Ngan Ha

Children’s folk songs are a form of oral literature, combining prose, poetry, folk culture, games, lyrics, and music. Using simple drawings, the artist Ngo Xuan Khoi has illustrated many books of children’s folk songs.

 
 

 

 

“Three women go to sell piglets” (Ba bà đi bán lợn con)

Passed down for generations over hundreds of years, these children’s folk songs include simple and fun riddles, rhythmic chants, songs linked to games, and rhymes used in folk games. These folk songs were transmitted from one generation to the next, and from region to region. Sometimes, the songs changed over time, or were lost and forgotten.

Their creators are mostly unknown. We can say that “common folk” were the songs’ composers.

Artist Ngo Xuan Khoi was born in 1961 in Nghe An. Thanks to his love for illustrating, in 2010, a publisher invited him to illustrate some books of children’s folk songs. Perhaps it was his passion for this folk style that drove him to illustrate dozens of books in one go. All of a sudden, he discovered his own world within this genre.

Kids playing a folk game

“I have illustrated many books, including “Cuoi and the Banyan Tree”, “Dung dang dung de”, “Rong ran len may” (Dragon and Snake ascend to the clouds), and “Mot Ong Dem Cat” (A man counting sand),” said Mr. Khoi. “I discovered that I am very well suited to illustrating children’s folk song books.”

Many folk elements are successfully portrayed in the illustrations of the artist Ngo Xuan Khoi.