Quang Ngai province has 29 ethnic groups living together, including more than 187 thousand ethnic minorities, accounting for 15.17% of the province's population. Deeply aware of traditional cultural values, in recent times, the Hre people have together preserved, promoted and spread the cultural beauty of their people.
Artist Dinh Van Don (second from left) often comes to talk with the Hre people to compose songs that are suitable for reality. Photo: Dinh Huong/VNA
Contributing to the preservation of Ta leu and Ca choi folk melodies Artist Dinh Van Don (66 years old, Bo Reo village, Son Thuong commune, Son Ha district) is a Hre ethnic group. He not only knows how to sing but also composes the Ca choi (H'choi) and Ta leu (Ta tieu) melodies typical of his people. Ta leu is a narrative song, Ca choi is a response song. When singing, the people use their mother tongue and traditional costumes, which not only creates a unique cultural feature, but also contributes to spreading the language, encouraging people to learn about the good and beauty in the spiritual and cultural life of their people.
Since childhood, artist Dinh Van Don has listened to his grandmother and mother sing the sweet melodies of Ca choi and Ta leu. Over time, the melodies gradually seeped into his memory. When he grew up, he not only sang but also composed songs according to the rhythms of his people. Up to now, the songs he composed are loved and sung by many Hre people. Mr. Don said: The songs he composed have many contents, but most of them are about the changes of his homeland, praising the Party, Uncle Ho, praising the new life, the spirit of labor and production,... To compose the songs, he went to each village to learn about the reality; read books and newspapers to learn about new policies; regularly contacted and talked with the people to have songs close to life.
People's Artist Dinh Van Don (second from left) sings folk songs at a village activity. Photo: Dinh Huong/VNA
Folk songs are a form of communal cultural activity of the Hre people. The Hre people often invite each other to sing Ca choi and Ta leu melodies to exchange, confide; share their thoughts and feelings or to demonstrate their singing ability. Mr. Dinh Van Phin, Son Thuong commune said: Singing folk songs and playing gongs are long-standing traditional beauties of the Hre people. During village activities, when someone has a happy party, or even when they are sad, people sing folk songs. Because singing not only expresses joy but also shows nostalgia and loss. Especially the songs composed by Mr. Dinh Van Don are very close to the real life of the people here. Not only knowing how to sing and compose traditional folk songs, Mr. Dinh Van Don also actively propagates and mobilizes people to participate in preserving and promoting traditional cultural values by regularly singing songs in the mother tongue of the people; regularly participating in performances at festivals and celebrations. According to Mr. Don, after many ups and downs, the folk songs of the Hre people have become strange to the young generation. Some people who still preserve the precious heritage of their people are old and weak. Therefore, what he worries about and desires most now is to coordinate with the local government to teach the folk songs of Ta leu and Ca choi to Hre students in order to preserve the cultural identity of the people. Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Thuong Commune, Dinh Van Vien, said: Mr. Dinh Van Don has been recognized by the State as a People's Artist. He is not only the one who preserves and composes traditional songs of the Hre people, but he is also the one who "passes on the fire" to the people to work and produce, and to practice a civilized lifestyle through singing. He is also a prestigious person in the locality, so whenever there are new policies and guidelines, the local government asks him to communicate and mobilize people to implement them unanimously.
Meritorious Artisan Pham Van Rom plays the gong. Photo: VNA
With a heavy heart for the gong With the wish not to let the traditional culture of the Hre people be lost, Meritorious Artisan Pham Van Rom (53 years old, in Phan Vinh village, Ba Vinh commune, Ba To district) always strives to practice his gong playing skills. His passion for gongs has grown over time and now he has become a talented gong playing artisan in the locality. Since childhood, he often followed his parents to participate in village festivals, watching the artisans play the gong, Mr. Rom felt extremely excited. Also through those festivals, his love for gongs began to grow. From his passion, self-study, combined with his father's teachings, at the age of 15 he soon understood and mastered the use of the gong. When he grew up, he often participated in gong performances in local events and festivals. To date, Mr. Rom is one of the artisans awarded the title of Meritorious Artisan by the State. “In the past, my father and the elders taught gong playing to the young generation, including me. Now I am also trying to teach the young generation how to play gongs so that future generations will know the value of what their ancestors left behind,” said Mr. Rom.
With responsibility and passion, Meritorious Artisan Pham Van Rom always strives to preserve, promote and teach the cultural values of his people. He not only participates in gong playing skills training classes held by the People's Committee of Ba To district, but he also opens free gong playing classes for children at the village cultural house.
Meritorious artist Pham Van Rom (right) plays gongs with Hre people. Photo: VNA
Pham Van Tien (Ba Vinh commune, one of the children participating in his class) said: I am very happy to be taught by Mr. Rom to play the gong. At first, I found it very difficult, but the more I learned, the more I loved it because when playing the gong, I felt happy, forgetting all my tiredness and worries. Talking about artisan Pham Van Rom, Deputy Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Ba To district, Le Cao Dinh, excitedly said: Artisan Dinh Van Rom is an active person in the work of preserving and promoting the cultural identity of the Hre ethnic group in the district. In the coming time, the Department will advise the District People's Committee to continue to open more training classes on gong playing skills and invite Mr. Rom to teach to contribute to preserving and promoting the value of this national intangible cultural heritage. It can be seen that, with their passion for traditional culture , people like Mr. Dinh Van Don and Pham Van Rom have been contributing to spreading the love of folk songs and traditional musical instruments to serve the spiritual and cultural life of the Hre people.
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