More than half a century of "passing on the torch" of Quan Ho heritage

Remembering the time when "Singing drowned out the sound of bombs"

Meritorious Artist Le Ngai (real name Nguyen Thi Ngai) has been a prestigious and familiar judge of Quan Ho singing competitions for many years. Letting her soul into the soulful melodies resounding from the young voices in the heart of Kinh Bac, the song "Nguoi oi, nguoi o dung ve" resounded with emotion, taking her back to a special afternoon on the Truong Son front.

“I was honored to be chosen as one of the five girls of the Ha Bac Shock Art Troupe to serve in the Southern battlefield. We performed along the Truong Son route, through fierce battle lines such as North Quang Tri , Monkey Pass, Savannakhet (Laos), Road 9-Southern Laos Front... That afternoon, Mr. Pham Tien Duat invited me to sing at the Propaganda Department of the Command. I sang several songs in a row: “Sitting against the boat’s side”, “Xe chi thong kim”, “Nguoi oi, nguoi o dung ve”... The whole hut was bustling with laughter and applause. After singing, the soldiers joked: “We are not going home, we will only return when quan ho comes back”. When we met someone, we also served, sometimes through the information machine, performing 5 to 7 shows a day, whenever we saw soldiers, we served them tirelessly”, Mrs. Ngai slowly recalled.

More than half a century of

Meritorious Artist Le Ngai (sitting in the back row, right) plays the core role of leading the traditional Quan Ho singing with the brothers and sisters of her hometown.

Half a century after the country's reunification, the second sister Le Ngai, who was deeply immersed in Quan Ho folk songs in the Truong Son forest years ago, is now 74 years old. Although she is in her twilight years, her hair is streaked with silver, her smile is still bright, her eyes are optimistic and her voice is still as resonant, deep, and smooth as ever. For her, Quan Ho is not only a passion but has become an inseparable part of her blood and a mission to continue the precious heritage left by her ancestors.

Born into a family with a rich cultural tradition in Ngang Noi village (now Hien Van commune, Tien Du district, Bac Ninh province), a rural area with one of the oldest quan ho traditions in Kinh Bac, the girl Le Ngai grew up surrounded by sweet quan ho melodies. In 1969, instead of taking the pedagogical exam as planned, Le Ngai was unexpectedly submitted by her father, artist Nguyen Duc Soi, to the Ha Bac Quan Ho Folk Song Troupe (artist Nguyen Duc Soi is one of the founders of the Ha Bac Quan Ho Folk Song Troupe, now the Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theatre). At the end of 1970, Le Ngai joined the Ha Bac Assault Art Troupe, bringing her singing to the battlefields of the South.

“At that time, I was young and full of enthusiasm. Even if I had to sacrifice, I was determined to volunteer,” Ms. Ngai confided.

The performance that left the deepest impression on Le Ngai was the performance for Battalion 59, when Le Ngai played the role of a 70-year-old mother. The play had just ended when a soldier driving a car ran up to hug Le Ngai, tears welling up in his eyes: "Mom, how old are you this year?". Le Ngai innocently replied: "Sir, I'm 18 years old". He burst into tears: "Oh mom, you're 18 but you look so much like my 70-year-old mother... I thought I was going to meet you". Before saying goodbye, he told her: "If you go to the North first, visit my mother and tell her you met me on the battlefield...".

Near-death experiences

The day she entered the front line, Le Ngai was only 18 years old, witnessing with her own eyes the scene of destruction by bombs and bullets, jagged rocks and soil, burnt trees... the Quan Ho girl truly felt the fierceness of war. From the end of 1970 to the end of 1971, Le Ngai's art troupe performed along the Truong Son road on all fronts, contributing to the "fire" of cheering and encouraging the soldiers and people. One of the most touching memories for Le Ngai was the performance to serve the wounded soldiers at the treatment hill of the Route 9-Southern Laos Front. Witnessing hundreds of wounded soldiers, some with missing arms and legs, some with bandages covering their heads, and many wounds, the whole troupe was stunned and heartbroken. When they saw the art troupe arrive, they tried to get up to listen to the singing. “We sang cheo, quan ho, acted plays and recited poems. Listening to the songs and poems about our homeland, everyone was moved because they missed home and the countryside. After singing, seeing that the soldiers’ clothes were all torn, not a single set was left intact, the women in the troupe immediately sat down and patched up each shirt and pair of pants for the soldiers. When I performed for them, I couldn’t hold back my tears, many soldiers cried too. They cried because they loved each other and cried because they shared a deep homesickness,” she recounted, wiping away her tears.

