When Thai culture has become flesh and blood

(Baonghean)- Over the past decades, his footprints have been imprinted throughout the villages of the Northwest region of Nghe An, and even as far as Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Son La... collecting cultural artifacts of the Thai people. Until now, his small house is like a miniature "museum" rich in traditional values ​​of Thai culture...

Mr. Lo Thanh Tro's house, in Na Xiem village, Chau Thanh commune, Quy Hop district. Although we had heard a lot about him, when we entered his house, we were truly amazed by the cultural artifacts of the Thai people that he had collected and preserved. Hundreds of objects such as gongs, drums, bronze trays, bronze pots, silver ingots, and things like spinning wheels, rice harvesters, wooden mortars, flutes, musical instruments, looms... are all present in the simple stilt house.

Mr. Tro and his wife with their family's "treasures".

Over a cup of wine, he confided: “Since I was a child, I have loved the stories and songs of my people. My parents encouraged and supported me, so my passion for our national culture has grown and become ingrained in my blood and intestines, uncle.” He is currently preserving two sets of gongs that are up to 100 years old. In particular, he also preserves three silver bars that are about 300 years old that his father left him, considering them as “treasures” to pass down to his descendants. There are many artifacts such as panpipes, flutes, drums, and zithers. In particular, he can also memorize and sing dozens of folk songs and antiphonal songs of his people.

As if to prove it, he picked up a flute (called Pi khuy in Thai) and played a folk tune, while his wife, Ngan Thi Tinh, softly sang the song “Rarely do guests come to visit….When they come to our house, we have nothing…only a golden heart to entertain guests…”. He also happily said that he got married thanks to the flute and these songs.

To have a significant “museum” of artifacts, he had to work hard, going back and forth to collect them. Over the past decades, his footprints have been imprinted throughout the villages of the Northwest, Nghe An. Sometimes, just to make a kitchen rack in the style of the Thai people, he had to personally go into the forest to find the bamboo trees that he really liked, then sit and whittle and weave them for a whole week to finish. Then, sometimes, he had to go all the way to Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Son La to find and buy a beautiful, satisfactory gong. Many times, when he received his salary, he hid it from his wife to buy artifacts, and when he had no money, he even used his family's money to buy gongs...

Asked, inWhich of these artifacts is the most expensive? He shook his head and said: "For me, everything related to Thai culture is priceless." He has never thought of selling the artifacts he has, even though many people have offered tens of millions of dong. His wife always supports and encourages him, so he always tries to collect and learn to fulfill his greatest wish of restoring and promoting the cultural features of his people. All three of his children and grandchildren in the family, taught by him, know how to sing and use musical instruments of the Thai people.

However, what worries him is that now, the whole commune only has about 10 sets of gongs left. On holidays, the sounds of gongs and singing appear less and less. In the whole commune, only a few elderly people know how to write and read Thai! In particular, young people today are no longer interested in the cultural values ​​left by their ancestors, they only like Chinese and Western music…?!

Mr. Lo Thanh Tuong, Chairman of the Commune Fatherland Front Committee, said: “Mr. Tro is a very enthusiastic person, always at the forefront of local mass cultural movements, and is an important nucleus in the plan to restore and preserve culture by local authorities at all levels”. In the near future, he intends to work with some elderly people in the area, in conjunction with local authorities, to open classes to teach singing and playing Thai musical instruments for local children.

Nguyen Dang Hiep