Searching for Then melody

According to the Tay people's concept, Then means heaven - a song passed down from the gods, often performed on important occasions such as praying for peace and good crops. An indispensable prop when singing Then is the Tinh Tau. Then singing has both spiritual elements and is a place for entertainment, expressing thoughts, praising the homeland, love and productive labor. Blending with the ups and downs of the Tinh, each Then melody weaves the rhythm of life in the four seasons: spring is bustling with festivals, summer is calm and earnestly reminds of ancestors' merits, autumn is peaceful during the new rice offering ceremony, winter is warm by the fire connecting generations.

In the early winter days, we returned to Ngon Dong village, Hung Khanh commune to meet Meritorious Artist Hoang Ke Quang - the "fire keeper" of Then in this land. This was not the first time I had visited his house, but this time the feeling was different. Age has made him thinner, his health is not as good as before, but in return, the village has changed. Many people know how to sing Then more, and the old classes of students still often come to visit him when he is sick, gathering to tell him all kinds of stories as a way to give him more energy for the old teacher who has sown the seeds of culture throughout his life.

With the same gentle smile and warm eyes of someone who has devoted his whole life to Tay culture, Mr. Quang slowly said: “Then is my lifeblood, an inseparable part of my life. Every day I don’t touch the Tinh lute, I feel a sense of loss.” In that moment, I understood that his journey of living with Then was not just art, but a deep, enduring love that had become the root of his soul for more than half a century.

Although since the end of 2022, artisan Hoang Ke Quang has had health problems and is no longer directly involved in teaching activities, the spiritual legacy he left behind still resonates in the cultural life of Hung Khanh. He is the bridge between the past and the present, between tradition and modernity, between folk art and community culture.

He said that since he was 12 years old, he followed his father - a famous Then teacher in the area - to go around the village to sing, to learn and to deeply feel the special echoes of Then. On every festival occasion of the year, Mr. Quang and the villagers immerse themselves in Then dances and Then xoe, letting the Tinh lute sound become a bridge of emotions, bringing him into the joy, nostalgia and memories of the whole community.

Remembering the first time I met Mr. Quang, hearing the melodies in the song "Remembering Uncle Ho" made me feel like I was caught up in a stream of overwhelming emotions: "The leader who saved Vietnam/Uncle loves the country and loves the Vietnamese people/All the people follow the red flag that Uncle raised/In the historic Ba Dinh in the autumn/The country is independent, the people are free, prosperous, and happy...".

Each long vibrato, each high and low lyric makes the listener realize that it is not just a song but also the Tay people's respect for their beloved leader. Not stopping there, Mr. Quang also devotes great effort to teaching.
Thanks to his perseverance, many residential areas such as Nui Vi, Khe Lech, Ngon Dong, Khe Cam, Pa Thooc... have established art troupes, built cultural residential areas, and preserved the beauty of folk culture. He traveled to all the villages and hamlets, carrying his zither to teach his children and grandchildren each beat, each song, each dance.

“I just hope that the young generation understands and loves Then like their ancestors. Preserving Then is not the business of one person, but of the whole community,” Mr. Quang added.

In 2015, Mr. Hoang Ke Quang was honored to receive the title of Meritorious Artist of Yen Bai Province's folk performing arts by the President. This is a worthy recognition for his steadfast contributions during his 50-year journey of dedicating himself to the cause of preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the Tay ethnic group.

Leaving Hung Khanh, we went to Lam Thuong commune - where many artisans are still diligently preserving the art of Then singing. Mr. Hoang Van Dai, over 60 years old, lives in Tong Ping Cai village, and is often called by locals as the keeper of the soul of the pipe. In his rustic stilt house with the lingering scent of wood, he welcomed us with a gentle smile.

“In the past, every family had someone who knew how to sing Then and how to play the Tinh. Now everything is so modern, young people don’t pay much attention. So I still try to teach them to the children, as long as there are people who want to learn, I will continue to teach,” Mr. Dai confided.

Every afternoon, Mr. Dai’s yard resounds with the sound of the Tinh zither played by children who come to learn. They are curious and eager to hear him tell stories about the origin of the zither, about ancient songs, and about religious stories associated with life.

Mr. Dai added: “The Tinh lute sounds simple, but each sound must have soul. That soul is the love for the village.”

Not only Mr. Dai, the younger generation like Ms. Hoang Thi Thuy Hang in Tong Pinh Cai village, Lam Thuong commune are also actively preserving and spreading the art of Then singing. Over the past 5 years, Ms. Hang has established a 10-member art troupe, regularly performing at festivals and events of the village, serving community tourism , contributing to keeping Then melodies alive and close to today's life.

“I just hope that the younger generation can still hear the sounds of the đàn tính like I did when I was a child. If we don’t preserve them, these melodies will gradually disappear. Who will keep them for us?” - Ms. Hang said, her eyes shining with determination and full of passion for Then.

For the Tay people in Lao Cai, Then singing is not only an art but has become a breath, closely associated with spiritual life, present in festivals, rituals to pray for peace, pray for crops, community activities or even words to express thoughts. Then is not only music , but also the soul carrying memories, emotions and sincere wishes. In each Then song, the ups and downs of the Tinh lute seem to blend into the four-season life of the Tay people in Lao Cai.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/tim-ve-dieu-then-post888057.html