Ma Lieng women's pipe organ

SE DUYEN TUBE

During our trip to Ke village (Lam Hoa commune, Tuyen Hoa district, Quang Binh province) to explore the unique culture of the Ma Lieng people, we accidentally discovered pipe organs hanging in the kitchen loft. Strangely enough, this instrument has a "matriarchal" inheritance, only Ma Lieng women know how to use it and pass it on to each other.

Đàn ống của phụ nữ Mã Liềng- Ảnh 1. — The pipe organ was made by Mrs. Thiu to teach her three daughters in the family.

The first impression when entering the stilt house of Mrs. Cao Thiu (50 years old, in Ke village, Lam Hoa commune) is the wild beauty, the house walls are woven from bamboo, the roof is thatched... rare compared to the usual wooden stilt houses. Here, Mrs. Thiu placed before us 3 pipe organs that she made for 3 daughters in the family.

"This instrument is made of bamboo. To make a pipe instrument, a lot of skill and experience is required. You have to choose an old bamboo tree with a thin trunk, wait for the trunk to dry before making the instrument, only then will the instrument have a clear, resonant sound," Ms. Thiu shared.

The pipe organ appeared in ancient times, when the Ma Lieng people still lived in the deep forests, the instrument was a musical instrument to help them entertain themselves. And more gracefully, this was a substitute for the love confession of young couples in love.

"The instrument is used on happy occasions, especially when a man comes to confess his love. At this time, the man will play the leaf trumpet or the flute as a confession. If the woman agrees, they will also bring out the pipe organ to play along with the music, meaning they have agreed to the confession," said Ms. Thiu.

Since Mrs. Thiu was a young woman in her twenties, young men in the village came to her yard, playing music on the leaf flute, and Mrs. Thiu also used the pipe organ to respond to love requests. According to custom, when a girl brought out the pipe organ to play, it meant that the young man had successfully "struck her down"; conversely, if the young man played solo for a long time without the woman appearing, it meant that he had been rejected.

Appearing from the early days, the pipe organ gradually became a typical musical instrument of the Ma Lieng people. The women of this ethnic group, besides being responsible for cooking and taking care of children, also have to know how to make a pipe organ, use it and preserve it as a precious treasure.

"V IOLON" OF THE MOUNTAINS AND FORESTS

After talking about the meaning of the instrument, Mrs. Thiu let us demonstrate that the pipe organ is about 50 cm long, the radius of each instrument will give different resonance, on the body of the instrument there are 2 strings, inside the pipe there is a thin bamboo stick, which is used to pull out the sound of the instrument similar to the way of playing the violin.

Đàn ống của phụ nữ Mã Liềng- Ảnh 2. — The pipe organ is made of bamboo.

"To produce a resonant sound, first of all, you have to choose a good bamboo tree. When playing, you have to soak the bamboo stick in water to make it smooth. Then the sound will be clearer and more resonant. We don't play the instrument according to the notes but according to... our fingers," Ms. Thiu shared.

Seeing our curiosity when hearing how to play music with fingers, Mrs. Thiu sat cross-legged and held the guitar on her knees to try playing a piece of music that she had once shared with her lucky guy. Indeed, they do not compose music with the notes Do Re Mi… instead, they remember the melody by the order and position of the fingers and from there create wild music.

Recently, the Ma Lieng people have access to modern technology, know how to listen to music through phones, televisions, etc. Gradually, the younger generation of Ma Lieng women has become less interested in the pipe organ. Most of the people who know how to make the pipe organ in the Ma Lieng community are elderly, the youngest is Mrs. Thiu, who is 50 years old.

Mr. Dinh Van Bac, Deputy Secretary of the Lam Hoa Commune Party Committee, said that recently the local government discovered that the pipe organ was gradually being forgotten in the lives of the Ma Lieng people when they learned to use the internet, telephones, etc., so they promptly promoted and created conditions to preserve the pipe organ.

"We are creating programs, festivals... as a playground for the Ma Lieng people to have the opportunity to promote their instruments to everyone, thereby continuing to encourage them to preserve and develop the unique culture of their community," Mr. Bac shared. (to be continued)