Couple preserves a collection of more than 1,000 Quan Ho songs

Nguyen Van Quyen and Nguyen Thi Thom review their collection of Quan Ho folk songs.

Nguyen Van Quyen, born in 1936, began collecting Quan Ho songs in 1960, when he was a teacher in Kinh Bac ward.

After witnessing composer Luu Huu Phuoc and a delegation of artists from the Vietnam National Academy of Music, followed by composer Hong Thao, spend extended periods in Yen Man, an ancient Quan Ho village, conducting research into the folk tradition, he came to a realisation.

“All my life, I had lived in the heartland of Quan Ho without knowing how to preserve it, while people from afar were coming here to document and study it,” he recalled.

From then on, Quyen travelled extensively to Quan Ho villages, visiting veteran singers to learn their songs and record the lyrics.

As he grew older and his health weakened, his wife, Nguyen Thi Thom, became his constant companion and helped him complete his collection.

Sharing her husband's passion for Quan Ho, Thom made a determined effort to learn computer skills and music theory so she could type up lyrics, transcribe melodies and help compile, classify and organise the more than 1,100 songs he had painstakingly collected over several decades.

Their dedication culminated in the publication in 2011 of Dan ca Quan ho Bac Ninh (Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Songs), a collection of 400 antiphonal songs with musical notation, following UNESCO's inscription of Quan Ho on its heritage list.

In 2015, the couple completed another work, Tuyen tap Dan ca Quan ho (Anthology of Quan Ho Folk Songs), bringing together 1,176 songs classified into traditional categories, including giong le loi, giong le, giong gia ban and individual standalone songs.

Their sustained contributions to collecting and preserving Quan Ho folk songs earned Quyen and Thom the title of Artisan, conferred by the chairperson of the Bac Ninh People's Committee.

Their collection has also received the Bac Ninh Literary and Arts Award twice, in 2019 and 2025.

On the trail of traditional songs

Duong Duc Thang (far, right) joins fellow male and female Quan Ho singers in recreating the traditional performance forms of congratulatory and celebratory singing.

For those deeply devoted to cultural heritage, every rediscovered, documented and preserved ancient Quan Ho song represents a valuable addition to the folk music archive.

Such efforts help safeguard traditional singing practices and performance styles, allowing the cultural tradition to remain vibrant and pass on to future generations.

Born into a family with a long Quan Ho tradition, Duong Duc Thang, born in 1976 in Hoai Trung village, Lien Bao commune, had memorised an entire traditional song by the age of four.

By 16, he had learned almost the entire Quan Ho repertoire of his paternal grandparents, Duong Van Quyen and Nguyen Thi Hap, who were renowned for their mastery of the tradition in the area.

Thang recalled that before modern recording equipment became available, collecting songs was entirely a manual process.

He listened carefully to veteran singers, committed the melodies and lyrics to memory, wrote them down and then practised them at home.

His grandparents' reputation, together with his own sincerity, gradually earned him the trust and affection of established Quan Ho singers, who passed on their knowledge to him.

Singers in Diem village, in particular, taught him numerous ancient songs and rare standalone pieces of considerable cultural value.

Years of perseverance have enabled Thang to build an extensive archive of Quan Ho materials.

He now preserves 18 handwritten notebooks containing nearly 1,500 songs, hundreds of audio recordings and a rich collection of traditional melodic styles.

These materials serve as valuable resources for teaching Quan Ho to younger generations.

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A lifetime devoted to quan ho

From the age of six, Nguyen Thi Them accompanied her mother to singing sessions, so Quan ho singing has become an indispensable part of the life of this artisan who was born in Bac Ninh Province in 1959. She is regarded as a nucleus in preserving and safeguarding many ancient and complex quan ho melodies and has successfully passed them on to successive younger generations.

 

Bac Ninh turns cultural essence of Quan Ho folk singing into unique tourism product

BAC NINH - Sixteen years after being recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Quan Ho folk singing — the signature art form of Bac Ninh province — has evolved from a traditional cultural expression into a captivating tourism experience that attracts visitors from across Vietnam and beyond.