30 years of tireless journey in collecting and spreading traditional folk music

Folk music lovers are certainly no strangers to journalist and composer Mai Van Lang - a person who has made great efforts to preserve the traditional musical source in today's life.

Over the past 30 years, he has directly performed thousands of traditional folk music programs, composed new lyrics for hundreds of cheo, quan ho, tuong, cai luong, hat van songs... such as: "White hat of my hometown", "Spring of mother's love", "Love and deep love of the countryside", "Spring love please send to the countryside", "Song of song under the autumn moon"... loved by audiences and listeners across the country.

With a passionate love for folk songs and traditional music nurtured by his grandmother's lullabies and songs, Mai Van Lang cannot remember how many lands he has traveled to, how many artists he has met to learn and spread the best values, the quintessence of the nation to listeners on the Voice of Vietnam - the largest folk music broadcasting channel in the country.

What makes him proud is that wherever he goes, the people love him and treat him like family. In remote areas, the locals even send someone to ride a motorbike 7-10km to pick him up and take him back to his village.

Journalist, writer Mai Van Lang.

He recalled the trip to Tho Ha village, Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province, to make a Tet program about Quan Ho. Here, he was lucky to meet and talk with artist Phu Hiep, artist Giang Nam, listening to ancient Quan Ho songs all night. Then he was introduced to Diem village in Bac Ninh province, across a river, to meet artist Nguyen Thi Them and artist Nguyen Thi Sang. "We were supposed to go for only one afternoon but we went for almost two days, we didn't want to go back, listening to the artists singing Quan Ho all night, I was absorbed in those lyrics", Mai Van Lang shared.

And that special ancient quan ho program broadcast during the Lunar New Year by Mai Van Lang received many compliments from friends, colleagues, and folk artists across the country as well as left a deep impression on the audience.

Mai Van Lang also shared about his trip to Truong Sa - a trip that he said he "will never forget in his life, every time he recalls it, he cries...".

He said that in May 2015, he had a business trip to Truong Sa island for 9 days. He spent two days at sea, looking forward to every moment to meet the brave soldiers who are protecting the sacred islands of the country every day.

"When I saw the island gradually appearing in the distance, the soldiers waved to welcome me, many of whom knew and greeted Mai Van Lang. They said they often listened to folk opera on Voice of Vietnam Radio, which made me extremely happy and proud," journalist Mai Van Lang expressed.

The most emotional moment for Mai Van Lang during that trip was when on the way back to the mainland, the delegation visited the DK1 platform, but the waves were so strong that they could not enter, even though the ship was only 30 meters away. "We called the walkie-talkie to talk to the soldiers, the artists in the group sang through the walkie-talkie for the soldiers to hear. All the artists cried because they were so emotional," Mai Van Lang recalled.

As someone who understands many folk melodies, composer Mai Van Lang has skillfully applied them to compose new lyrics that are suitable for contemporary life without losing the value of folk songs. This is not an easy task, as he said, he is “walking on a tightrope”, because the line between renewing and ruining folk songs is very fragile.

Among the folk music genres, he feels most confident and knowledgeable about the art of Cheo. However, when he goes to the countryside, he always tries to use the folk songs of that region to convey the message that listeners can easily feel. Recently, when visiting Uncle Ho's hometown, he wrote the folk song of Nghe An "Huong sen que Bac" with lyrical lyrics and a smooth, gentle melody. The song has been performed by many young artists on many stages and festivals.

Mai Van Lang at the cultural and artistic exchange, talking about the traditional art forms of Quan Ho and Cheo.

Composer Mai Van Lang is also one of the people who brought the art of Cheo to social networks and websites. The page "Coming to Cheo Art" that he co-founded on Facebook has attracted a lot of followers. In addition, he also created a YouTube page about Cheo singing to reach audiences and listeners who have not had the opportunity to listen and enjoy directly the beauty of Cheo art.

Also from the development of the association, the Cheo group on Facebook helped him come up with the idea of establishing the "National Cheo Art Lovers" Exchange - this meaningful playground has become a place for exchange and creativity of Cheo lovers, many people have composed new lyrics for hundreds of Cheo songs.

Talking about the new points of the 8th National Cheo Lovers Exchange - 2023, Mai Van Lang said that nearly half of the performances were performed by actors who were on stage for the first time; the excerpts have been upgraded, deeper and longer. It can be seen that the number of Cheo lovers is increasing. This year's exchange attracted nearly 1,000 participants as proof.

"It is these dedicated people who have given me more strength and belief that Cheo still has appeal in people's lives," playwright Mai Van Lang shared.

2023 is a memorable year for Mai Van Lang. Last year, he conducted a weekly broadcast program called "Folk Song Dialogue" - this is Mai Van Lang's own program answering listeners about traditional folk music, receiving positive feedback from experts and anticipation from the audience.

He is proud of his work, however, Mai Van Lang always worries that he was "born late", so when he arrived in the lands, many artisans were too old, many could not remember the folk songs of their hometowns anymore, many had passed away, making him feel regretful.

At the age of 50, composer Mai Van Lang still has many plans and projects to reach the regions of the S-shaped strip of land. He vows to devote all his talent and passion to writing, performing, collecting and spreading folk songs as well as traditional art forms of the nation.

Hoang Anh

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/mai-van-lang-nguoi-30-nam-gin-giu-hon-lang-post283674.html