The Mong flute

(Baonghean) -In the Mong cultural tradition, the Khen is a sacred object, connecting the souls of young men and women in love and connecting the human world with the spiritual world. The Khen sound always accompanies people during festivals as well as when sending the dead to heaven...

Mr. and Cho Thai play Mong flute.

The vast majority of Mong people in Western Nghe An live in the high mountains of Tuong Duong and Que Phong districts, with the largest population still in Ky Son. Mong people in this highland district mainly reside in the communes of Muong Long, Dooc May, Na Loi, Muong Ai, Muong Tip, Na Ngoi and Nam Can. These are communes with almost pure Mong people, living in clan communities. Each village has only one or a few clans. Most Mong clans still retain their unique customs. The sound of the Khen is still a familiar sound when visiting Mong villages in Nghe An.

We had to wait until dark to meet the best panpipe player in Nam Can village (Nam Can commune - Ky Son). Like other Mong people who are very hard-working, Mr. Va Cho Thai spends all day in the fields and in the forest. This afternoon, he herded his buffalo and cows out to the forest to graze, and also brought back a basket of grass for the animals to eat at night. When asked: "Why do you come home so late?" He immediately replied: "Only by working can we eat. We only have one buffalo, but it still has to eat, so we carry a basket of grass back..." Knowing that we were asking about the panpipe, he put down the basket and said right away: "I have three panpipes. I play them at night, and when I wake up in the morning, I play them to wake up the villagers to go to work." He is a retired communal cadre, so his lifestyle is also very exemplary. He was busy lighting the stove. Just a moment later, the house was lit up. His wife had also gone into the forest and stayed overnight to find medicinal plants to sell to traders. He had to take care of everything at home. This was normal for Mong men. They were always hard-working people in any job and situation.

Thanks to the fire, the house became warmer. While waiting for the rice to boil, Mr. Va Cho Thai told the story of the panpipe: Once upon a time, there were 6 orphaned brothers. No one raised them so they had to leave their village. Later, when they met again, no one could understand each other's language. Together, they made a panpipe with 6 bamboo tubes. The largest and shortest tube symbolized the eldest brother. The smallest and longest tube symbolized the youngest brother. The sounds of the panpipe helped them remember their childhood memories and talk to each other...

The above story is somewhat different from the legend of the Hmong flute of the Hmong people in Yen Bai. Mr. Thai said that in the village, when a boy grows up, he must know how to play the flute. A person who knows how to play and dance the flute is respected by the elderly and loved by the girls in the village. Those who do not know how to play the flute, even though they are grown up, are still considered immature. In each clan, there are a few people who are good at playing the flute. When they are old, they have the duty to teach the next generation so that the sound of the flute will never be forgotten. Some small clans, with fewer people than others, if they do not have someone who knows how to play the flute, must go to another clan to learn from another clan. They often have to pay the teacher "tuition" in silver, later in cash. The Hmong believe that having to go to another clan to learn from another clan is a shame, so every clan has someone who knows how to play the flute well. In Nam Can village, there are only a few households of Lau family, but there is still a man named Lau No Xu who is over 40 years old this year, and plays the flute well, one of the best in the village.

The Mong boys at the age of 15 or 16 followed their teacher to learn how to play the flute. The Mong flute seems simple, with only 6 bamboo tubes sandwiched between a wooden mold. Anyone can hold and blow it, but to blow it into a proper melody, one must learn. The brightest people learn for a few months. Those who learn slowly learn for half a year, or even a whole year. Then everyone knows how to play because they want to hold the flute and play it near the house of the girl they love. Mr. No Xu continued: "When I first learned how to play the flute, I was very excited. I always wanted to bring it with me, even when I was in the mountains. But the best thing was still going to the house of the girl I loved, playing until midnight before going home to sleep!" Mr. Thai talked about his youth: "Before, my father was busy fighting the enemy. When he was 22 years old, the American invaders were over and he was discharged from the army, so he learned how to play the flute to find a wife." Back then, he only learned to play a few flute songs after a few moon seasons. At the end of the year, he returned from the army. By the Mong New Year, in the 11th lunar month, he had married the girl he liked and introduced her to his parents. From then on, he focused on taking care of his small family and his children. Later, he became a village cadre, then a commune cadre, but he never gave up his panpipe. Twice a day, from the corner of the house, the sound of Mr. Thai's panpipe still resounded in the evening and early morning...

"So have you taught many students?" - I asked. Mr. Thai chuckled: "A lot, how can I count them all. There are dozens of generations of young people in the village who have been born and raised. They often come to me to ask me to teach them how to play the flute!". But he was also a bit surprised when the children now know how to play the flute less than before. He said, we have to sympathize with the children because now they have to worry about going to school, going to work, going to the fields, where do they have time to learn how to play the flute? Besides, girls nowadays only like boys with a pen in front of their shirt (to be cadres).

However, in the spring days, along the village paths, on the empty fields, Mong boys and girls still date to go out. Boys and girls hold pao throwing festivals. Groups stand and dance with the panpipes, then sing heartfelt tunes. Then, after the spring days, the boys take the girls they love home to show their parents. After Tet, the Mong people have the most weddings of the year.

The sound of the Khen not only resounds during festivals but also when sending a person to heaven. When an old person dies, he or she has chosen someone to play the Khen to send him or her to heaven. The dead person who goes to heaven no longer understands human language, they only follow the guidance of the Khen. The Khen invites the dead person to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and then rest. The next day, the Khen will guide the soul back to the ancestors. Without the Khen, the dead person will not know the way to heaven, so the funeral cannot be completed. During the decades of playing the Khen, Mr. Thai has been chosen by many people to play the Khen at funerals. He also expressed his concern: "I wonder if in the future, I will be able to choose someone who plays really well to send me to heaven? Nowadays, the children are busy with many things so they do not study the Khen diligently!"

As the night drew to a close, we said goodbye to Mr. Thai and returned to the house of teacher Lau Ba Mua to stay overnight. His flute sound echoed with each step we took on the mountain slope. In the village, Mr. Thai was a good flute player, but he did not know how to make a flute. Nowadays, the villagers all have to buy from traders who brought it from Laos. Occasionally, they carry their baskets around the village, knocking on each house door to sell flutes. The price of each flute ranges from 1.5 to 3 million VND. Many people still consider the flute a necessity in the family, even though it is expensive, they still spend money to buy it. In Mr. Va Cho Thai's house alone, there are 3 flutes of different sizes. He said that the bigger the flute, the farther the sound can be heard. One must be very strong to play it.

In Nam Can village, only Mr. Va Rua Po still remembers how to make Mong pipes. Usually, only blacksmiths know how to make Mong pipes. Mr. Po used to be a good blacksmith in the village. For more than ten years, his eyesight has been poor, so he has given up blacksmithing. He explains that only blacksmiths can make pipes because each pipe has a thin copper leaf that creates the sound. The largest pipe has 3 copper leaves. 1 is red copper, 1 is brass, 1 is silver-plated copper. These copper leaves determine the standard of the pipe, so it requires an experienced blacksmith to cast a copper leaf that produces the standard sound...

In Nam Can village, there are still young people who are fond of the panpipe. Va Ba Cu, 18 years old, has been learning to play the panpipe for 5 years now. He is currently one of the young members of the commune's art troupe participating in the Cultural and Sports Festival of ethnic groups in Ky Son district. Va Ba Ly, 22 years old, said: "I am still learning to play the panpipe. I know a little bit already". Ly also added that not all village girls today only like men who are cadres. Mong girls in Nam Can village still love boys who are good at playing and dancing the panpipe!

Article and photos: Huu Vi