The national bai choi festival has taken place in Quy Nhon from April 5-8. The festival is one of activities responding to the 2011 National Tourism Year, according to Head of Bureau of Art Performances, Vuong Duy Bien.
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Playing bai choi
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The festival is aimed at popularizing the cultural heritages and potential for tourism in southern central provinces. This is a chance for bai choi and folk song troupes to introduce their works in preserving the art of bai choi and folk songs in the past years.
The participating artists will be able to share experiences on preserving and performing bai choi plays as well as working out possible solutions for the development of bai choi.
Provinces of Quang Nam, Binh Dinh, and Khanh Hoa joined the festival with two plays which have never been performed in any previous festivals.
The plays performed at the event won’t be marked, according to the regulations released by the organizing board. The artists will be marked and presented with gold and silver medals. The participants will also join the game of bai choi and enjoy the performance of extracts of typical bai choi songs.
Although there were only three bai choi troupes participating in the festival, according to the Bureau of Art Performances, the event has still taken place, aiming to maintain and develop this kind of traditional art.
Bai choi is a performance-slash-game in which participants bet on the missing words of poems or folksongs. Originated in Binh Dinh and Quang Nam provinces, bai choi is often held in villages during Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.
It is a kind of traditional opera but involves the crowd. There are often 9 bamboo rectangle-shaped stalls built, let alone four small ones which are at opposite sides. A main stall positioned in the middle is dedicated for high-ranking villagers.
On a small stage built with bamboo musicians patiently wait for the crowd to settle. The band is made up with a drummer, a flautist, a two-chord fiddler, and a singer, who is dressed in a charming loose-fitting blouse.
The participants receive a bamboo card in the shape of ping pong racquet. On the card will be a traditional ideograph, which will have a specific name. To start the game, the MC will lift up her bamboo vase of sticks and pull one out. She will then recite a poem or sing a folk song.
The last words will be the name of one of the cards the audience has picked. Players with the right card will receive a small silk flag from a man dressed as a soldier. After nine songs, if you have a card with three right names, you will be the winner (for each game there will be three winners).
The prizes are relatively modest but of course it’s the taking part that makes it fun and both winners and losers seem delighted with themselves.
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