On the battlefield, the line between life and death is suffocatingly thin, and the female artist is no exception: “Once, I and a woman in the troupe fell into a bomb crater. We tried to climb up but couldn’t, and just as we touched the edge of the crater, we slid down again. At that moment, there was an alarm about American reconnaissance planes. We panicked, our faces pale. Luckily, one of the men in the troupe tried to pull us up one by one so we could run to the shelter in time.”

Full of love for Quan Ho

Writer Do Chu in his essay “Thâm Thâm Bóng Người” told about the time he listened to quan họ singing with friends at a house with a flower trellis in Bac Ninh city, where the singers were the couple Le Ngai-Minh Phuc (Meritorious Artist Minh Phuc, mother of People's Artist Tu Long), two famous artists in the land of quan họ, belonging to the "pioneering generation" who went "three together" to the houses of artisans in all the ancient quan họ villages, and for many years, they both preserved that pure gold capital and performed on the professional stage - Bac Ninh Quan họ Folk Song Theater. Until they left the theater, they returned to the space from which they had left before, and in fact, even though they spent their youth following the troupe, they could never escape the soul and taste of their homeland.

For many years, in that small house, the singing still resounds every day, where Mrs. Ngai carefully adjusts each word, adjusts each melody, occasionally nodding and smiling when hearing a round, resounding "nây" of the young people. She also regularly takes the bus to teach singing at the Bac Giang College of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Bac Ninh College of Culture and Arts. Meritorious Artist Le Ngai said, she only hopes to have good health so that she can "share her capital" with middle-aged and young students; share the "sparks" of Quan Ho with the next generation of preservers, notably the famous student - People's Artist Thuy Huong...

Sitting for hours next to the ancient quan ho in Ngang Noi village, the hometown of Lien Chi Le Ngai, to listen to her sing, to feel my heart flutter again. Quan ho has songs that are both rare, strange, and difficult. Rare and strange because although they have existed for a long time, they are rarely performed, partly because they are difficult when the melodies are "circular", "complicated", long in duration, requiring high vocal quality, health and memory. Le Ngai has memorized such songs since her youth when she went to school with her elders, wandering around the villages to collect ancient quan ho songs. The result is more than 200 melodies with nearly 600 ancient lyrics restored - a valuable treasure that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism respectfully awarded a certificate of merit to Meritorious Artist Le Ngai, along with her collections and performances contributing to the quan ho heritage dossier recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity 16 years ago. Those long, breathless lyrics are often sung by her to herself and occasionally for some international researchers on Quan Ho culture and heritage to record. According to Meritorious Artist Le Ngai, Quan Ho is not only about singing, but the root lies in etiquette, in the way of life, in the way of behaving in “Quan Ho culture”, which she always emphasizes to her students.

Recalling the quintessence of her homeland's heritage recognized by the world, Meritorious Artist Le Ngai could not help but be moved when thinking about her father, artist Nguyen Duc Soi: “When my father was alive, he often said: “Quan Ho is very precious, my children, and the whole world will know about it because it is so good and unique”. Quan Ho has brought me many things, but the greatest thing is love. I love Quan Ho, I also love the national singing, I love my homeland, I love the place where I was born and raised. Many times I think to myself, if it were not for Quan Ho, I do not know what I would do. Art has been ingrained in my blood and flesh, so even though there are many difficulties, I am determined to overcome them to keep that love forever”.

Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/phong-su-dieu-tra/cuoc-thi-nhung-tam-guong-binh-di-ma-cao-quy-lan-thu-16/hon-nua-the-ky-truyen-lua-di-san-quan-ho-831196