Hermit at the foot of Mount Pù Huột

(Baonghean.vn) -Not far from Pù Huột mountain in Bình Chuẩn commune, Con Cuông district, is the home of La Văn Bồ's family – a "blind artist" who can play the guitar and sing Thái ethnic songs very well.

Mr. La Van Bo is sitting and playing the guitar by his family's small hut in the middle of the forest. Photo: Ho Phuong

During a visit to Binh Chuan commune, Mr. Nguyen Van Manh, the commune chairman, boasted: "Besides the increasingly prosperous lives of the villagers, there is now a multi-talented artist living in seclusion in the mountains." His introduction led us to trek through the forest to reach the family of Mr. La Van Bo in Na Co village.

His family's home is a hut in the forest at the foot of Mount Pù Huột. The simple stilt-house-style hut has been built many years ago, its roof riddled with holes and the thatched roofs stained dark with age.

Inside the house, the wife, Luong Thi Hien (born in 1975), and their child, La Dinh Hop (born in 2013), were sitting by the fire preparing the evening meal. La Van Bo sat on the floor, repairing a dirty, frayed-rimmed basket for his wife.

By the age of 15, Anh Bồ was already playing the guitar proficiently. Photo: Hồ Phương

Seeing the arrival of strangers, Mr. Bo greeted us and without hesitation, he fumbled around to get the guitar hanging on the headboard and brought it out for us to listen to.

After accompanying us for a while, Mr. Bo, holding his guitar which was older than his son, slowly recounted the difficult times he had gone through.

Bo was born into a poor family with five children. One morning when he was 12 years old and in the 5th grade, his face suddenly swelled up, his head, forehead, and eyes became puffy, and his eyesight gradually deteriorated. Worried, his family took him to the hospital for examination and treatment.

After three treatments, the swelling on his face subsided, but his eyesight gradually deteriorated; his left eye was almost completely blind. His right eye still had some vision, but it was very poor. Due to his family's circumstances, he hasn't sought further medical attention since then. And his connection with literacy was severed from that point on.

This guitar has been with Mr. Bo for nearly 20 years. Photo: Ho Phuong

After dropping out of school, he returned home and did odd jobs around the house, such as tending chickens and buffaloes, to help his poor, hardworking parents. As time passed, he grew up familiar with the garden and the fields.

At the age of 15, while visiting a neighbor's house, he heard the sound of a carpenter from the lowlands playing a musical instrument while building a house. After hearing it, he was captivated by the music. From then on, despite his poor eyesight, he would use his cane to go to his neighbor's house to listen to the carpenter's music. Seeing the frail, visually impaired boy peeking from behind the fence at night to listen to his music, the carpenter came out, took him inside, and taught him how to play the instrument.

Every night, before the rest of the family had even finished dinner, Bo would put down his bowl and head to the carpenter's house to learn to play the guitar. Just two months later, Bo had memorized all the scales on the guitar. From then on, his guitar playing began to become smoother and smoother.

Mr. Lo Van Giap, former head of Na Co village, recounted: "Back then, Mr. Bo's guitar playing became a phenomenon in the village and the commune. From children to the elderly, everyone enjoyed listening to Bo play and sing. Every wedding in the village invited Bo to play and sing for them."

Suddenly, Mr. Bo's guitar playing resonated far and wide, reaching other villages. Many people, impressed by his talent, came to listen, recorded videos, and uploaded them to YouTube, where they garnered hundreds of thousands of views.

The small hut in the forest belonging to the family of Mr. La Van Bo. Photo: Ho Phuong

In 2001, during a religious ceremony, he met Ms. Luong Thi Hien through his music. Although he was quite frail and disabled, his melodious music, clear singing voice, and gentle, hardworking nature impressed the beautiful woman from Chau Ly, Quy Hop, and she fell in love with him.

To date, he has a happy family with his wife and healthy son. Every day, Mr. Bo herds cattle and gathers vegetables to feed the pigs. Ms. Hien goes to the forest to pick bamboo shoots, and in the mornings, she works in the fields planting and plowing. "Although life is hard, I am still happy with my current life. I hope my son will have a more comfortable life than I do now," Mr. Bo shared.

Ho Phuong