HCM CITY — Hồ Chí Minh City Television (HTV) is restoring archival footage of the 1977 cải lương classic Tiếng Trống Mê Linh (The Sounds of Mê Linh Drums), bringing one of Việt Nam’s most iconic stage works back to life.

The restoration is part of HTV’s broader effort to preserve and promote cải lương — a southern theatre genre that emerged in the early 1920s in the Mekong River Delta — while bringing its classic works closer to contemporary audiences and honouring Việt Nam’s golden age of theatre.

HTV has adopted emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), to improve the video's image and sound quality, while retaining the original value and heroic spirit of Tiếng Trống Mê Linh, featuring the two national heroines the Trưng Sisters.

The play delves into the lives of Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, the two sisters who led the nation’s first resistance movement against Eastern Han Chinese occupation in AD 40.

The sisters led their troops on elephants to repel the invasions. Their victories liberated the country after 247 years of Chinese domination.

Tiếng Trống Mê Linh was first staged by the Thanh Minh-Thanh Nga Troupe, a well-known cải lương troupe in HCM City in 1977, starring the talented actress Thanh Nga as Trưng Trắc.  With her beauty, voice and dance skills, Nga became a phenomenon. 

Born in 1942 to a traditional art family in Tây Ninh Province, Nga (real name Juliette Nguyễn Thị Nga) learned the art from her parents, Năm Nghĩa and Nguyễn Thị Thơ, owners of the Thanh Minh-Thanh Nga Troupe.  

She performed in more than 50 plays, including famous historical works like Thái Hậu Dương Vân Nga (Queen Mother Dương Vân Nga) and Tiếng Trống Mê Linh.      

Nga was assassinated in 1978 after a show in HCM City and was posthumously awarded the title of Meritorious Artist by the Government in 1984. 

The restored footage of Tiếng Trống Mê Linh is expected to be aired on HTV’s channel during the upcoming holiday to celebrate the Hùng Kings’ Commemoration Day and the 51st anniversary of the Reunification Day (April 30).

Nearly half a century on, the drums of Mê Linh are set to resound again — bridging past and present, and bringing the spirit of cải lương back into the light. — VNS