From a village girl who loves Vi Giam to the title of People's Artist

Passion and enthusiasm

Born into a family and village with a singing traditionfolk songs. The melodies and sweet lullabies of her mother have embraced and comforted her since her cradle. Ngoc Son village, with its charming scenery, Lam River, Nguoc Mountain, and ancient communal house, is also the cradle of the singing movement...

Her childhood of herding buffalo and cutting grass grew up with the melodious folk songs: “Who knows the Lam River water is clear or muddy. Who knows that living a life is both shameful and glorious...”. It was that artistic atmosphere that ignited in the heart of this simple girl, on the banks of the Lam River, a burning love for folk songs.

When she was the captain of the middle school's art team, "when she heard that she could sing, she was very happy." As a young adult, she was a typical member of the cooperative art team. Her family, and later her husband's family, still created conditions for her to participate in the cultural and artistic movement.

She gradually became a collaborator of the Cultural Center, Head of the Folk Song Club of Ngoc Son Commune, member of the Literature and Arts Association of Thanh Chuong District, the Folk Arts Association of Nghe An Province...

People's Artist Vo Thi Hong Van. Photo: NVCC

During her practical activities, her sweet, deep voice, along with her diligence in practicing and learning from senior artists and craftsmen, has helped her achieve certain successes, as well as accumulate a lot of valuable knowledge and experience.

Not only performing folk songs, she also actively sticks to the local area, collects ancient lyrics and melodies, writes new lyrics for these melodies; composes folk skits, stage programs... to serve clubs, organizations, groups, schools, clans...

Her works focus on expressing love for folk songs, leaders, homeland and country; promptly reflecting specific political and social tasks in the locality (new rural areas, traffic safety, family planning, etc.).

At 57 years old, having been involved in folk music for decades, she has written a lot and cannot remember how many works she has written and produced. Some of her typical works that have won awards at festivals can be named, such as tTeaching folk songs; Telling that Uncle Ho loves folk songs; I love the folk songs of my hometown; Preventing drowning; Farmer stories...Recently, she has had two outstanding works written about her homeland that have been encouraged by many people:Song of pride of Thanh Chuong homeland; Thanh Chuong has beautiful mountains and rivers.

People's Artist Vo Thi Hong Van (second from right) and other Vi Giam artists in the province sing love songs on Cau Cau irrigation lake. Photo: Huy Thu

Besides collecting, composing and performing, she also has the duty of passing on folk song heritage to the community, through the activities of folk song clubs, exchange and training sessions of the district's cultural and population centers... Among the hundreds of students, of all generations, who have been directly taught by her, many have become teachers, artisans, and participate in teaching folk songs.

Over the years, she has participated in speaking, singing, and teaching folk songs at a number of kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools in the district with the hope of igniting the love of Vi and Giam folk songs in the children. She hopes that Nghe Tinh folk songs will soon be taught in schools, so that all students can access and learn about the heritage of their homeland.

Although family life, business (farming, selling shops, renting out performance services), and performing arts activities... sometimes encountered many difficulties, "her singing voice overshadowed her sweet potatoes", she still overcame them with her efforts, passion and enthusiasm. In the days when the Ngoc Son Commune Folk Song Club was first established (2009), she both mobilized members to participate and sought funding from organizations and individuals to maintain its activities.

People's Artist Vo Thi Hong Van and co-star. Photo: Huy Thu

Currently, the club she chairs still operates regularly, serving the needs of the people and the political tasks of the locality well. Under her leadership, the Ngoc Son Commune Folk Song Club is the leading strong club in Thanh Chuong district, participating in many provincial, inter-provincial and national folk song festivals.

She and the Ngoc Son Commune Folk Song Club have won many high awards (A, B, First, Second, Third), and received many Certificates of Merit from the Organizing Committee of the Nghe Tinh Inter-Provincial Folk Song Festival of Nghe An - Ha Tinh, from the People's Committee of Nghe An province, Thanh Chuong district...

Ngoc Son Commune Folk Song Club has toured Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and several provinces many times, connecting heritage areas, contributing to spreading folk songs and the image of the homeland to people in many rural areas across the country.

Honor and heavy responsibility

With her contributions, in 2015, she was honored to be awarded the title of Meritorious Artist by the State, marking a milestone in the journey of attachment to Vi and Giam folk songs of "Artist Mrs. Van".

