For dozens of years the image of elderly ethnic Thai, excellent artisan Nong Van Nhay, with his Tinh tau musical instrument has become familiar to people during Xoe dance nights of the Thai ethnic group in Muong So, Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province.

Since he was 13 years old Nong Van Nhay has been interested in watching beautiful Xoe dances that are as lissom as the water of the Muong So River.

The sound of a Tinh tau musical instrument was very attractive to him. Since then whenever he went to the field to work or tend the buffalo he brought a Tinh tau with him to learn how to play it.

Wherever there was Xoe dance night he attended to listen to Tinh tau performers, despite the distance of the locality and difficulties in crossing the mountains and streams.

With nearly 60 years of researching, making and adjusting thousands of Tinh tau musical instruments he has become a matchless artisan in making this type of musical instrument in Lai Chau Province.

Opportunities have attached him to this traditional musical instrument. In 1961 he began to study at the Culture and Art School of Thai Meo Autonomous Zone and later worked with the Lai Chau Province’s cultural and artistic troupe. In 1962 he was assigned to participate in the Northern Artistic Festival held at the Hanoi Opera House.

His performance on Tinh tau lured the audience and the jury board and won him the golden prize. At the first and second Then song and Tinh tau musical instruments festivals held in Thai Nguyen and Cao Bang Provinces respectively he won special prizes for his Tinh tau performance.

Nong Van Nhay said that materials for making a Tinh tau are simple and easy to find. The sound box of the instrument is made from half of a dried gourd fruit, its neck is made from mulberry wood and the strings from twined silk cord.

The most difficult step is to find a gourd fruit that is the right size, shape and age, with a thick skin, enabling it to produce just the right sound when tapped. The neck of the instrument is smooth without frets. While performing the artisan transfers the love for his village and nature to the instrument, putting his heart and soul into every note played.

Good news has wings, so Nhay has been known to the community of Thai ethnic people throughout Lai Chau and other provinces, such as Son La and Dien Bien, inviting him to perform during their Xoe dance festivals.

Nhay said that life has experienced great changes and only few young Thai men and women can perform old Xoe dances. Now only a small number of elderly villagers can make and play the Tinh tau.

With a desire to instil the Tinh tau image in the mind of young generations Nhay has eagerly bequeathed the know-how of making Tinh tau musical instrument to young people. During leisure time he brings the instrument to the banks of the Muong So Stream to teach teenagers and children how to play it. Every month he goes to the forest to seek wood to make Tinh tau instruments.

On rainy days he stays at home to play the Tinh tau. The sound of the instrument spreads throughout the small town, reflecting his wish that the sound of Tinh tau from his native land be forever preserved.

Source: VNP