About Tan Hop to listen to Tho Cuoi's teasing song

(Baonghean) - How far is Tan Hop? Listening to the Tho Cuoi people of Tan Hop commune (Tan Ky) singing teasing songs, I was so excited to set foot on Vinh slope. That's because, in the past, when the 4th Youth Volunteer Force came to open up land for economic development, they had to use Vinh slope to describe the hardships of the road. Vinh slope was also the only "gateway" for outside civilization to come to the Tho Cuoi people who fled the war centuries ago to the last place of this thousands of years of weathered limestone...

The road was paved but still rustled under the motorbike wheels. While talking, in a flash, we had left Nghia Hoan market town and clung to the top of Vinh slope. Nothing terrible! But when we glided down a large valley, lush with terraced fields and corn and sugarcane fields, into the peaceful villages of Tan Hop; being immersed in the sounds of trumpets, gongs, drums and teasing songs, it was truly terrible for the perseverance in maintaining the cultural values ​​of an ancient Tho people who only knew how to sing songs of victory over loneliness, existing in the deep forest.

Welcoming us at the commune headquarters was the Deputy Secretary of the Tan Hop Commune Party Committee, Nguyen Van Cuong. He is the one who contributes to the 40% of Tho Cuoi people in Tan Hop who still know how to sing flirtatious songs in their own language. He explained that the Tho Cuoi people (Tan Hop) used to live in the two regions of Ba Trong and Ba Ngoai, their voices were slightly different but fundamentally different from the Tho Mon people outside the communes of Tan Xuan and Giai Xuan. In particular, the voice in Ba Trong (Nghia Thanh hamlet) is closer to ancient Vietnamese, because the final consonant is the letter "r" (the letters "l" and "n" are later changes in ancient Vietnamese).

Deputy Secretary Cuong now also does not know which generation he is descended from the ancestors who were first present here, but the war must have been so terrible in the past that the ancestors were so scared that they ran all the way to such a dangerous place surrounded by mountains and forests on all four sides. The sociological investigation document of the Culture - Information Publishing House (Hanoi) quoted: "They (the Tho Cuoi people) are indigenous people of the same clan as Ly Ha, Dan Lai in Con Cuong and the Tay Cham, Tay Pun, Tay Chum in Tuong Duong, very close to the two branches Cuoi Cham (Cui Te) and Cuoi Dep (Cui Nep) in Nghia Dan and Quy Hop".

So, despite the distance from their Vietnamese-Muong ancestors outside, the Tho Cuoi (Tan Hop) people still pass on their folk culture, which is a little bit "sneaky" in the flirting singing (for men and women), but still resonates in the 6 main Tho folk melodies: "Du du dien dieng", "Tap tinh tap tang", "Tun ta tun", "Hat da oi", "Doi thang ba", "Pon pong"... "The flirting singing is only organized at night, during holidays. During the day, the sound of the instruments is diluted and without the firelight, the singing is also less passionate and less attractive" - ​​Deputy Secretary Cuong said but still pleases the guests, organizing a temporary "arts team" to prepare for a field trip to find a place to perform. Maybe this guy is “smart”, because the State has just opened an eco-tourism road deep into Thung Khien cave, so he advised to take advantage of the opportunity to “promote” this, but the space for Tho Cuoi teasing singing can be under the stilt house, at the beginning of the village. However, the office staff advised to go to the closer Bon waterfall. The teasing singing group has about ten Tho people, the oldest is Mr. Nguyen Van Ngoc who is 70 years old, the youngest are a few young women in their twenties. According to Mr. Ngoc, the children are happy and love to sing, but their voices are not very smooth. But they do not forget the precious folk songs of their people, that is very good!

The inter-commune asphalt road leading to Dong Van is surprisingly beautiful. So peaceful. We could almost only hear the sound of motorbikes stirring up this poetic landscape. Passing through winding slopes and villages, we also came across bamboo troughs leading water from the "holes" in the mountains. Natural water streams seeping from several layers of limestone mountains have become part of the working and production habits of the Tho Cuoi people; wherever there are many "holes" of water, that is the place chosen to settle.

Turning from the main road through the green corn and cassava fields, about a kilometer away, we reached the Ke slope - a small slope leading up to the Bon waterfall, like a soft silk strip falling from the top of a mountain thirty or forty meters high. The bright sunlight made the tiny, colorful water jets shine. The young commune office staff enthusiastically ran ahead, guiding us along the stone steps to climb up the flat land like a natural stage, hanging halfway up the green roof. Occasionally, the gong would "ping boong" sound against the hips of the village girl, her white calves quickly gliding over the loose, loose tree roots.

