Artist Le Thanh Phong and the journey of bringing Vi and Giam across the border

If you have not seen Phong perform once, have not talked to him, you cannot know when Vi and Giam grew up in him, whether Vi and Giam chose him or he chose those sweet and soulful melodies. This young man born in the 90s not only has a voice as sweet as sugar cane but is also a passionate monochord player; not only a performer but also an organizer, scriptwriter and lyricist for all Vi and Giam plays. More surprisingly, Le Thanh Phong is the head of the UNESCO Nghe An Folk Songs Art Troupe in Hanoi, an organization under the Vietnam Heritage Association that is making waves on music stages at home and abroad.

Wallets and purses "instill" luck in people from childhood.

Le Thanh Phong, born in 1992 in Vinh city, in an artistic family with parents, uncles and aunts who are all actors, singers and dancers. That is why from a young age Phong was imbued with the artistic spirit of his family with guitars, drums and pianos. He was also oriented and trained by his parents early on in Western musical instruments.

“Although my family was not well off, my grandparents had already gone to Hanoi to buy guitars for me to learn. Following that spirit, my parents were willing to spend a large amount of money compared to the family’s income to buy an organ, guitar and a very good percussion set. They only hoped that I could use these instruments skillfully and with passion,” Phong said.

However, for some reason Phong did not like it, so he often explored and listened to the sounds of traditional national musical instruments. At the age of 10, he insisted on his father letting him learn the monochord. At first, his father did not understand and thought his son was curious, but later, seeing that the boy had thoughts and ears that were quite sensitive to those tones, he had to indulge his son, although he felt a bit regretful. In the summer of his 10th birthday, Phong was taken by his father to study at the Vietnam-Germany Children's Cultural House. However, with only one student playing the monochord, the school could not open a class, so he had to follow his father home with a heavy heart. Out of love for his son, his father still looked for someone else who could teach the monochord, and fortunately, the artist who played the monochord for the White Lotus Cai Luong Troupe, who had retired, still accepted him as a student. And from then on, Phong's path to learning the monochord was filled with joy and burning passion.

Although he was absorbed in the monochord, Phong also realized that he had the ability to sing and feel traditional folk music strongly. Imbued with folk songs through the songs and lullabies of his mother and grandmother since childhood, Phong fell in love with it without realizing it. He could sing the melodies and difficult parts of folk songs with ancient lyrics with the most sincere and pure feelings of a child. Wherever there was a performance, he asked to sing folk songs. His lyrics were so sweet and profound that everyone who heard them admired the subtlety and ability to feel the vi and giam verses of a boy who was only 8-9 years old.

The turning point of the road to the Vi and Giam folk songs was when Phong was selected by the school to sing solo Vi and Giam songs in the Red Flamboyant Festival of the city. At the time of the competition, his friends only chose trendy and popular music, especially Korean music. Therefore, when summarizing the competition, the judge, musician Le Ham, gave a speech saying: "Most of the time of the programs participating in the competition was very modern music melodies, rarely did I see songs with folk melodies or folk songs, only a young boy named Le Thanh Phong sang folk songs very well, very emotionally. You guys should learn from Phong!" The simple words of musician Le Ham were a great source of motivation for Phong throughout his later journey.

Thanks to his efforts and beautiful image in the contest, Phong was visited by musician Xuan Hoa (at that time a famous musician with the position of Deputy Director of the Vietnam - Germany Cultural House, a musician who nurtured many young talents to become music stars) to invite him to join the Blue Bird Art Team of the Cultural House. From here, Phong was able to immerse himself in the artistic sky, living the beautiful days of his childhood with smooth folk melodies, along with the monochord that he loved. During those days, Phong was able to sing with famous singers, and sing for President Tran Duc Luong at the National Uncle Ho's Good Children Conference.

In Phong's time, young people, even though they loved and had a voice for folk songs when they were young, when they grew up, they often chose a more fashionable path. But Phong was not like that. The older he got, the more passionately he learned and devoted himself to the folk songs of his homeland. Whenever there was an event, he sang folk songs, sometimes Xam, sometimes Vi, Giam; the tunes and melodies of folk songs were carefully researched and performed with all his heart and love.

In addition to singing well and having an artistic inclination since childhood, Thanh Phong is also very good at History and won third prize in the Provincial Excellent Student Competition in this subject. This is also the reason why when staging plays for the UNESCO Nghe An Folk Songs Art Troupe later, he always focused on historical elements. “First, to help young people and people from all over the country understand where folk songs originate from. Second, to educate the younger generation to better understand famous people and the places where they grew up through the folk songs,” Phong said.

How to spread Phong's wallet and giam

Talking about the establishment of the UNESCO Folk Song Art Troupe of Nghe An, Phong said that it was also a matter of fate. “When I went to Hanoi to study at the University of Culture, because I loved folk songs so much and missed home, I always wanted to have a space to sing folk songs. So I gathered young singers who had sung Nghe folk songs with beautiful voices and figures to perform for free for the audience. Singing Nghe folk songs in the heart of the capital was also to satisfy my passion. But Phong himself did not expect that the club he founded would quickly become famous throughout Hanoi. The actors in the club were invited to perform everywhere and quickly grew, from only 5-7 members, many young people who were professional singers and music conservatory students wanted to join the club. After 10 years of establishment, the club has developed into the UNESCO Nghe Folk Songs Art Troupe, a professional art troupe with more than 50 artists and actors. Thanh Phong said that the troupe's performance practice sessions at West Lake attracted hundreds of audiences, many of whom were moved when they saw the Vi and Giam melodies. sung by young people with all their enthusiasm, evoking in their hearts sweet emotions about their beloved homeland Nghe An.