In recent years, every summer, she has opened a folk singing class at home, attracting many children in the district to come and study. She has used her living room as a space to teach singing to the children. What is special is that the students of this class do not have to pay tuition.

Every year during the summer, artist Hong Van often opens free folk singing classes at home. Photo: Huy Thu

Along with teaching singing at clubs, art troupes, and schools, she sees free folk song classes at home as a way to help inspire the young generation with a love for Vi and Giam, so that they can continue, preserve, and spread the cultural heritage of their ancestors.

During the process of "nurturing the green shoots", she promptly discovered and nurtured a number of children with good singing voices, and encouraged them to continue taking exams to enter professional schools. Currently, she is also the Head of the Organizing Committee to establish the Song Lam Vi Giam Folk Song Club in Thanh Chuong district.

Recently, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed and issued Decisions to confer and posthumously confer the State honorary titles of "People's Artisan" and "Meritorious Artisan" to 628 artisans who have made outstanding contributions to preserving and promoting the nation's intangible cultural heritage.

According to Decision No. 1020/QD-CTN, Ms. Vo Thi Hong Van was awarded the title "People's Artist" in the category of Folk Performing Arts and is the first artist in Nghe An province to be awarded this title.

The happiness of People's Artist Vo Thi Hong Van and her husband. Photo: Huy Thu

Sharing the joy of being awarded the title of People's Artist by the State, artist Vo Thi Hong Van excitedly said: "After my passion and efforts for the cause of preserving, transmitting and spreading Vi Giam folk songs, I was awarded the title of People's Artist by the State.

This is an extremely noble reward, a great source of encouragement for a folk artist. Along with the honor and pride, I feel my responsibility is even heavier, I need to try harder to continue contributing to the community."

Her biggest concern now is the fear that Vi Giam folk songs will be lost over time. Ms. Van said: After Vi Giam folk songs were recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the activities of folk song clubs at the grassroots level seem to have stagnated. Therefore, departments at all levels need to have "pushes" to promote the folk song singing movement, especially at the grassroots level, wards, communes and schools, to develop to a new level.

People's Artist Vo Thi Hong Van is currently the Head of the Organizing Committee for the establishment of the Song Lam Vi and Giam Club in Thanh Chuong district. Photo: Huy Thu

Her family’s private house is located along Highway 46, and every day is filled with laughter and conversation from relatives, friends, and students… exchanging and discussing stories related to folk songs. In the living room of the newly built, spacious 2-story house, there are hung many Certificates of Merit and Certificates of Merit that she has received.

Her family has many generations of folk singers. Her mother, Le Thi Vinh, is a Meritorious Artist. Her husband and four children all love to sing folk songs. Previously, some of the performances that won prizes at provincial festivals were performed by her family alone. The family of Artist Hong Van was once awarded the title "Family with many generations of artists participating in the club" by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Behind the image of a hard-working wife and mother, taking care of her family, her husband and children, she spent almost all her remaining time on folk songs, as her own relatives admitted, "All day long, she only had folk songs, ate folk songs, slept folk songs." Every night, she often kept the lights on until late, sometimes waking up at 3-4am to compose lyrics for her devoted folk songs.

She confided: "I will continue the work I have been doing for a long time and will find every way, in every form, to contribute to preserving, transmitting and promoting Vi-Giam folk songs. I have many dreams, but right now I am cherishing the idea of ​​writing a "long" performance about Thanh Chuong tea island to promote tourism for my hometown and participate in the upcoming Provincial Vi-Giam Folk Song Festival."

Talking about the veteran artisan of his hometown, Mr. Dang Van Hoa - Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Thanh Chuong district said: Ms. Vo Thi Hong Van was awarded the title "People's Artisan" by the President, which is an honor and pride for Thanh Chuong district - the cradle of Nghe Tinh folk songs, an intangible cultural heritage of humanity recognized by UNESCO.

I believe and hope that in the coming time, People's Artisan Vo Thi Hong Van will promote all her capacity, intelligence and enthusiasm with her brothers and sisters in theVi and Giam Folk Song ClubSong Lam, Thanh Chuong district, brings folk songs and melodies to more people; coordinates with the education sector to bring folk songs into schools, contributing to promoting and preserving cultural heritage in the district.