After 20 years of establishment, the cheo club of Yen Dung district, led by Nguyen Van Them, an elite artist (born in 1950) in Nham Bien town, has been maintained regular activities. From a few key persons, the club now has attracted more than 20 members, who are farmers and traders from different communes and towns in the district.

Them has made enormous contributions to conserving the art of cheo in the district. With his dedication and passion for cheo, he has visited all of the communes in the district to collect valuable materials for the club activities for years. Them has written nearly 50 songs and created numerous animations glorifying Yen Dung district since the club establishment.

Bac Giang ancient cheo has been recorded in the history of Vietnamese “cheo” art. Bac Giang is known for traditional cheo singing localities such as Yen Dung, Viet Yen and Tan Yen. During the resistance war against American colonies, the cheo teams and villages strongly developed with robust activities to encourage and cheer up the fighting spirit against invaders, particularly famous cheo teams and villages such as Hoang Mai (in Viet Yen township), Dong Quan (in Bac Giang city), Tu Mai (in Yen Dung district) and Bac Ly (in Hiep Hoa district).

Most of the cheo teams were founded by local people who participated in both production and cheo singing clubs. Today, thanks to attention and support of the local party committee, government and competent agencies, traditional cheo in the villages and communes have been recovered and developed. There are more than 30 cheo clubs and hundreds of cheo-related cultural clubs in the province.

In 2021, the provincial People’s Committee issued the Scheme on development of Bac Giang Cheo Theater in 2021-2025 period, a vision to 2030 with many specific targets. Accordingly, it is required to reinforce resources to develop the Theater into a center for professional cultural performances imbued with the cultural identities and people of Bac Giang and “Northern cheo space”.

Cong Doanh

 

 

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