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Singing Sentiment

Produced by: Lauren Meeker

43 min. Color. 2014.

Captioned: No

Catalog #: 0194

Price: $225.00

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Product Description

This “beautifully evocative portrait” documents the life and activities of elderly quan ho folk singer, Nguyen Thi Ban, in Diem Village, Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam. As Ba Ban (grandmother Ban) recounts her life story, it becomes clear how closely her life is intertwined with her love of the music, indicating the intimate connection between quan ho folksong and the rhythms of village life.

Skillfully weaving together interview material and footage of everyday life, folk song gatherings, and village rituals shot over several years, the film reveals how quan ho singing is a powerful medium for sharing sentiment and for exchanging feelings of love, respect, and humility.

The even, slow tempo of the village quan ho singing, the narrow pitch range, and the controlled body language of the singers all belie the intensity of emotions generated through singing partnerships that are cultivated over long periods of time. Adherence to the rules of exchange in the genre is, for these singers, an expression of sentiment (feeling, emotion). Sentiment is not demonstrated openly through words of affection but rather through song and behavior. The strong sentiments created through singing come out strongly in Ba Ban’s explanations of her participation in quan ho activities, how she learned to sing, and how she balanced her love of the music with her work and family obligations.

In recent decades, quan ho has become ever more visible to national and international audiences. In 2009, quan ho was accepted to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which has resulted in redoubled attention to the genre and, in particular, to its elderly singers in the villages of Bac Ninh Province.

The portrait of quan ho presented in Singing Sentiment challenges the pervasive media and film representations of quan ho singers as objects of heritage in which their craft is presented as static and divorced from the daily lives of the singers. Here, in her own words, Ba Ban demonstrates that village quan ho is inseparable from the socio-cultural context of village life in northern Vietnam.

With its rich and intimate detail and compelling characters, Singing Sentiment will captivate students and generate thought and discussion in a wide range of courses in cultural anthropology, Asian studies, ethnomusicology, and women’s and gender studies. It was produced by Lauren Meeker, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, SUNY New Paltz. The film is in Vietnamese and English, with English subtitles.

Reviews

"A beautifully evocative portrait of life in a village in northern Vietnam through the soundscapes of quan ho folk music. Moving beyond the staged performances of quan ho for outside audiences, the film journeys behind the scenes to the intimate spaces of village temples, streets, and homes to show how this captivating style of singing is integrated into the everyday lives and ritual activities of its elderly practitioners. Following Grandmother Ban as she sings about youth, love, labor, and loss, we learn that quan ho is not only a performative art, but also a deeply embedded cultural-moral code that shapes and gives profound meaning to familial and social relations. With its beautiful audio-visual mosaic, the film powerfully captures the historical and affective resonance of Grandmother Ban´s life filled with pain and struggle, as well as moments of tenderness and laughter. Not to be missed in courses in anthropology and Southeast Asia!" — Christina Schwenkel, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside

"Singing Sentiment is a film about the everyday — an intricate and charming slice of life that reveals as much about the artistry of quan ho as any staged performance. Quan ho folk singer Ba (grandmother) Ban´s story is one of self-sufficiency and sacrifice, which adds to the richness and emotional tenor of her craft. Quan ho songs are cultivated over a lifetime — exchanged and offered as spiritual and collective rites between performers, villagers, and gods. Singing Sentiment is particularly ideal for introducing students to life history methodology in anthropology and related fields, in addition to those with interests in East Asian studies and Vietnam, in particular. Researchers who examine the formation of heritage and folk-industries, as well as intangible culture properties, will find this film a significant counterpoint, as it rightly emphasizes the lives and social relationships that underline such productions." — Dr. David Kim, Korea Foundation Visiting Scholar, Dept. of East Asian Studies, New York University

"This unique film is an invaluable resource for courses in anthropology, ethnomusicology, Asian Studies, and ethnographic filmmaking. It provides a touching portrait of the Vietnamese quan ho folk singer, Nguyen Thi Ban. In contemporary Vietnam, quan ho folk song has been popularized, nationalized and modernized through the staging of elaborate festivals and polished performances by professional troupes. This film eschews the stereotypical, glossy representations of quan ho that dominate in the Vietnamese mass media, and instead evokes the humanity and intimacy of folk singing as part of the flow of rural life." — Barley Norton, Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology, Goldsmiths, University of London

Awards

Institute of Cultural Research, Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences (Hanoi) screening
New York Conference on Asian Studies Film Panel screening

Credits

Director/Producer/Editor: Lauren Meeker @Camera: Lauren Meeker and Lauren Semmel @Production and Research Assistant: Nguyen Kim Chi @Assistant Editing and Subtitles: Phuong Minh Cao