(Baonghean.vn) - Although he is a retired physical education teacher, excellent teacher Nguyen Thanh Phuc (66 years old), residing in block 7, Thanh Chuong town, is especially passionate about collecting, making and performing traditional musical instruments.
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| Mr. Phuc’s passion for traditional musical instruments began in his childhood, when he was herding buffalo and cutting grass. Throughout his life of studying, teaching, and until his retirement, that passion continued to be nurtured. |
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| In Mr. Phuc's house, there is a whole space dedicated to traditional musical instruments with more than 40 products belonging to all 4 sets: wind (flute, flute, reed pipe, trumpet, mouth harp, etc.), string (mono bau, 16-stringed zither, two-stringed fiddle), leather (rice drum, tam vong drum), percussion (tơ rưng, lithophone, bowl-shaped zither). |
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| There are dozens of flutes of all kinds: horizontal flutes, solo flutes, folk flutes, sao pha tran, mini flutes, double flutes, bau flutes... |
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| At the head of his bed, there is a set of six horns and a Hmong trumpet that he often plays. |
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| Of these instruments, 2/3 were collected and restored by him, the rest were made by him himself. Some instruments took him years to find raw materials, then he had to manually chisel and cut on many different materials (stone, wood, horn) to create the product. Among the stringed instruments he made, the 16-stringed zither was the most elaborate. |
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| The Co Nip instrument of the O Du people is over a hundred years old and is a souvenir given to him by a village elder in Ky Son when he taught in the West. |
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| This lithophone is elaborately crafted, because the stone used to make a good sounding instrument is not available everywhere. Mr. Phuc said that he had traveled to the western districts, to many famous streams and caves such as Khe Hao (Quy Hop), Len Roi (Tan Ky), Len Yen Khe (Con Cuong), Ban Pung (Tuong Duong)... and even to Ninh Binh to find stones. |
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| Traditional musical instruments in his house are hung, hung, and placed everywhere: on the walls, on the cabinets, on the bed, under the bed... In addition to traditional musical instruments, he also collects Western musical instruments and keeps dozens of ancient crossbows and bows hanging thickly under the roof. |
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| Mr. Phuc with the natural stone harp in front of his house. The stones here were found by him and sent by friends from all over. |
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| Not only is he passionate about collecting and making traditional musical instruments, but he can also play almost all the musical instruments he has. In addition, he is also a famous “inventor” of visual teaching aids and a “magician” with more than 100 performances written into a collection. |
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| Among the musical instruments he collected and crafted, the monochord, flute, lithophone, zither, and double flute... are the instruments he played skillfully and often performed on festival occasions. |
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| In addition, Mr. Phuc can also play the panpipe like a real H'mong village boy. |
Huy Thu
