PV:Dear People's Artist Hong Luu, as scheduled, this year the Folk Song Singing Contest in Schools will be held. For you, after many years in the organizing committee, what is the significance of this festival? And what are your concerns after each festival?
People's Artist Hong Luu:Since 1994, the Education and Training sector has had the Youth Singing Contest and later the Folk Song Singing Contest in Schools. Nearly 30 years have passed, I can’t remember how many times I have participated in this contest, but this is the third year I have been a part of the organizing committee of the contest.
Thinking about the competitions, I remember most the days when the members of the jury and the artists of the Folk Song Theater participated in judging the competitions from the cluster level to the district level. There were festivals where I still used a part of the family budget to reward the children who excelled in the competitions and considered this an opportunity for me to find the best folk singers in my province.
After many years of participating in festivals, not only the Folk Song Festival in schools but also the folk song club festival, the thing that we are most concerned about is the lack of new lyrics, although we often organize many "teacher-teacher" meetings to add to the treasure trove of Nghe Tinh folk songs. Nghe Tinh folk songs "meaning beyond words", so finding someone to write Nghe Tinh folk songs is very difficult, folk songs for students are even more difficult and not everyone can write them. Not to mention writing folk songs for school-age children.
We also know that Nghe An folk songs have many advantages, but the limitation is that almost all the lyrics of Nghe Tinh folk songs are sung by adults. Meanwhile, Nghe Tinh folk songs do not have songs for school-age children. For that reason, teachers and professionals are required to write lyrics based on the lessons that children learn at school, such as writing about Vo Thi Sau, the story of the Hundred-Joint Bamboo Tree, and historical figures...
Nowadays, we know that there are schools with many teachers who are very good at writing folk songs for students. For that reason, the Folk Song Festival in Schools, held every 5 years, is something we look forward to and have high expectations for. That is, in addition to discovering young talents and talents to nurture them, continuing the work of preserving and promoting heritage.
In addition, we hope to discover talented authors who write lyrics for Nghe Tinh folk songs in the community as well as in schools. This is probably my biggest wish at present. Otherwise, we will still borrow and “eat off the shelf” from the past or from some authors.
PV:As you shared, the festival is a place to discover and nurture “child” artists for Nghe An folk music. Surely, over the years of participating in the program, there are many faces that have left an impression on you?
People's Artist Hong Luu:There are many typical factors. Most recently, Ha Quynh Nhu, Mai Uyen, Ngoc Tram, Thanh Xuan, Le Thanh Phong, Cong Phuoc... are all excellent faces discovered through folk song festivals in schools. Currently, among them, there are people who have become artists, actors, and there are people who continue to study to pursue a professional path, doing the work of preserving, conserving and promoting the folk song heritage of Nghe An.
During the process of accompanying the children, I felt very happy. Many of the students later still study in the gifted class that I organized. I often teach the children that, to sing Nghe folk songs, one must first understand Nghe folk songs. The person who sings a folk song, does not let it fly away but sings to linger, sings so that each person can absorb what they have in this song... I think that students who sing folk songs, folk song festivals in schools are "living museums", "living heritages" in the community.
PV:You are a person who has been involved with Vi and Giam folk songs for many years, and have been a teacher of many generations of students. So what are your current concerns about teaching and singing folk songs in schools, and about nurturing young artists?
People's Artist Hong Luu:Through many years of working in the profession and participating in training, I affirm that the festival is only a place to discover, a starting point. To follow the profession and stick with it, many other factors are needed. Like the recent festival, we discovered and selected 7 students for training, but now only 3-4 students continue with the profession and follow the path of art.
To nurture the children, as I shared before, I opened a folk song class for them at home and have maintained it for nearly 7 years, called the Green Buds Gifted Class. From this class, I have discovered many truly talented individuals. But in the past 4 years, when I switched to management, I no longer have time for this class. Occasionally, the children and grandchildren participate in competitions, record their songs and call me for comments and advice, even those in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. At such times, I edit the lyrics and guide them on how to sing.
I also regret that I cannot maintain the class as before and not many people can do it. If I say that I use the word dedication, it is not right, the word sacrifice is not right either, but to have classes for students, there must be real enthusiasm. Because, we open classes for students with seemingly nothing. If teaching them to sing folk songs requires material things, it is probably not possible.
Long ago, poet Nguyen Du once said to the girl who played the zither:“She needs gold to live, Can't sing with breath and eat with breath….This saying is very good, very profound for today's artists... What I worry about most today is that there are many artists, many artisans who are old but they do not have much time to teach. There are not many young people with passion. Meanwhile, on social networks there are quite a few clips teaching folk songs but they are not correct, not accurate and if they teach children wrongly, it is a pity. Therefore, there needs to be a mechanism, there needs to be a policy to motivate and encourage artists to participate in teaching work to discover and nurture talent. Obviously, to have a lesson, artists have to write articles, have to put in effort and have good health to be able to do this special job. Personally, for a long time, I have used my amateurism to support my profession, and used outside funding to nurture my passion.
I also see that to discover and nurture a talent requires a lot of effort, it cannot be done in a hurry. In that process, we do not simply teach children to sing but also have to nurture their thoughts and orient them so that they love and stick with folk songs. This cannot be done in a short time but needs time to "absorb", from month to month, from year to year... Therefore, I personally hope that the province needs to have a mechanism to nurture these factors over a long period of time. For example, every year the province needs to encourage and motivate those who have a talent for singing folk songs, for example, they can study culture at a sports gifted school like other athletes. At the same time, the children will go to the art center every day to learn to sing folk songs, and only after a long time can they concentrate and we can train talented folk singers for the province. In recent years, the cultural sector has also opened some folk singing classes for students in the localities for a period of 1-2 months. However, in my opinion, this form is still not effective.
PV:Dear People's Artist Hong Luu, every 5 years, the folk song singing contest in schools is organized by the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Culture and is a truly meaningful program. However, is it true that we currently have too few performances and too few playgrounds for Vi and Giam folk songs for school-age children?
People's Artist Hong Luu:Indeed, the Nghe people and students only compete in folk singing in schools once every five years, which is too little and too rare. In my opinion, if conditions permit, schools should organize it once a year and cluster and district competitions can be held periodically every two to three years and this can be considered a community activity.
Personally, I have attended many festivals, including many professional festivals. However, each time I come to the Folk Song Festival in Schools still brings me my own emotions and joys. It is the joy of seeing the future of Nghe An folk songs, so the happiness is also multiplied a lot.
PV:Thank you People's Artist Hong Luu for joining the chat!