According to Phong, in order for young people to sing Vi and Giam and love it, we need to approach them in a friendly and appropriate way. When young people love Vi and Giam, that is when we spread and promote the heritage value most successfully. From here, many programs and plays of the troupe received enthusiastic response, had a wide range of activities, and were loved and admired by many socio-political organizations in the country and abroad.

Carrying wallets and money across the border

In 2017, the Nghe An Folk Song UNESCO Art Troupe officially joined the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association, under the direct direction and advice of musician Ho Huu Thoi. Since then, the troupe has had quality plays and performances that attract a large audience each year. These are the plays "Spring through the region of Vi and Giam" in 2017, "The river carries the folk songs" in 2019. In addition, for the first time, the troupe was honored to be invited by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to perform at the World Music Festival in Uzbekistan 2017, the Mekong River Music, Fashion and Culture Festival in Yunnan (China) in 2019, and was surprised, cheered and praised by friends from other countries. “When bringing folk songs to foreign countries, we carry with us the spirit of singing about our homeland with the heart and spirit of Nghe An people. Each performance, each song is carefully polished and cherished by us. Therefore, it comes to the public with enthusiasm, touching their hearts.” Then Phong recounted that when performing for the Mekong River fashion and culture festival, he meticulously edited the music for the Vietnamese Ao Dai fashion show. When the models walked in the Ao Dai performance, Phong also played the song “Four Flowers”, sweet and passionate. Many people who enjoyed that space were moved to tears. After the show ended, many Nghe An people came to find him, they held his hands and gave him warm hugs, tears streaming down their faces, as if they were meeting their own family and relatives, as if they were returning to their homeland.

The story of performing abroad, especially preserved and treasured by Phong like a treasure, was when he performed in France with the Vietnamese delegation with the program "Vi Giam Tinh Que". When he arrived at the memorial site of President Ho Chi Minh and saw his portrait, his tears just kept flowing. "That night, I sang the song "Vi Giam Tinh Que" with lyrics written by An Ninh and Hoang Vinh, and my eyes were blurred with tears. Surprisingly, in the auditorium, the President of the Vietnam - France Friendship Association was also moved. She went up to the stage to give me a bouquet of flowers and held my hand for a long time, saying that the song of President Ho Chi Minh's homeland is truly wonderful!!!"

Most recently, within the framework of the Vietnam Day in Japan program, at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Phong's group performed a very special performance at Kyushu Medical University, Fukuoka Prefecture. This program was organized by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Vietnam - Japan diplomatic relations (1973-2023). Through the performance of various types of intangible cultural heritage of Vietnam, the program brought stories about Vietnam - Japan friendship, while introducing to the public in Japan the unique beauty of the three regions of Vietnam.

With professionally and methodically staged performances, the show brought a feast for the eyes. Through that, the program successfully promoted the culture, country and people of Vietnam with traditional beauties such as Hue singing, Cham dance, Vi and Giam folk songs or ancient Ao Dai performances.

In order to praise the strong friendship between Vietnam and Japan, “The Fragrance of Vietnam” cleverly interweaves famous historical stories such as the love story of Princess Ngoc Hoa and merchant Araki Sorato or the friendship between patriotic scholar Phan Boi Chau and doctor Asaba Sakitaro. In this program, Phong was entrusted with the responsibility of scriptwriting and directing. He is also the one who plays the role of patriotic scholar Phan Boi Chau in a short musical play about the beautiful friendship between Mr. Phan and doctor Asaba Sakitaro.

“When writing the scene about Mr. Phan, I always have to consider every gesture, every tone in the words and singing voice to make it the most beautiful, delicate and similar. No matter how stylized, the actors must perform in a way that exudes the spirit of a famous person from Nghe An, which is patriotism, patriotism, the spirit of a scholar, and loyalty.” Phong believes that Vi and Giam grew up in the character of Nghe An people and it exudes the spirit of Nghe An people, so wherever they go, whatever they do, Nghe An people are still easily recognized thanks to the characteristics through Vi and Giam verses of their homeland.

In addition, when writing the script for the ao dai performance, Phong cleverly inserted the scene where Princess Ngoc Hoa wears the national costume ao dai to follow her husband back to the country. He also carefully researched that the princess was the first Vietnamese person to bring ao dai abroad. Therefore, the scene where the princess wears the traditional ao dai and walks out, the four-flower melody sounds sweet, soulful, and captivates people's hearts. Phong said: "Staging Vi and Giam with historical figures is the space for me to freely create, because Vi and Giam are the culture and the people of Nghe An that have existed for hundreds of years."

From the resounding success of the program "Fragrance and beauty of Vietnam" in Japan, Phong cherished many plans for the future. The young man from Nghe An hopes that the UNESCO Folk Songs of Nghe An will develop into a center that not only thrives in Vi and Giam but also in traditional music in general. "Vi and Giam folk songs are the soul of the troupe, of the artists who love Vi and Giam, so in order for Vi and Giam to last and fly far, we need to find more new performance spaces and spread them more so that young people can understand and love them. And developing the troupe into a center is the way for folk songs to take flight" - he shared.