Over the past six decades, the artisan has wholeheartedly preserved and passed down the folk singing which has been recognized as national intangible cultural heritage.
In November 1984, many years after national reunification, Bay returned to his home village as a sick soldier losing 61 percent of his working capacity. He was elected as secretary of the Party committee of his village and then chairman of Ninh Lai commune people’s committee until his retirement.
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Eminent artisan Luc Van Bay teaches children in Ninh Lai commune soong co folk songs. |
Realizing that the soong co folk singing was in danger of falling into oblivion, he had many sleepless nights. He said that like other ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, the San Diu people have their own language, script and cultural and artistic treasures imbued with national identity and the soong co folk singing is a highlight. The singing has been passed down for hundreds of years.
According to artisan Bay, the soong co folk singing originated from simple life, expressing the thinking, feelings and aspirations of the San Diu people in daily life. Soong co is a genre of lyrical folk songs and a kind of duet singing as well. Such a singing has nourished the souls of many generations of the San Diu people.
It is the reason for Bay to spend most of his time studying and collecting more than 1,000 old soong co songs. He established Ninh Lai commune soong co club whose 130 members gather weekly.
Notably, artisan Bay has successfully opened two classes to teach more than 70 children in the commune the group’s language and soong co songs.
Artisan Bay can still sweetly sing soong co songs and tirelessly restores such a folk culture imbued with the identity of the San Diu ethnic minority group.
In 2019, Luc Van Bay was honored with the title of eminent artisan in intangible cultural heritage by the State President. That title is a source of encouragement for him to continue to passionately attach his life to and do his utmost to preserve the soong co folk singing.
In a conversation with us, Chairman of Ninh Lai commune People's Committee Hoang Khanh Linh stressed that in recent years, the preservation and promotion of the traditional cultural values of the San Diu ethnic minority group have always been paid attention to and highly appreciated by local Party committee and authorities. They have partly embellished cultural features of 22 ethnic minority groups in Tuyen Quang province. The chairman attributed the achievements to the significant contribution of artisans like Luc Van Bay.
Translated by Mai Huong