning love for the precious values of the national folk art. 25 folk singing performances held in various forms such as solo, duet, group singing, dancing, etc. were elaborately choreographed, delicately and softly sung. They all had the similar, developed and completed performance techniques and conveyed the message of the song’s content in accordance with the regional folk songs. There were outstanding performances, including: “Nostalgic Tay Ho” of Dong Anh district, Tay Ho district; singing and dancing performance “Gratitude for parents” – Thanh Tri district; “Ly Giao duyen” – Ha Dong district; “Sending sunshine from Ba Dinh” – Long Bien district; “Ly cay da” – Hai Ba Trung district; “Then dance Spring forever ” – Dong Da district; “Singing to Thang Long” – Thanh Xuan district; “Cong cha nghia me on thay” – Nam Tu Liem district; “The wind blows the boat” – North Tu Liem district, “Spider with a net” – Gia Lam district; “Oil Trading” – Chuong My district; “Duong Xuan” – Ba Dinh district; “Nha Rong Habor” – Hoan Kiem district,etc. Through folk songs, the audience has felt that each place, each ethnic group, each region has different unique features.
21 ethnic folk dance works and many additional dance performances with musical instruments were delivered in multiple themes, expressed the aspiration for a beautiful life, praising the ethnic groups’ solidarity, love of couples, new countryside construction, new lifestyle, beauty in community activities of ethnic groups… Typical performances include: “Sac Mong” of Tay Ho district; “Flowers of the mountains and forests” – Thanh Tri district; “Chau Then” – Thuong Tin district; “Palm forest” – Hai Ba Trung district; “Xen village, Xen Muong” – Dong Anh district; “Welcome new rice” – Gia Lam district, Long Bien district; “Through the Northwest” – Ha Dong district; “Dance of Solidarity” – Ba Dinh District; The dance works were based on original traditional materials, combined with the modern features but still guaranteed to contain the distinctive features of the ethnic groups. Many of the dance performances followed and developed based on the original choreography of ethnic folk dances, in which the movements, formations, symbol and emotional dance conveyed the national quintessence. They used equal, developed, completed, skillful techniques and with costumes suitable to the content of the performances to help the dancers perform freely but still match with Vietnamese fine customs. Reflecting the efforts of the districts and towns in the movement management and development for many years.
Among 20 solo and orchestral performances of ethnic musical instruments from districts and towns, the highlight was the virtuosity of the musicians in choreographing and practising elaborate performances and used advanced technique. They all expressed well the content and ideas of the performances. Thereby enhanced the viewer’s perceptive, withdrew their attraction, and created surprise and excitement. The prominent performances included the concert “Freedom birds” of Tay Ho district; “Girl with a thorn” – Dong Anh district; “My hometown” – Thanh Tri district; “The National Palace” – Gia Lam district; “Telling a story of the rice season” – Long Bien district, Bac Tu Liem district, Hoai Duc district; “Spring to Meo village” – Ba Dinh district, Ha Dong district; “Thang Long spirit festival drum” – Chuong My district; “Rain on Hue Street” – Quoc Oai district; “Upstream of Huong Giang” – Hai Ba Trung district, etc. All the great result is based on the great efforts of amateur artists and actors. They devoted themselves to excellent shows and featured performances in the festival.
In addition to advantages, the Folk Song and Dance Festival – Hanoi in 2022 still had some shortcomings. They are concerns to officers who work in the management and development of cultural and artistic movements in districts and towns. The festival is expected to be a playground for artists and mass actors, promote well in the performance events, and propagate widely to the masses. The preparation work to build a program to participate in the festival should be paid more attention, avoiding shortcomings or failure to meet the required criteria of the festival. Some units did not invest in practising but used old performances in other competitions to perform in the festival. The preparation work before performing is also an issue that needs attention, especially units with ethnic orchestras. During the performance, the orchestra must ensure that the microphone is working well to deliver the best quality of the performance. Some of dance performances used cut and mixed music from the internet so they delivered poor music quality with simple dance techniques, language and not suitable for folk dance theme. People’s Artist Nguyen Ngoc Anh said that some of the supporting dances were abused, negligent, and overwhelmed all the main performers.
When assessing the organization of the Hanoi Folk Song and Dance Festival in 2022, Mrs. Ly Thi Thuy Hanh – Director of the City Cultural Center emphasized: Every 3 years, the Festival of Folk Songs and Dance is held. This is an activity in line with the requirements of the mission and meets the needs of enjoying the culture and art of the people in the capital. Hanoi Folk Song and Dance Festival 2022 was held completely, the Organizing Committee would like to thank and praise the efforts of the units. Participation of the Folk Song and Dance Festival of art groups in districts and towns showed their responsibility to build cultural movements. This is a chance to show their talents, exchange and meet other groups, learn, and gain experience in mass cultural development work. This is also an effort of the City Cultural Center to preserve, preserve and promote folk art, folk dance, and traditional music; at the same time honouring the beauty, diversity, and richness of folk and ethnic art forms on the basis of a harmonious combination of tradition and modernity, etc.
The Organizing Committee awarded prizes to units.
On the occasion of the festival’s summary, the Organizing Committee awarded the First prize of the festival to Dong Anh district; awarded 5 Second prizes to Tay Ho district, Thanh Tri district, Long Bien district, Ba Dinh district, Ha Dong district; 10 Third prizes to Hai Ba Trung district, Thanh Xuan district, Gia Lam district, Nam Tu Liem district, Dong Da district, Chuong My district, Bac Tu Liem district, Quoc Oai district, Hoan Kiem district, Hoai Duc district; 6 Consolation prizes for Hoang Mai district, Phuc Tho district, Soc Son district, Son Tay town, Ung Hoa district, Thuong Tin district. The Organizing Committee also awarded thematic consolation prizes including: Performance with creative support dance – the performance “Nostalgic West Lake” – Tay Ho district; Promising Young Orchestra – performance “Telling stories of the season” – Long Bien district; The performance has grassroots movement – Phuc Tho district; Performances with many generations – “Singing to Thang Long” – Thanh Xuan district; Impressive dance performance – “Welcome new rice” – Gia Lam district; Impressive folk song performance – the performance “Then sing Spring returns to resound the ”- Dong Da district; Attractive musical instrument solo performance – “Telling stories of the seasons” – Viet Dung performance – Bac Tu Liem district; Impressive rowing performance – the performance “Send the sun to Ba Dinh” – Hoang Mai district; Impressive male choir performance – “Singing about the Fatherland today” – Soc Son district; Impressive folk dance performance – “Chau Then” performance – Thuong Tin district; Traditional Orchestra – Ung Hoa district; The unit organizing the movement from grassroots level – Long Bien district, Thanh Xuan district, Bac Tu Liem district, and Soc Son district.
Thao Nhi