Awarding ceremony of the New Poetry Composition Contest for singing styles in Ca Tru

This is an important activity in nurturing and developing the Ca Tru heritage in Hanoi.

Ca tru is an art form with a long tradition, with many different forms. Hat noi is a form of Ca tru. In terms of form, hat noi poetry has enough verses, missing verses, double verses, has a northern and southern double rhythmic verse, has a rhyme pattern, separate sentence structure, has single and double rhythms, front and back rhythms, etc. Composing hat noi is relatively difficult, requiring the composer to have a good grasp of the form, rules, have literary training, understand poetry and some artistic techniques of traditional poetry, know how to use allusions and use things, have a certain amount of classical knowledge, in addition to literature, also need to have a certain understanding of music... Only then can the composer create works that are complete, perfect in form, valuable in content, art and meet the requirements of performance.

After nearly 4 months of launching, the Organizing Committee received 135 entries from a large number of Ca Tru art lovers, including 15 entries by authors. The authors of the contest are of different ages, the youngest was born in 1995 (28 years old), the oldest are 2 authors born in 1928 (95 years old). Notably, the contest received the participation of authors from many different fields and professions, many authors do not work in the fields of culture and art but pay special attention to singing in Ca Tru.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Binh Dinh, Chairman of the Competition Evaluation Council, commented: The content and topics are very rich, reflecting aspects of Hanoi, life, the work of building and defending the Fatherland. Including content and images praising the merits of the Party, Uncle Ho, cultural celebrities, spring, autumn, love for Hanoi, the vitality and value of the heritage of Ca Tru, the elegant and gallant style of Hanoi people. In addition, there are also contents about maternal love, love for the homeland, couples, cultural traditions, the struggle to defend the country of the nation...

The works entered for the competition are mostly full-length poems, some with double-length poems, some without; some with single-length poems, double-length poems, some with double-span poems. In addition, there are also some poems that do not ensure the rules, such as sentence structure, rhyme. However, there are many authors with poems, or series of poems of quality, standard in form, rules, polished, solemn, elegant, concise language, skillfully applying many techniques of classical poetry, such as antithesis, ancient practice, classical use... suitable with the rhythm of the instrument; the content is rich, many poems are philosophical, expressing quite profound meanings of life..., showing the authors' diligence and skill. Some classical works are elegant, approaching the spoken songs of the ancestors. Notably, the authors with good quality works are basically all quite young.

The Organizing Committee awarded the first prize to author Pham Van Anh (pen name Truong Phong) with the work "Quang am thoat thoat" (first piece). Two second prizes were awarded to author Le Tien Dat (pen name Chau Hai Duong) with the work "Cam thu" and author Nguyen Quang Duy (pen name Hy Nhan) with the work "Nho Thang Long" (part I). Three third prizes were awarded to author Doan Vinh Thang (pen name Nguyet Sinh) with the work "Da vu doc ​​chioc", author Nguyen Minh Dung (pen name Thanh Tam) with the work "Gap xuan", author Dam Quang Minh with the work "Giong ca tru van diem". The Organizing Committee also awarded 10 Encouragement prizes to the authors; at the same time, awarded certificates of merit and prizes to the two oldest authors, People's Artist Nguyen Thi Khuu and People's Artist Ngo Van Dam; awarded the author with many good quality works to author Nguyen Tien Dat and rewarded 6 authors who actively responded to the contest.

The Chairman of the Judging Council hopes that from the results of this competition, similar competitions will be launched, so that ca tru in general and hat noi in particular will increasingly attract the attention and participation of many classes of people. He suggested that the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports research, organize audio and video recordings of high-prize winning works, publish and disseminate them on mass media, and to ca tru clubs for ca tru singers and actors to perform in ca tru singing competitions...