"Popular artist" A Pao
Many tourists who have stopped at the top of the majestic Ma Pi Leng mountain in the Ha Giang rocky plateau have been impressed by a young man in the local Mong ethnic costume with the stage name A Pao, who is the owner of a coffee shop here. A Pao is friendly, hospitable, witty and has a talent for singing and playing many musical instruments, including the Mong flute.
A Pao's real name is Ngo Sy Ngoc (born in 1988), from Nghia Dong commune, Tan Ky district (Nghe An). After graduating from Viet Bac College of Culture and Arts, this young man chose Ha Giang to start a career, making it his second hometown... With a special love for Ha Giang, A Pao has been tirelessly promoting and spreading the image of the rocky plateau to tourists through songs, music works and short video clips posted on social networking platforms.
As a citizen of the digital age, A Pao has used Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube to promote Ha Giang tourism very effectively. He updates daily photos and video clips about the landscape, people, and culture of Ha Giang and songs he composed and performed on these platforms.
The simplicity, cuteness, and breath of the mountains and forests in each photo and video clip have made A Pao's Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube receive over 1 million subscribers and followers. From those photos and video clips, many tourists have come to Ha Giang and met this interesting young man.
A Pao not only sings well and plays musical instruments well, but he also has many "lifetime" compositions. Up to now, he has introduced to the public over 50 songs that he wrote and composed himself about the rocky plateau of Ha Giang, especially about his hometown of Nghe An, the land of Vi and Giam. Among them, 4 songs "Xu Nghe Minh Oi", "Tim Em Cau Vi Song Lam", "Em La Co Gai Song La" and "Ha Tinh Que Oi" have become hot songs in the online community, performed by many singers, with hundreds of millions of listens...
Recently, the video of A Pao performing the song “Finding you, fishing for the Lam river” when participating in the Gameshow “Voice Battle” season 5 (broadcast on VTV3) received over 10 million views.
Meeting A Pao when he returned to his hometown Tan Ky to attend his close friend's wedding, he shared: "I am just a popular artist. I sing, compose, and make video clips first and foremost out of passion, to express my love for my homeland, and at the same time, to introduce and promote the image of the land and people where I live."
Now, I have settled in Ha Giang but whenever I have a chance, I come back to my hometown. When tourists come to Ha Giang, I not only introduce the rocky plateau but also introduce the beloved Nghe An. I long to continue writing good songs and beautiful lyrics about these two hometowns.
A Pao (Ngo Sy Ngoc)
"Record holder" Mao Meo
The friend who organized the wedding of A Pao, who was from the same hometown as Tan Ky, was “Mao Meo” – a character who has inspired young people to start a business and devote themselves to their passion for many years. “Mao Meo” is the nickname of Nguyen Van Mao (born in 1988).
Mao is currently a National Artisan, Golden Hand Artisan in making traditional musical instruments; President of the Vietnam Bamboo Flute Club; holds two Vietnamese Guinness records as "The person who makes the largest bamboo flute in Vietnam" and "The person who performs musical instruments made from the most vegetables, tubers, and fruits in Vietnam"...; Mao's Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube also have over 1 million subscribers and followers.
Since childhood, I have been passionate about the sound of the bamboo flute. Under my father's guidance, my flute playing technique has improved and my love for this traditional musical instrument has grown. The flute has followed me to school, to festivals and on stage..."
Bamboo flute artist Nguyen Van Mao
Mao's career started with the flute. During his student years in Hanoi, Mao actively participated in the flute playing movement of university students. He realized that there were quite a few bamboo flute clubs operating but lacking cohesion, so he created a website, fanpage, and YouTube to attract and connect clubs to build a community of common interests.
Along with that, he actively teaches flute playing for free, performs in many places and builds more than 200 bamboo flute clubs in all provinces and cities. After 10 years of establishment, up to now, the Vietnam Bamboo Flute Club Fanpage has up to 113,200 participants.
During the process of building the movement, Mao made bamboo flutes to give to friends. The bamboo flutes he made were highly appreciated by friends and flute players. From there, he came up with the idea of making bamboo flute musical instruments to sell. From selling bamboo flutes online, by the end of 2013, Mao opened the first bamboo flute shop in Hanoi.
By 2017, he opened a company with a bamboo flute factory in Tan Ky district, along with a chain of 25 stores nationwide, creating jobs for many people. The bamboo flutes made by his workshop are completely handmade, carefully and meticulously in every step, so they are very popular and have been exported to 20 countries around the world.
Also in 2017, from the suggestion of a friend, Mao Meo started producing environmentally friendly bamboo straws to replace plastic straws. From the first order of 5,000 bamboo straws, after 2 years, bamboo straw orders were exported to more than 30 countries, bringing Mao tens of billions of VND in revenue.
Nguyen Van Mao shared: “When it was time to get into the swing of things, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. After the pandemic ended, the world economy was affected by the war. There were fewer orders, the scale of production and business was somewhat reduced to 15 stores... It was difficult, but I was still confident and tried to do my best at my job. In the future, I will continue to research and produce other products made from bamboo such as knives, spoons, forks, tea trays, cups, chopsticks, and containers for export.”
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