Blind Mong man makes his own instrument and plays music

(Baonghean.vn) – Although he was blind in both eyes since childhood, Mr. Ly Tong Ca in Huoi Dun village (Huoi Tu commune - Ky Son) still learned to make his own erhu and play music like a real artist.

Watch Mr. Ly Tong Ca play the erhu:

Mr. Ly Tong Ca's house is located in a valley of Huoi Dun village (Huoi Tu commune). There are only a few shabby houses scattered here and there. During the free time during the farming season, the villagers still gather at Mr. Tong Ca's house to listen to him play songs that express the feelings of the Mong people in the highlands.

Mr. Ly Tong Ca in front of his dilapidated house.

We met Mr. Ly Tong Ca just when he was returning from selling some baskets to the villagers of Trung Tam. Although his eyes were no longer able to see anything, weaving baskets and selling them to the villagers seemed to have become a daily routine for him. The villagers of Huoi Tu commune were the same, whenever they did not see his figure carrying baskets on his back along the road, they felt that something was missing.

This year, he is over 40 years old, has 4 children, the eldest is studying at the Nghe An province's Ethnic Boarding School, the youngest is still studying at the commune's secondary school. That is also a great pride for him in this remote area. He said that when he was 3 years old, he had a severe eye pain and has been blind since then. Fortunately, fate did not disappoint him when he groped his way through the darkness and did all the work like a sighted person.

Two erhus made by Mr. Ly Tong Ca himself.

One time, while following his friends to throw pao during Tet, he met a girl named Xong Y Dia in Phu Kha village (Na Ngoi). Loving the disabled but emotional and talented young man, Y Dia followed him to marry her in Huoi Tu. Every day, the couple went to the fields together to find corn and rice to feed their children. The house was always filled with happiness because of the sound of the blind husband's guitar and singing.

Mr. Ly Tong Ca plays the erhu.

Previously, Tong Ca's father, Ly Chong Lau, was a cultural officer of Huoi Tu commune with the talent of making and using many musical instruments. Although both eyes were damaged, Tong Ca still diligently listened to his father Chong Lau's instructions every day to make musical instruments and play Mong songs. When Ly Tong Ca was 18 years old, he himself researched and made 2 two-stringed fiddles and has used them ever since.

Although he is blind in both eyes, he still knits and sells handicrafts to the villagers every day.

He made two erhus from materials available in his family. All are very sophisticated and guaranteed. Each song he plays is like the heart of the Mong people in the highlands, making everyone happy. Without hiding, he said: "The erhu and the panpipe must be the voice of the nation to be good."

And so, every time he returned from the fields, he would take out his guitar and play it, echoing throughout the mountains and forests. The sound of his guitar seemed to dispel the cold in the land covered in fog all year round.

Dao Tho