"Walking in the midst of love, in the midst of the immense lotus fragrance"

(Baonghean) -May is here, all the streets are covered with flags and flowers. In May, the lotus season, the people of Nghe An respectfully offer their heartfelt songs to Uncle Ho. The 2011 Lotus Village Singing Festival is a special event to celebrate the 121st birthday of our beloved Uncle Ho, the 100th anniversary of his departure to find a way to save the country, and to summarize 30 years of the Lotus Village Singing Festival.

Traveling more than a hundred kilometers, 30 actors of the mass art troupe of Quy Hop mountainous district brought to the Festival special performances, offering them to Him with sacred and respectful feelings.

To have the best performances, for nearly 3 months now, the district's mass art troupe has been practicing diligently. Non-professional actors, those who are only familiar with "plowing with one hand, hoing with the other", many have never stood on stage, never sung or danced in front of a crowd, but with the affection and love of children for the father of the nation, they sang with all their hearts. Mr. Luu Van Thai, head of the Quỳ Hợp mass art troupe, shared: "Since March, the district has organized the Sen Village Singing Festival from the grassroots level, and organized the district-level final. Despite being busy with work, the actors in the troupe have persevered in practicing, especially with the active participation of artisans in the villages. In particular, coming to this festival, the Quỳ Hợp troupe has performances imbued with the identity of the Tho and Thai ethnic groups praising Uncle Ho and the Party..."

Provincial leaders presented flowers and souvenir flags to participating teams.

For the first time participating in the dance accompanying the performances of the NTQC Quy Chau team, Vi Van Nhan (Chau Hanh commune, Quy Chau) shared: “As a senior student, I am very busy with my studies, but when I was selected to join the art troupe to participate in the Sen Village Singing Festival, I arranged my studies and actively practiced. This is not only an opportunity for me to show my talent, have the opportunity to exchange and learn, but for me, the most sacred and meaningful thing is to bring songs and dances to my beloved Uncle Ho...”

This festival attracted nearly 500 non-professional actors from 19 mass art troupes (NTQC) to participate with nearly 100 performances. The art troupes brought to the festival unique cultural forms, clearly expressing national and contemporary characteristics. In addition to performances about the Party, Uncle Ho, and the homeland, this Sen Village Singing Festival also featured folk songs, vi dam songs, Lam river ferry songs, and vi phuong vai songs imbued with the identity of Nghe An's countryside. In particular, the self-composed performances and informational plays reenacting Uncle Ho's thoughtful instructions and guidance to the people were truly touching and imbued with homeland love.

The song and dance performance "The scent of the Western forest" was performed by the Anh Son district's NTQC team.

With the theme “Following Uncle Ho’s footsteps”, the Festival is an opportunity for each citizen to express their feelings for beloved Uncle Ho, contributing significantly to the education of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology and learning to follow his moral example. Each performance is the warm feelings of the children of Nghe An, forming a flower platform respectfully offered to the Party and Uncle Ho. So that every May, the children of Nghe An sing the song “Walking amidst love, amidst the immense fragrance of lotus”...

Phuc Thanh