It was more crowded than usual at Cat Lai Port in southern Ho Chi Minh City on the day when visitors to Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago were going to depart to visit their relatives on the islands. Aboard the ship, everybody was ready to say farewell to the mainland before taking their long trip to the offshore Truong Sa Archipelago.
In the bright sunshine falling over the ship, we saw an old man coming out from the ship’s back deck. He wore a turban on his forehead, and his long, white beard flying in the wind made his sunburnt face more impressive and attractive to most people on the deck.
The old man, Lo Phu Bao, is a native of the Cham ethnic group from Ninh Phuoc District of central Ninh Thuan Province. He said he was going to visit his son, Lo Lam Sinh, who was on an army mission on Truong Sa Lon Island.
After staying overnight on the ship, on the following morning most of the passengers, although many of them got seriously seasick, tried to climb up the deck so as to breath in the wholesome air of the sea. Some people standing at the front deck pointed to something far ahead, which was later realized to be Truong Sa Lon Island.
When everyone was enjoying the sea view, some strange musical sounds suddenly came from the ship’s cabin that attracted the attention of all the people on the deck.
It turned out that the old Cham man, with a turban on his forehead, was blowing a Saranai clarinet that produced extremely magical and attractive melodies to the listeners. It seemed that he was not aware of anything around at that moment, except performing and enjoying the melodies of the Saranai clarinet.
Amid the boundless sea, the music had some invisible power that connected people on the ship closer to one another. The magical melodies were echoing, up and down, slow and fast, just as stories depicted in the epic of the Cham people.
People standing on the deck, lured by the melodies, were all quiet, listening to the melodies, and then applauding the performer so whole-heartedly that he put more of his heart into playing the clarinet. Everyone seemed to regain their energy and forget their tiredness.
Someone cried aloud: “It’s Truong Sa!” Everybody was so glad when the ship got anchored at Truong Sa Lon Island.
The old Cham man was welcomed by his son right on the quay leading to the island, then both came into the station and sat on stone chairs by a stone table under a big tree. Around them was a crowd of soldiers and their relatives.
Then the Saranai melodies by the old Cham man were echoing, rising up and going down, spreading far and wide, blending amid the green leaf canopy and reaching out to the vast blue sea.
His spiritual gift to the soldiers was so special during his stay on Truong Sa Lon Island that he was then given a nickname “old Saranai” by all the people on the island. Wherever he went he always made the environment so cheerful with his Saranai clarinet, just like at a festival of the Cham people.
The old Cham man and his Saranai clarinet attracted us so much that after the trip we decided to follow him to his native place in Ninh Thuan Province, a dry location in central Vietnam.
The “old Saranai” recalled to his native villagers what he saw and heard on Truong Sa Lon Island, including his performance of the clarinet and the warm response of the audience to the music. However, his stories focused more on how his son and other soldiers were doing to protect the Homeland’s territorial water.
We wondered when the soldiers on Truong Sa Archipelago would hear the Saranai melodies again. But we are sure its special melodies would have lingered in their mind for a long time, along with the wishes of happy and peaceful Truong Sa Islands.
Story: Thao Vy – Photo: Viet Cuong
Saranai Melodies on Truong Sa Related image(s)
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