Khen dance performance of the Mong people in Ban Tat village, Na Hau commune, Van Yen district, Yen Bai province. (Photo: Viet Dung/VNA)
Recently, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung signed Decision No. 1401/QD-BVHTTDL on the publication of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
Accordingly, the Khen art of the Mong people in Mu Cang Chai, Tram Tau and Van Chan districts, Yen Bai province, is included in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage in the form of folk performing arts.
The Mong ethnic group in Yen Bai accounts for 8,1% of the population of Yen Bai province, residing in 40 communes in 5 districts: Mu Cang Chai, Tram Tau, Van Chan, Van Yen, Tran Yen and Luc Yen.
The story goes: “Once upon a time, there was a family whose parents died early, leaving 6 brothers to live together. They made a trumpet with 6 holes and six parts so that 6 brothers could play together. Day and day they go to work in the fields, in the evening the brothers gather together and bring out the trumpet to blow.
The sound of the trumpet is deep and passionate, the people in the village come to play every evening to listen to the sound of the flute, which is very crowded. Six brothers, one was killed by the enemy, one was in the army fighting the enemy, the other was adrift. The youngest brother is homeless and lives with his uncle. Lack of sound, in a quiet, lonely area. Without the brothers, the maknae couldn't play the trumpet. The youngest boy immediately came up with an idea to synthesize all five details into a trumpet, and that trumpet has been handed down to this day.”
At the market, Mong boys and girls fell from the high mountains to help them. Pedestrians, horsemen, no one told anyone, but everyone had a trumpet on their shoulders. They go to the market to remember, to love, to confess their love, to transmit the call and at the pot of Thang Co with the passionate aroma of corn wine of yeast leaves, the boys hold the trumpets, stoop around the girls….
If a couple is satisfied with each other, hand in hand, they disappear into the mountains. The Hmong trumpet tree can be likened to a treasure passed on to the next generations, becoming an indispensable part of the Hmong culture. The sound of the trumpet penetrates deeply into every fiber of the Mong people's flesh, as familiar as men men and corn wine.
Mong's son, everyone has a trumpet on their shoulders whenever they go to the fields or go to the market. The sound of the Khen soars as both reproach, anger, and invitation... and as strong as the breath of the Mong people's life. Because, if not strong, the Mong people would hardly be able to live with the harshness of high mountains full of rocks, sunshine and cold winds. The sound of the trumpet also carries in itself a seductive, resonant and passionate magic power amidst the mysterious mountains and forests, but very close to humans.
To make a satisfactory trumpet takes a lot of steps. The trumpet is made of wood with 6 different large, small, long and short bamboo tubes. The six bamboo tubes represent the six brothers gathered on the same trumpet, cleverly arranged in parallel on the body of the trumpet.
The flute has a reed made of metal. The blade is made of inlaid copper. The resounding reed is called “joint resonance.” The first reed with large wax beads is bass, with small wax beads, the treble is high. Making a satisfactory reed must go through many stages and feats in manufacturing.
The flute-making artist Mong Thao Cang Sua is in Sang Nhu village, Mo De commune, Mu Cang Chai district, Yen Bai province. (Photo: Tuan Anh/VNA)
Usually, Hmong people often choose coins, or bullet casings (bronze) to make reeds. They sit by the stream, selecting smooth, rough stones, grinding them by hand under the water until they sound just right. The standard reed depends on the length and thickness of the bamboo tube. The body of the trumpet is selected from stone pine that grows on high mountains.
The wooden stick is dried to remove the essential oil and resin, then it is reheated over the fire, then dried for at least 2-3 months on the stoves to eat the smoke. Khen Mong has 6 tubes: the longest is 100cm, the second is 93cm, the third is 83cm, the fourth is 77cm, the fifth is 72cm and the sixth is 54cm.
In order to find and make a pipe that is round, thick, flexible, hard to break and hard to crush, the boys have to go into the deep forest with rocky mountains, usually they go 3-5 days, sometimes months Just found a suitable bamboo tube. The bamboo tube is neither too old nor too young.
Bamboo is dried with dew and dried in the sun, in the shade, for at least 2-3 months. When taking out to make, they have to wipe it with lemon juice or rice chips to return the natural golden color of the bamboo stem. The part of the belt wrapped around the tube is made of hemp rope. Hemp rope is dried on the kitchen floor, soaked in water to make it soft and tough like leather, but has the advantage of being soft and easy to knot. The color of the black-brown hemp rope stands out on the golden bamboo background, the wood color is ivory-yellow.
Currently, with the development and integration between cultures, the ethnic musical instruments of the people not only play the role of a separate item in the family but also become a tourist product. Very popular calendar.
Khen Mong is sold in highland markets, booths to introduce and display products. Some families of the Mong people in Tram Tau, Mu Cang Chai make ken to sell to increase their income. These factors are also the basis for many unique musical instruments of the nation to become a means of cultural exchange such as nasal flute of Xa Pho ethnic group, Khen Mong, Khen Be, pi pap, pí lo, pí. thiu (Thai ethnic group), has acted as a bridge between ethnic groups in mass art competitions and festivals at all levels, and at the same time beautified a community culture imbued with Vietnamese national identity.
The art of flute of the Mong people. (Photo: Duc Tuong/VNA)
Today, the districts of Mu Cang Chai, Tram Tau, Van Chan not only conquer visitors by the beauty of the natural scenery, but also attracted by the cultural colors of the Mong, Dao, Tay, Thai... . In particular, the unique melodies of the Hmong Khen language are typical traditional culture and an indispensable instrument in the life of the Mong people here.
The H'mong people call the Khen language Khen. Khen Mong is a multi-vocal musical instrument, the sound of the mountains and forests. Khèn Mong is used in a variety of different situations, such as during holidays, New Year's, greetings, welcoming guests, etc. The sound of the trumpet echoes, sometimes generous, sometimes soft, gentle. The Hmong use the horn in traditional holidays, to accompany people singing folk songs, sometimes to catch up with powerful dances, used in happy days.
In particular, the trumpet has become a dating melody, a means of sending love words of many boys and girls. Any Hmong boy when he knows how to hold a knife and a hoe to work in the fields, in the fields, is the time when they know how to hold a trumpet. For them, learning to play the flute is not only a way to entertain, but also a means to show their talents, a bridge for them to find a suitable life partner.
The sound of the Khen is the soul of the Mong people, keeping the Khen voice is keeping the identity of the nation. In recent years, the art of Khen of the Mong people has always been concerned by Yen Bai province to preserve and restore in order to promote the cultural identity of the Mong people.
In order to preserve and promote the traditional values of the Hmong Khen, the districts of Mu Cang Chai, Tram Tau and Van Chan have restored many festivals with the presence of the Khen sound, introduced the Khen dance, and blew the national leaves into the festivals. extracurricular hours for students to learn and be interested in ethnic musical instruments.
The Khen art of the Mong people in Yen Bai has become a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, further affirming the traditional cultural value of the Khen tree in the daily life of the Mong ethnic community, contributing to honoring the heritage. and become a unique tourism product in the western districts of the province.
