Artist Thien Hue: "Nghe quality" to sing Nghe folk songs

(Baonghean.vn) - After much delay, we finally met. She walked into the coffee shop, and everyone present at that time looked at her as if they suddenly recognized a familiar face. She looked at me and greeted me with a bright smile...

Artist Thien Hue always creates attraction on the stages she performs on.

Want to be like you guys

The girl with that radiant smile is Thien Hue, an artist of the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Nghe Tinh Folk Heritage. There is no sign of any coquetry from the girl who belongs to the spotlight. Even though she always radiates charm. That charm comes from her gentle, warm and rustic features. Even in her behavior and communication, Thien Hue still retains the "essence" of the Thanh Chuong land "salty pickles, sour eggplants". Perhaps this is what makes Thien Hue of folk melodies captivating people's hearts.

“Perhaps it is because of the water source of my hometown. Everyone in the village loves and sings Vi and Giam folk songs” - that is what Thien Hue said about her “starting point” in Dong Thuong village, Dong Van commune (Thanh Chuong). That the whole village, from young to old, from women to men, everyone can compose and sing Vi and Giam folk songs. Dong Thuong people sing Nghe An folk songs as a spiritual need. They sing on every moonlit night, sing in the fields during the lean season, sing when the rice is golden in the harvest season... The planting, harvesting, and hat-making groups all borrow folk songs to complete their rural life. And as Thien Hue said, that life, that space has permeated her since she was in her mother’s womb. At the age of 4 or 5, she already knew how to sing lullabies.

Until one day, in Dong Thuong village, a folk music troupe from the province came to perform. In the mind of the 9-year-old girl, she always wondered: "Why are those girls and boys so good? And they wear beautiful clothes with glittering sequins." Every night, Thien Hue sneaked out of her parents' house to watch the performance. She wished that she could step up there, under the sparkling lights of the stage with hundreds of eyes watching.

“Knowing that you want to follow the path of singing, my mother is not happy. It is a folk song of the countryside” - Thien Hue talks about her mother's premonition about her little daughter's choice of career path. But it seems that everything was predestined and "arranged" since she was born and raised on the land where the Lam River runs through that village.

Artist Thien Hue (middle) during a performance of Vi and Giam folk songs in Ho Chi Minh City

In 2001, from the fields of Thuong village, Thien Hue hesitantly came to the Center for Conservation and Development of Nghe Tinh Folk Heritage Vi and Giam. The 17-year-old girl's luggage in the crowded city streets did not have much. It was just the Vi and Giam melodies that she had brought along. Thien Hue smiled: "I don't know why, but in the first days of arriving in Vinh, the lines from the Dong Xuan melodies kept appearing and disappearing in my head. Then she sang softly: "Oh my friend!/ The fields are straight, the storks fly, the old kites soar/ You wear a brown shirt/ The wind blows your hat to the side/ Water from the lower fields to the upper fields/ Two shoulders are heavy/ Heavy burden of love..."

As Thien Hue said, that day she came to Vinh to "learn by heart" the artists and actors of the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Nghe Tinh Folk Song Heritage before taking the entrance exam to the Provincial School of Culture and Arts. Heaven does not disappoint those who try, in 2002 Thien Hue passed the entrance exam to this school. It was from here that her life turned a new page - becoming a professional artist. In 2005 Thien Hue officially became an artist of the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Nghe Tinh Folk Song Heritage. And the folk songs of her hometown gave wings to Thien Hue to fulfill her dream.

Success through being kicked off the stage

Accepted by the Center in 2005, it was not until 2010 that Thien Hue was given a “near-main” role. According to Hue, singing correctly and beautifully is not difficult for those with talent, but singing with color and smoothness is not easy at all. Many times Thien Hue was kicked off the stage because of being out of rhythm, forgetting the lyrics, forgetting the movements. The art of performing does not allow anyone to foster complacency or laziness. Especially with Nghe folk songs, the artist’s vocal technique alone is not enough.

Thien Hue (middle) and artists from the Center for Conservation and Promotion of Cultural Heritage of Nghe Tinh Vi and Giam folk songs during a tour in Thailand

One must sing with experience, with emotion and must live fully with the folk song to be "successful". Thien Hue learned this by herself after being forced to leave the performances she was assigned to perform before. After many months of hard work with supporting roles and extras, in 2010 Thien Hue was officially recognized by the Troupe. And in that same year, Hue won the Silver Medal at the National Theatre Festival. In 2013, she was honored with the Gold Medal for her individual performance. This was a great encouragement and motivation for Thien Hue to continue on the path she had chosen.

Need "Nghe quality" to sing Nghe folk songs

I asked Thien Hue if she regretted her choice of path. Especially in an era where pop music and commercial music fill the space and flood social networks. There are even "short pieces" that receive millions of "likes" just a few hours after being posted. Thien Hue smiled and affirmed that the influence of social networks and commercial music cannot be denied, but Nghe folk songs always find their own place. According to her, the "lifespan" of commercial music is very short, even though at a certain point it created a wave among young people.

Thien Hue believes that she was born to sing folk songs of Nghe An.

Meanwhile, folk songs penetrate the soul and character of people and have a lasting vitality in the hearts of the public. As if to prove it, Thien Hue said that she and her colleagues at the center have performed in many places, and have received warm affection from the audience everywhere. Many people cried after listening to the Vi and Giam melodies and said that they wanted to return to their hometown to find their roots. "That's how we know how much vitality the folk songs and Vi songs of Nghe An have" - ​​Hue said and she also did not hide the fact that she did not know how to sing any kind of music other than Vi and Giam folk songs. This is neither strange nor important. Because there needs to be people with "Nghe quality" to sing the folk songs of Nghe An people.

Thien Hue stepped onto the stage and hidden deep in her eyes and warm smile was a pure and steadfast love for the songs of her homeland. And when she sang, everyone was drawn into the tunes and steps filled with affection. I told Thien Hue that she seemed to be a different image of the former People's Artist Hong Luu. Hue smiled and said that it would be a long time before she could be like People's Artist Hong Luu. "However, I am still very happy because you compared me to the teacher, the sister that I love so much" - Thien Hue smiled brightly.

Dao Tuan