Then we finally climbed onto the “stage”. Deputy Secretary Cuong and Mr. Ngoc watched as we stopped breathing and immediately started “staging the program”. Mr. Ngoc and the men stood to one side, the women spread out in groups, choosing high mounds of earth to prepare their positions. Deputy Secretary Cuong took the opportunity to explain: In the Tho Cuoi people’s flirting singing, only the trumpet is used by men, while drums and gongs can be used by both men and women. The content of the flirting singing is mainly about love exchange. The orchestra for the singing includes one trumpet, one drum and four gongs, in which the trumpet is the main instrument leading the melody for the whole orchestra. - What about other ceremonies? “Well, there are rules. The orchestra of 4 gongs only accompanies the singing, 3 gongs accompanies the dancing, and at funerals, only 1 gong is used!”

A slim, graceful young man lifted up his trumpet. The clear sound of the trumpet was accompanied by the slow, inviting beat of drums and gongs. It was a prelude to prepare for the duet song, and to attract people to the singing festival. After the prelude, the orchestra's tempo gradually quickened, "catching" the duet melody. When the echoes of the mountains and forests were just enough to echo the gentle sounds of the gongs, Secretary Cuong's drumbeats increased, the men and women of the singing group turned to each other, singing... We were immediately drawn into the melody as if sent from a distant past through the singing language in the Tho Cuoi language. Deputy Secretary Cuong turned out to be a multi-talented folk artist, able to blow the trumpet, play gongs, drums and sing skillfully. The initial shyness quickly passed. The women's faces lit up, waiting for the men's song inviting them to eat betel (translated):

The flirting singing team of the Tho Cuoi ethnic group (Tan Hop commune - Tan Ky).

"Betel leaves are spicy and eaten with yellow leaves,

"A tray of betel leaves covered with silver, I invite you."

The woman replied:

Green betel leaves with lime,

Between the green bark, the two ends of the cinnamon are spicy.

That's the woman's probing; besides, she has to act a little proud! The man continued singing:

“This betel is not the betel of the store,

No charm, no witchcraft, why don't you eat?

The woman still refused:

"My parents warned me,

As a girl, do not chew betel with other people.

And sometimes, it is the woman's lovely confession and encouragement:

"We are like chopsticks in a warehouse,

Not enough, not convenient, not measured is equal"...

The sun was already at its peak. The performance paused. According to Deputy Secretary Cuong, the antiphonal singing could last as long as the occasion required. In addition to flirting singing, young men and women could also sing antiphonal singing while working in the fields, which was called “oi” singing. That is, each antiphonal singing line was preceded by the word “oi”. Then, Deputy Secretary Cuong sang an “oi” song for us to listen to: “Oi!... Wanting to go home, I want to stay here/Going home, I miss my friends, staying here, I miss home”. Seeing us turn to the young women and joke: “Oi, reporters also want to stay here...”, the young office staff immediately said: “We haven’t gone home yet, but I invite you to continue visiting Thung Khien cave, I guarantee you will love it!”

Deputy Secretary Cuong said that the cave had some legend or folk tale that no one could remember clearly anymore. But the cave was beautiful, so we should go in. Letting the group of "actors" with their musical instruments go back first, we followed the office staff into Thung Khien cave. Returning to the commune center, following the eco-tourism road under construction, a little further along the forest path, we arrived at Thung Khien cave hidden in the heart of the limestone forest. In front of the cave were ancient fig trees with lush green canopies, thick layers of ripe, bright red fruit. The staff of the Tan Ky Protective Forest Management Board gave careful instructions before allowing guests to enter: "Go a little further and then come back! Keep going until you reach Dong Van commune!". Inside the cave, there was a generator, shimmering with the strange natural stalactites, the cold air seeping into the skin brought a sense of pleasure and urged us to explore. Suddenly, I thought, did the ancestors of the Tho Cuoi people (Tan Hop) first hide and grow here a few hundred years ago? It is also possible that from here, the story of the loyal Nuong Hong girl overcame the challenge, holding a piece of paper in her mouth watching the village boys and girls eat a whole basket of sour oranges without getting wet in order to marry the person she loved, and now it is still there, the vestiges of Lang Song temple worship her as a god!

“Want to go back, want to stay here/When you go back, you miss your friends, when you stay here, you miss home” - the “oi” lyrics that Deputy Secretary Cuong sang for us, seemed to read our feelings when saying goodbye to Tan Hop with the Thung Khien landscape, saying goodbye to the gentle Tho Cuoi people who are preserving in their spiritual life a treasure of ancient folk songs, with a truly powerful attraction. The feeling of living in a space still imbued with the ancient Vietnamese character of the distant past, followed us forever, until Vinh slope was behind us...

Mr. Vu