The captivating performance of the zither by a retired teacher in Nghe An.

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At the arts and culture competition celebrating the 28th International Day of Older Persons in Dung town (Thanh Chuong district), Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phuc from Block 7 performed a remarkable act: a unique performance of playing the zither.

On a wooden table lay a row of bowls of various sizes. Mr. Phuc, dressed in traditional ethnic attire, confidently and skillfully played the "rice drum" melody with chopsticks. The sounds emanating from the bowls as performed by Mr. Phuc were truly captivating, prompting exclamations of admiration from the audience. This performance was considered the "masterpiece" of the competition.

Mr. Phuc said that this set of bowls is a collection of bowls with "sharp" sounds, which he collected over a long period of decades. To obtain these bowls, he diligently visited many ancestral temples, shops, markets, and people's homes throughout the countryside to search for them.

After assembling several bowls with the correct pitch and determining the timbre of each bowl, he put them together to create a bowl-shaped instrument with a full range of pitches from low to high. This instrument was supplemented over time. The soundboard is a wooden board with foam inserts and holes to hold the bowls in place.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phuc next to his unique set of eight-stringed musical instruments.

Mr. Phuc recounted that initially, the set only had 7 bowls, but after a process of collecting and selecting, it now has 16. At first glance, these bowls look similar to many other familiar bowls, but when struck, they produce a very resonant sound.

According to Mr. Phuc, playing the bowl instrument is cumbersome because you have to carry many things: a table, bowls, and water. The bowls must contain water; the water helps to amplify the sound, creating a warm, gentle tone without sounding harsh. Each bowl has a precisely measured amount of water to produce the desired sound.

“The water level in the bowls greatly affects the sound quality, so the water must be added in the correct ratio to create the right sound. The bowls in this set have water level markings; when playing, you just need to add water and arrange them in order,” Mr. Phuc said.

Like many other musical instruments, playing the zither well requires passion in both collecting instruments and practicing. To date, Mr. Phuc has been involved with the zither for over 40 years. His view on playing the zither is that one must diligently learn, learning anytime, anywhere, from artists, friends, through television, and by exploring and learning in practice…

Through years of practice, and with his unique set of eight-stringed instruments, Mr. Phuc can play many cheerful and lively pieces, such as "The Piêu Scarf," "Light the Fire, My Dear," and "The Sound of the Ta Lu Instrument"...

This set of bowls is a collection of bowls with beautiful, unique sounds, fixed on a foam-covered tabletop.

Mr. Phuc shared that this unique zither performance has brought him many awards in major festivals, most notably the A prize at the provincial arts festival and the Silver Medal at the national arts festival…

Mr. Phuc is known to be a retired physical education teacher and a renowned enthusiast of traditional Vietnamese musical instruments in Thanh Chuong. After decades of searching, collecting, and crafting, he now possesses around 60 musical instruments, including a full range of wind instruments (flute, bamboo flute, mouth organ, horn, mouth harp, etc.), string instruments (zither, 16-stringed zither, two-stringed fiddle, bass lute), drums (rice drum, bamboo drum), and percussion instruments (Tơ rưng, ​​stone xylophone, eight-stringed lute). He has dozens of flutes of various types: transverse flutes, solo flutes, folk song accompaniment flutes, bass flutes, mini flutes, double-bladed flutes, gourd flutes, etc.

In his old house, he dedicated the entire front room as a separate space for his collection of traditional musical instruments. Besides traditional instruments, he also collected some Western instruments such as clarinets and violins.

Of these musical instruments, two-thirds were collected by him, while one-third were crafted by him. He personally sourced the materials, then meticulously researched, carved, and shaped them from various materials (stone, wood, horn) to create new products. Some instruments took a year to complete, even 7-8 years, such as the five-tiered stone xylophone.

Using only chopsticks and ordinary bowls, Mr. Phuc has been able to play many musical pieces.

Recently, on the occasion of Vietnam's National Day on September 2nd, 2019, he successfully crafted a 100kg stone zither. The soundboard features a map of Thanh Chuong district, decorated with various patterns resembling bronze drums and the national flag. The neck is made from the horn of an old mountain goat. The soundbox is a water buffalo claw gifted by an elderly man in Ky Son district.

Not only is he passionate about collecting and crafting traditional musical instruments, but he can also play the instruments he owns, especially skillfully playing bamboo flutes, double-leaf flutes, gourd flutes, zithers, lutes, stone xylophones, etc.

Mr. Phuc is currently the Chairman of the Thanh Chuong Traditional Musical Instruments Club. The club holds regular monthly meetings, aiming to create a platform for those who love traditional musical instruments in the district to connect, exchange ideas, and learn from each other. The club's programs have been incorporated into various festivals (Bach Ma Temple, Ba Chua Temple, Bon Son Temple, cultural and historical site reception ceremonies in local areas, etc.).

Mr. Phuc is an artisan who collects and plays many types of traditional Vietnamese musical instruments.

“I love traditional musical instruments because they are familiar, easy to acquire, easy to make, and the sounds they produce are natural and intimate melodies. For me, traditional musical instruments are a part of life,” Mr. Phuc shared. Perhaps that is why his efforts to explore, learn about, and collect traditional musical instruments have never stopped.

Not only is he a model worker, an outstanding teacher with many achievements and contributions to the cause of education, a famous "inventor" of visual teaching aids, and a "magician" with over 100 performances compiled into a collection, Mr. Phuc is also a renowned artisan passionate about traditional musical instruments in the land of nhút (a type of bamboo shoot).

Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Dieu, a cultural officer in Dung town, said: "Mr. Phuc is a multi-talented, enthusiastic person with a passion for traditional musical instruments. Despite his advanced age, he constantly seeks out, learns, and creates new, unique, and interesting works. With his inherent talent and enthusiasm, Mr. Phuc has made many contributions to preserving and conserving traditional culture and the local arts movement."