Artist Lieng Hot Ha Chong preserves the nation's precious assets

This spring, artist Lieng Hot Ha Chong has been working for 94 seasons, but he still stands out in the traditional musical ensemble with the melodious sound of the flute in harmony with the solemn sound of gongs at village festivals.

Artist Lieng Hot Ha Chong performs the gourd flute

Mr. Lieng Hot Ha Chong was born in 1930 in Da Cao village, Da Tong commune, Dam Rong - at that time the Dam Ron forest was still dense and dark, isolated from the outside world , surrounded by malaria, leeches and fruit flies. At the age of 12, he lost his mother; his 8 siblings had not yet grown up and only had their father to rely on. The sound of his father's flute when the wild birds returned to their nests was the sound he looked forward to every evening, encouraging him to overcome his difficult and arduous childhood.

Growing up a little, the boy Ha Chong was taught by his father to play gongs, blow gourd pipes and how to make gourd pipes. The gourd must be selected with a beautiful shape, the stem end is long and slender, the bulb is round and bulging. 6 bamboo tubes of different lengths, with holes punched on the body, are attached to the dry gourd that has been drilled and sealed with beeswax. When blowing, long and short breaths are blown through the gourd, the hands adjust the scales by continuously using fingers to cover the holes of the bamboo tubes, creating high and low tones. The body of the gourd is like a musical instrument that amplifies the sound, bringing the sound to echo throughout the villages near and far. Sometimes it is solemn, sometimes it is gentle and soulful.

He mastered all 6 traditional gong melodies along with all 6 flute melodies taught by his father that few people could learn. Ha Chong's flute became familiar; every evening, when the villagers heard the sound of his flute, everyone stopped working, returned from the forest and fields to cook rice for dinner.

It was not until he was 20 that Ha Chong was able to learn to read and write, thanks to a revolutionary cadre who came to the village and taught him at home, and the vast world outside seemed to open up before his eyes. Not only did he know how to read and write, but he also knew how to play gongs, and his melodious flute made many village girls want to "catch" him as their husband. He got married early and had 8 children (6 boys, 2 girls). With a large family and a very difficult life, the flute he played during his breaks, after hours of hard work, encouraged him to overcome difficulties, raise his children to study and become good people.

If gongs are spiritual voices connecting people's hearts with supernatural beings, only played in prayer and sacrificial ceremonies, before playing the gongs, one must ask the gods; then the Khen Bau is a musical instrument that can be played in any space and time. The 6 Khen Bau tunes that he knows by heart are played in many situations and moods. Sometimes it is a joyful, bustling greeting in festivals and community activities; sometimes when resting in the fields, by the stream; sometimes sitting and playing on the porch steps when birds return to their nests; sometimes it is the accompaniment to storytelling, lullabies, folk songs whispering about old stories by the fire of the stilt house.

Depending on the situation, Ha Chong's flute sometimes encourages people, sometimes helps people relax after a hard day's work, sometimes urges people to move forward in the arduous journey through the forest. When he blows, the short and long breaths with 6 basic songs all convey the musical meaning with a message such as urging, encouraging, motivating everyone in the village to try to overcome difficulties, overcome hardships, challenges, overcome poverty to rise up, reach the destination, have a prosperous life.

Respected by the villagers, for nearly 40 years, he has become the village elder of Da Cao village. Witnessing many changes in his homeland, asphalt roads have been expanded and stretched out, backward customs and practices have been pushed back, reservoirs and canals have been built to bring water to all the fields and hills, electricity has been provided to the entire village; the traditional cultural identity of the K'Ho ethnic group has been preserved and conserved... life has turned a new page.

For more than 10 years, village elder Ha Chong has taught 6 gong classes to nearly 200 young people in villages in 3 communes, but there is no one to teach the khen bau. Now his ears are no longer sharp, his eyesight is not sharp, but in community festivals, artisan Lieng Hot Ha Chong is a rare person who knows how to play the khen bau. His khen sounds in harmony with the gongs make the music of the mountains and forests more unique and mysterious.

With a sad voice, old Ha Chong expressed that he really wanted to teach many people to learn and use the gourd flute, but the gourd flute is more difficult to learn and teach than the gong, so few people want to learn. Because it is blown with air, it requires the technique of inhaling and exhaling air, combined with the hands controlling the air when covering the different holes on the 6 bamboo tubes in a smooth and skillful manner. As he gets older, he hopes that the sound of the gourd flute and the unique gourd flute musical instrument of his people will not be lost or forgotten.

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