Nghe An folk songs in the flow of folk culture

(Baonghean) - Nghe An Newspaper reporter interviewed comrade Pham Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Vinh Tan Ward Folk Song Club (Vinh City) sings Vi Phuong Xay. Photo: Truong Sinh

Reporter:Vi and Giam folk songs authentically and subtly express all aspects of the material and spiritual life of the people of Nghe An and have become invaluable heritages in the flow of Vietnamese folk culture. What is your assessment of this statement?

Mr. Pham Tien Dung:Just like Hue folk songs, amateur music, xoan singing, quan ho singing... Nghe An folk songs are the soul of Nghe An people. Since ancient times, Nghe An folk songs have lived and been closely associated with the working life of the people of the Central region with Lao wind and white sand. Nowhere, no countryside has such meaningful, profound, honest and heartfelt lyrics and teachings. And there has never been a melody that generations of musicians in the whole country have used as the main material to compose timeless songs, some of which live forever, loved by the younger generation such as "Listening to the ferry singing at night, remembering Uncle Ho", "Listening to the Nghe Tinh folk songs in the middle of Mac Tu Khoa", "Looking at the tree, remembering Him", "Uncle Ho's advice before going far away"...

Nowadays, hat vi and giam have changed to adapt to the new life, continue to exist and affirm their vitality in contemporary life. Through many forms, from singing in daily activities to reenacting on stage, it is preserved, maintained and promoted by the entire Nghe An community and even those who were not born in Nghe An.

In our province, there are currently more than 100 folk song clubs operating; Vi and Giam Folk Song Festivals are regularly organized from the grassroots, regional, provincial and inter-provincial levels. Vi and Giam are commonly performed in entertainment and exchange activities, organized and taught in the community and in schools; promoted and popularized in the mass media, and passed down from generation to generation. All of this shows the love, pride and efforts of our province in restoring and reviving this art form that has a space for performance anytime, anywhere. Preserving and promoting the value of Vi and Giam of Nghe An is to contribute to enriching the Vietnamese national culture with its rich identity, making Vi and Giam forever a spiritual food not only for Nghe An people, Vietnamese people but for all humanity. That is why Nghe An folk songs have become intangible cultural heritage of humanity that needs to be preserved and promoted.

Reporter:Sir, Nghe Tinh Vi and Giam folk songs have been recognized as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity. So to preserve and promote this precious heritage, what specific activities have we had after the honoring ceremony?

Mr. Pham Tien Dung:Immediately after the honoring ceremony, many activities of departments, branches and organizations in our province took place very vigorously: that is the participation of press agencies in the province in propagating and promoting heritage. In particular, on June 25, the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 370/KH-UBND on the implementation of the National Target Program in 2015 on supporting folk song clubs in the work of preserving and promoting the value of the Vi and Giam Folk Song Heritage in the locality. Another good thing is that Nam Dan district is currently coordinating with the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Nghe An Folk Song Heritage to bring folk songs to serve tourists at the Kim Lien Relic Site (Nam Dan) on Saturdays and Sundays every week... However, all these activities are just the tip of the iceberg of the preservation process. Because if we want to preserve and promote, we must bring folk songs back to the working people, folk songs must live, must be attached to the spiritual life of the working people. That is the most effective way to preserve and promote.

Reporter:As you said, if we want to preserve Vi and Giam folk songs in the most sustainable way, we must return folk songs to the working people. And the fact that folk song clubs in the province are operating more and more effectively is the most correct direction at present. However, in recent times, in the clubs, the preservation and teaching of old folk songs with lyrics has been somewhat "overshadowed" by new folk songs with lyrics. Does this have any impact on the preservation of Vi and Giam folk songs, sir?

Mr. Pham Tien Dung:Vi and Giam folk songs must also develop in the direction of society. Saying that does not mean that we do not preserve our roots, but to help us understand that: Preservation and development must go hand in hand. In the past, our ancestors sang folk songs during the days of going to the forest, planting, spinning, weaving or bailing water at the communal house... but now those scenes no longer exist, and instead there are high-rise tiled roofs, concrete roads, fields that bring mechanization into production... So how to preserve Vi and Giam folk songs in the space of the past? Or preserve Vi and Giam folk songs by writing new lyrics on ancient melodies to suit the space of today? Those are the concerns of those working in the industry like us.

In fact, to adapt to the new situation, clubs in the province are currently following the trend of preserving ancient melodies on the basis of writing new lyrics. That is, they still keep the ancient melodies of Vi and Giam but replace them with new lyrics with content related to today's life such as praising the new countryside, the changing homeland or praising the Party, Uncle Ho... And the ancient melodies today are not "inferior" to the new melodies. I can affirm that most of the ancient melodies have become songs that are memorized by heart, treasures for folk artists in the clubs. Because to compose a new song based on an ancient melody, those artists must know all the ancient melodies to be able to compose successfully. That is what I dare to affirm because I also used to sing folk songs, and composed songs with folk melodies.

Reporter:So in the coming time, what specific directions will we have for this precious heritage, sir?

Mr. Pham Tien Dung:This responsibility is not only the responsibility of the cultural sector but also the participation of the whole society. After the honoring ceremony, every Nghe An citizen must realize his or her own responsibility in it. How can every Nghe An citizen know how to sing folk songs, know a folk song by heart and love folk songs? After all, if we ourselves do not love folk songs, how can people in other regions love folk songs? To do that, we must step up propaganda work on the media. Propaganda by including folk songs in annual competitions and performances in schools, offices, etc. As for the education sector, in addition to including folk songs in extracurricular activities, we must organize annual folk song singing competitions, expand the scale from school level, district level to provincial level, increase the time for students to learn folk songs, and make their souls imbued with folk songs.

To teach folk songs to the people, the Department of Culture is currently developing a program to teach folk songs on Nghe An radio and television. In fact, we have implemented this program before and it was very effective, but to adapt to the new situation and increase the broadcasting time, in the coming time, we will coordinate with the Radio and Television Station to reopen this program with more time and more systematic content, more suitable for many ages. In addition, a direction that is also being focused on is to create a performance space and combine Vi and Giam folk songs with tourism development activities, focusing first on the Kim Lien relic site. Organize campaigns to compose new lyrics, print and distribute publications, develop policies to encourage artisans and the community to actively contribute to the management, preservation and promotion of this precious heritage... To make Vi and Giam become spiritual baggage for generations of Nghe An people in particular, and the Vietnamese people in general, together contributing to preserving and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture with a strong national identity. To let the quintessence of Vietnamese culture blend and shine with the quintessence of human culture.

Reporter:Thank you for this interview!

Thanh Thuy

(Perform)