Cultura Fish Elevates the Art of Hát Bội on ichLinks – the Platform for Intangible Cultural Heritage in Asia-Pacific

With support from the Ho Chi Minh City Hát Bội Theatre, Cultura Fish has successfully completed a project to archive typical character types in the traditional Vietnamese theatre form known as Hát Bội. Following their award at the “TechCul Initiative” organised by UNESCO in January 2021, Cultura Fish continued its collaboration with ICHCAP-UNESCO to develop the “Hát Bội 101” project. After discussions with ICHCAP and advice from researcher Vương Hoài Lâm, Cultura Fish chose the theme “Character Models in Vietnamese Hát Bội Art” for archiving on the ichLinks platform (www.ichlinks.com).

ichLinks – a platform for information on intangible cultural heritage in the Asia-Pacific region (www.ichlinks.com) recognizes Hát Bội as a significant form of traditional Vietnamese stage art with a long history and wide-reaching influence. Like other traditional arts, Hát Bội integrates aesthetic values that reflect the Vietnamese identity, mirroring life, thoughts, and humanistic aspirations. The characters in Hát Bội distil various exemplary personality traits and human forms, allowing for a full transmission of plot elements, actions, language, and performance techniques to the audience.

With the collaboration of Vương Hoài Lâm and enthusiastic support from the Ho Chi Minh City Hát Bội Theatre, Cultura Fish has selected 15 typical character types for detailed description (make-up, performance techniques) and preservation (through photography and filming). This effort is aimed at making Hát Bội more accessible to audiences, offering an initial engagement with this art form that is deeply imbued with the national spirit.

Cultura Fish members and actors from the Ho Chi Minh City Hát Bội Theatre (Image: Giang Phạm) anticipate that the complete results of the project will be showcased on the ichLinks platform (www.ichlinks.com) and the Cultura Fish website (www.culturafish.com) in December 2021, available in both Vietnamese and English. Cultura Fish hopes that this initiative will help spread the art of Hát Bội to both domestic and international audiences, as it truly is a gem in the treasure trove of Vietnamese heritage.

“Hát Bội 101” is the name of the project aimed at introducing Hát Bội to audiences through highly accessible and fundamental content. Learn more about the project here: https://culturafish.com/vi/projects/du-an-hat-boi-101-loi-moi-den-voi-nghe-thuat-hat-boi/

Contact us: 

  • Hà Thúc Đức Tùng (Project Manager) | [email protected] | +84 934 848 800 (Zalo, Whatsapp)