Preserving the art of making Tinh lutes

(Fatherland) - The Tinh (also known as Tinh Tau) is a typical musical instrument of the Tay, Nung, and Thai ethnic groups in general. The instrument is used in spiritual life, in festivals, singing, love affairs, and making friends. The Tinh in the music of the Tay people holds an important position and role. Along with Then singing, the Tinh has been recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity, and is the pride of the Tay, Nung, and Thai communities.

The faithful guitar

The Tay, Nung, and Thai people pass down the legend of their Tinh instrument as follows: Once upon a time, there was an orphaned young man, so poor that he did not have even an inch of land to plant a stick on. One day, on his way to beg, he met an old man with white hair and healthy, rosy skin like a fairy descended to earth. The old man invited him into his house, invited him to stay for dinner, and then intimately asked about his personal circumstances. He said: his parents died early, he had no fields, house, or relatives, and every day he had to go into the forest to dig cassava and betel nut to make a living. With a kind heart, the old man gave him a tube of rice, a branch of mulberry leaves, five gourd seeds and told him: "Later you will have food and property, but you must follow these rules: When you go home, take these five gourd seeds and plant them. When they bear fruit, you must not eat them unripe. When you plant the mulberry branches, let them grow, and the leaves spread out in all directions, you must not cut them. When the gourd is old, you will use it to make a gourd for the lute, and the mulberry root will be carved into a handle. The leaves will be used to feed silkworms, and the silk will be used as seeds to create a lute that will make a melodious sound.

The Tinh lute is inseparably attached to Then singing.

When the young man finished making the instrument, the whole village came to listen to him practice singing and playing. A girl who lived a hard life fell in love with him, and the village nurtured their love. The Tinh instrument had five strings that created many high and low tones, so melodious and melodious that many people were so fascinated that they were not interested in working. The young man went to the old man to ask him to remove two strings, keeping three until today. Those three strings include: the front string, the back string and the middle string. The front, back, and middle strings mean having a beginning, having an end, and being faithful, loyal, and not being ungrateful.

According to history, around the 15th - 16th century when the Le and Mac dynasties were in conflict, the defeated Mac king occupied Cao Bang , establishing the Mac feudal dynasty. Because this land was too far from the bustling capital Thang Long, combined with the defeatist ideology, the Mac king and mandarins were sad, the soldiers were tired and homesick, so they also saw the need for cultural activities. They discovered that the Cao Bang region had long ago had the Tinh lute, which was being used by the people to enrich cultural life, making the people more optimistic... The king selected instruments with young men and women to serve the royal court. The king appointed the first-ranking scholar Be Van Phung as the music manager to take care of the musicians, singers, and courtesans; and appointed a famous scholar named Dat, surnamed Ma, to specialize in writing lyrics for the Tinh lute, called Then singing. From then on, the Tinh lute and Then singing were like a type of royal court music of the Mac dynasty.

Through the ups and downs of history, the art of Then singing and Tinh lute was recognized by the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on December 12, 2019.

When talking about Then singing, the Tinh instrument is indispensable. The instrument plays both a leading and an accompaniment role, but at the same time it is also a second voice, complementing the singer's voice.

Artisan Ma Doan Khanh practices making Tinh lute

Preserving the art of making Tinh lutes

However, each ethnic group (Tay, Nung, Thai) in each locality has passed down different techniques for making the Tinh instrument. Making the Tinh instrument requires going through many complicated stages.

Tinh lute maker Ma Doan Khanh (Tay ethnic group) in Na Chen village, Thanh Dinh commune, Dinh Hoa district, Thai Nguyen province is the 7th generation to make Tinh lute. The artist shared that Tinh lute consists of main parts: the body made from half a dried gourd, the neck is usually made from ink rope wood, and the strings are made from spun silk. The most difficult part of making Tinh lute is finding the gourd. You have to choose a gourd that is not too big, not too small, the mouth must be round, with a circumference of 60 - 70 cm, it must be old, the outer shape is round and beautiful, the skin is thick, when tapped it must make a clear sound, only then will the lute have the right tone.

"In the past, people drilled holes at the bottom of the instrument so that when they played it and held it close to their body, the sound could not escape. There were 6 holes, each with 9 holes, and 54 holes in total. Smaller instruments had small holes drilled, larger instruments had large holes drilled so that the sound could escape. When playing the instrument, if the sound was good, it was good. If it was not good, we had to drill more holes" - artisan Ma Doan Khanh said.

Artisan Ma Doan Khanh practices making Tinh lute

The next step is to make the lid. The lid is a light piece of wood, usually made from the milk flower tree (the body), some places use the vông tree, because the wood is soft enough to create resonance, about 3 mm thick. In the past, there was no glue, the Tay people had to go into the forest to find rosewood. The resin collection was not available all year round because there was only one season a year.

According to artisan Ma Doan Khanh, for the Tinh lute, the standard sound or not depends on the experience and the perceptive ear of the craftsman. Therefore, to have a good instrument with standard sound, the craftsman must also be someone who knows how to sing Then melodies, basic musical intervals, and music theory. For artisan Ma Doan Khanh, he knows how to sing Then melodies and play the Tinh lute, so tuning the strings usually does not take much time. After completing the Tinh lute, he plays a Then melody to check the sound quality of the instrument.

Tourists enjoy the Tinh lute.

Compared to before, artisan Ma Doan Khanh only regrets that the strings are no longer made of silk so he has to use fishing line. "Silk strings have a clear, ancient sound. But now silk strings are hard to find anymore" - artisan Ma Doan Khanh regrets.

According to artisan Ma Doan Khanh, another thing to think about is passing on the profession to the 8th generation of the Tinh lute-making family. Currently, artisan Khanh has 4 children but has not passed on the profession to anyone because all of them work in industrial zones. How to pass on the ancestors' profession to descendants, to preserve the Tinh lute sound is a thought of artisan Ma Doan Khanh. However, artisan Ma Doan Khanh believes that with the attention of central and local levels, Then singing and Tinh lute will be increasingly developed and spread widely, along with his own passion, he will be able to pass on the ancestors' profession to his children and grandchildren, contributing to preserving and spreading the art of Then singing and Tinh lute./.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/gin-giu-nghe-thuat-lam-dan-tinh-20241202215040374.htm