Rites of kite is a multidisciplinary performance that contextualises and transforms the act of flying a kite. This recent performance at the Peace Park in Hanoi involved poem recital, live music and dance performance. Rites of kite is also a contemplation about kite-flying, a practice or even a ritual that connects the ancestors and the modern people, the nature and the human-being.
The deliberate use of traditional Vietnamese style of reciting poetry stands in contrast with the modern landscape, dotted with high-rise buildings, in a park bordered by 8-lanes highways. The minimalistic music composed by Siedl/Cao with choreography of intentionally slow movements created an atmosphere with slower time feeling.
Performers: Kim Oanh – Poem recital; Minh Hai – Dance; Luong Minh – Trumpet; Cao Thanh Lan – Gourd flute; Gregor Siedl – Clarinet.
Poems quoted and recited in the “Rites of kite” performance
"The Echo of Kite Flutes"
– by Ngô Tịnh Yên
Connecting the past,
To this moment,
The string of childhood dreams, a soaring kite.
Bridging space,
From dawn to dusk,
Love links memories to what’s forgotten.
Recalling the snapped cord,
Yet still intact,
Connecting ancient echoes to folk verses sung.
Tying sorrow
With sweetness deep,
Uniting streams to rivers vast and free.
Merging the familiar
With the strange,
Binding calm with storms of wind and rain.
Joining the certain
To the unforeseen,
Weaving heartbreak with shores of longing.
Linking grass and flowers
To shepherd boys,
As tides rise and fall, parting once more.
Uniting kite flutes
With their echoing song.
(Translated from Vietnamese)
"Âm ba sáo diều"
- Thơ: Ngô Tịnh Yên
nối muôn xưa
đến bây giờ
sợi dây tuổi nhỏ mộng mơ cánh diều
nối không gian
sáng vào chiều
thương yêu nối nhớ vào điều lãng quên
nhớ dây đứt
lại còn nguyên
nối hiên vọng cổ, nối thềm ca dao
nối chua cay
với ngọt ngào
nối mương lạch với dạt dào biển sông
nối thân quen
với lạ lùng
nối yên vui với bão bùng gió mưa
nối đương nhiên
với bất ngờ
nối phụ phàng với đôi bờ nhớ mong
nối cỏ hoa
với mục đồng
nối con nước lớn nước ròng chia xa
nối sáo diều
với âm ba
"Flying a Kite"
– by Trần Đăng Khoa
The kite, full of wind,
Its flute sings loud and clear,
Stars drift across the sky,
The kite becomes a golden moon.
The kite, full of wind,
Its voice, pure and bright,
Is it a kite, or a boat
Floating on the Milky Way?
The kite, full of wind,
Its melody drifts afar,
Is it a betel nut
Drying on heaven’s tray?
The sky, like a field,
Harvested and bare,
My kite—a crescent blade
Someone forgot up there.
"Thả diều"
- Thơ: Trần Đăng Khoa
Cánh diều no gió
Sáo nó thổi vang
Sao trời trôi qua
Diều thành trăng vàng.
Cánh diều no gió
Tiếng nó trong ngần
Diều hay chiếc thuyền
Trôi trên sông Ngân.
Cánh diều no gió
Tiếng nó chơi vơi
Diều là hạt cau
Phơi trên nong trời.
Trời như cánh đồng
Xong mùa gặt hái
Diều em – lưỡi liềm
Ai quên bỏ lại.
(Trần Đăng Khoa)
(Translated from Vietnamese)
Siedl/Cao 