The lingering echoes of the voice are like a spring...

The news of the sudden passing of People's Artist Nguyen Hong Oanh (born in 1955, from Thach Lien commune, Thach Ha, Ha Tinh) has stirred the hearts of many people, especially artists.

Because of love for our ancestors' songs

No one wants to believe that the eldest sister Nguyen Hong Oanh (Hong Vanh) with a kind face, bright smile, friendly demeanor imbued with the hometown Nghe style, especially her beautiful folk singing voice like a morning stream that soothes many souls has gone forever.

Not long ago, she hurriedly flew back to Ha Tinh for the year-end meeting between the members of the Vietnam Kieu Studies Association in Ha Tinh and scholars and intellectuals from inside and outside the province. Still with a radiant face, a bright, sincere smile and a gifted singing voice that has not aged over the years, everyone was happy to see her. What is special about her is that when appearing before an audience, whether crowded or small, she always wears an ao dai and puts on make-up.

People's Artist Hong Oanh (6th from left) during a trip to Ha Tinh to film for the report "Searching for the folk treasure of Nghe Tinh's Vi Giam"

After the warm handshakes and the familiar “o - cu” hometown accent, everyone listened to her sing, explain, and confide. I had the opportunity to understand more about the new derivative forms of the Tale of Kieu performance besides reciting Kieu and reciting Kieu poems such as: vi Kieu, giam Kieu, Hue Kieu singing, bai choi Kieu, ca tru Kieu... While explaining, she raised her voice in different tones of the regional dialects in the whole country and distinguished between reciting Kieu, reciting Kieu and singing vi giam Kieu... Thanks to her, the office of the Ha Tinh Kieu Studies Association has many more practical and useful activities.

People's Artist Hong Oanh and the author at Vietnam Poetry Day 2023 in Ha Tinh

Having only known her for 7 years, she and I have become close. When I went to Ho Chi Minh City to write an article about her for the 2017 spring issue, I understood more about her burning desire and aspiration to preserve the Vi and Giam folk songs - the songs of our ancestors. Many times she confided her heart: "If we do not teach and let the folk songs fade away, we will be very guilty towards our ancestors!"

When she visited my mother in the summer of 2017, she sang to her, and my mother, who was old and weak, suddenly became clear-headed and talked about her all day. Every time she had a performance somewhere, she texted and sent me pictures. On the contrary, every time I watched TV and saw programs about her, I followed them and sent her messages of congratulations. Once I sent her a link to the Ha Tinh newspaper and took a photo of the spring newspaper, and she texted back: "I read the article so well, my dear. I love my homeland even more when I travel to the sacred lands of my homeland." When I finished watching the 2-episode report "In search of the folk treasures of Nghe Tinh Vi and Giam" produced by Ho Chi Minh City Television and texted her to congratulate her, she replied: "Because I love the songs of my ancestors, my idea was approved by Ho Chi Minh City Television, so my friends and I set off for Ha Tinh. There is still a lot to do for Ha Tinh, my dear. We have to go to all the districts." If we don't do it, we will be guilty of our ancestors and parents. Such heritages serve tourism, not just being left empty."

People's Artist Hong Oanh teaches various genres of Kieu Story performance at the Ha Tinh Kieu Studies Association Office.

Spreading the purse and the giặm in the Southern land

Considering Vi and Giam folk songs as a folk treasure, she and artists and intellectuals of all classes and ages join hands in many ways to preserve the heritage. It is impossible to count all the classes she has taught at local art clubs, large and small stages, especially universities, colleges and high schools in Ho Chi Minh City and Thu Duc City, where her family lives. That means wherever there are people who love Vi and Giam, she and other artists will go there to perform and teach.

People's Artist Hong Oanh and members of the Southern Vi Giam Folk Song Club in a performance program

After decades of persistent development, in 2016, with the support of the Nghe Tinh Association in Ho Chi Minh City, the Nghe Tinh Vi-Giam Folk Song Club in the South was established, chaired by her, and has been maintained regularly once a week for the past 6 years with 35 members. In addition to performing and teaching Vi-Giam folk songs, she also creates many new ways of singing folk art forms of the regions, composes poetry, researches Vi-Giam, Truyen Kieu...

People's Artist Hong Oanh and artists and intellectuals of Ha Tinh offer incense at the altar of great poet Nguyen Du during his last visit to Ha Tinh (December 2023)

Like a flame that always burns with endless passion, she has breathed into the hearts of thousands of people the love for the songs of their ancestors. Not only in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, but also in any locality that invites her to perform and teach, she is ready to go. Especially to her hometown Ha Tinh.

With her tireless efforts and endless passion, on March 4, 2022, Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Hong Oanh was awarded the title of People's Artisan by the President. Just recently, on January 23, 2024, she sent me a photo of her being honored as an exemplary citizen by Thu Duc City.

Now you have slept peacefully, with dreams of storks, folk songs, rivers... Folk songs will soothe and lull you to eternal sleep. Only those who are still alive will regret and miss your golden voice, sweet as a spring, like mother's milk. Closing this article, the echoes of your voice still echo in my ears, my mind still holds the image of your radiant and kind face. And your words still remind many people: "Don't let the folk songs of Vi and Giam fade away, that would be a sin against our ancestors". Rest in peace, my sister, the artist of the People, the beloved sister of all of us!

Bui Minh Hue

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/xa-que/nghe-nhan-nhan-dan-hong-oanh-con-mai-du-am-giong-hat-nhu-suoi-nguon/261725.htm