“Cai Luong” can be roughly translated as “renovated theater” in English. This is a kind of modern folk opera in Vietnam. “Cai luong” is also a combination of various types of traditional music such as southern Vietnamese folk song, classical music and modern spoken drama.

Foreigners singing 'cai luong'

The origin of “Cai Luong” is from Southern Vietnam in the early 20th century.  It became widely in middle class in the 1930s. “Cai Luong” is compared to a sort of play with the added aspect of “Vong co” (a special type of singing with the background music often being “dan tranh” (16- chord zither or Vietnamized guitar). In a typical “Cai Luong” play, the actresses and actors would use a combination of regular spoken dialogue and “Vong Co” to express their thoughts and emotions)

“Cai Luong” normally praises Vietnamese moral values. There are mainly two types: “Cai Luong tuong co”(ancient) and “Cai Luong xa hoi” (modern)
“Cai Luong tuong co” (ancient): the plot is relied on tale, legend or history story. Characters can be existed such as kings, warriors…or imagined in fairy tales to remind audience about moral issues.

“Cai Luong xa hoi” (modern): it represents closely stories in modern society. The plots are often consisted of romantic love stories, family deals and social relationships. Although they may be terrible tragedies, happiness is always brought to the end in order to make a bright future as well as thinking for people to live in a better way.

Singing 'cai luong' in English: