As one of the most popular folk-music instrument of ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, T’rung is considered the symbol of Vietnam’s ethnic minority life.

Appearance

T’rung is one of the popular musical instruments closely associated with the spiritual life of the Bahnar, TSedan, Giarai, Ede and other ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. It is made of short bamboo tubes differing in size, with a notch at one end and a beveled edge at the other. The long big tubes give off low-pitched tones while the short small ones produce high-pitched tones. The tubes are arranged lengthwise horizontally and attached together by two strings.

History

The creation of this special folk-musical instrument is an hymn of labour and spirit of the Vietnamese ethnic groups for living and developing.

When human were living in wild ages, they had both to work for living and to struggle with nature for existence. At that time, they did not have lot of entertaining activities after hard working days. Stone drum appeared much later when primitive society developed with divine worship custom. Therefore, it was a great joy when the first T’rung was formed.

Today’s role

Among folk-musical instruments made by bamboo in Vietnam , T’rung is appreciated as a favourite and original one. It is a communally symbol and typically Vietnamese. The sound is lively beautiful. T’rung is always served for the merry gauds, especially in the Highland tribes While flute and pan-pipe are usually used  for expressing love feelings. That is why the Vietnamese ethnic groups called it happy music as it brings all the joyful sounds.

Basically, a traditional folk-musical T’rung is made by the sharpened bamboo tubes. They are linked on one shelf in order from low to high sound, offering a beautiful sound wave. When creating it, they were aware of different sounds between the small tubes and the big ones. When placing them in the order, they attained great sounds. Each tube speaks “t’rung” when being knocked on. As a result, this folk-musical instrument is called T’RUNG. On the shelf, it would be hanged over different sound systems according to each user’s need.

In the majestic Central Highlands, T’rung is often played after back-breaking farm work and during evening get-togethers in the communal house around a bonfire with young boys and girls singing and dancing merrily. The sounds of the gong and T’rung also mingle together at wedding parties and village festivals.

As time goes by, T’rung instrument has been greatly improved. More tubes have been added, and at times as many as 48 tubes are arranged in three arrays capable of performing intricate piece of modern music while preserving the traditional sound scale. Some players have invented a stick notched at both ends for a single hand to produce two sounds at the same time, heightening the artistry of the instrument.

Vietnam’s national music bands have never neglected the role of T’rung, an instrument which is original and made of simple materials, but highly appreciated at performances in the famous musical halls of many foreign countries.

Normally, the song is usually accompanied by a picture of  boy or girl drummers with axehead-shaped  turbans and long-shaped drums hung loose from the neck down to about the belly. This drum is called Trong Com, which contributes an unique sound – now happy and cheerful, now low, soft and woeful recalling the innermost feelings of one’s native country, one’s homeland…

The history behind

Legend  goes that  once upon  a time,  there was a poor Confucian disciple who was  very unlucky  in competitions  and examinations and had to go begging. Everyday, he went past the mansion  of a wealthy family where there was always a girl waiting to give him rice. One day, so moved by her good deed, the young man came to thank the girl. However, she  said  that she had done just what she had been ordered to do by her young mistress. On learning that, the man requested to see the mistress, who was a  kind-hearted  girl. Seeing the poor scholar bowing with joined hands, the damsel hurriedly bent down to raise him and said: “Never  mind, please! I understand and sympathize with your unlucky lot. Since you depart now, I would like to give you a small sum as travelling expenses and this golden hair pin in the earnest hope that one day you will succeed in  making a living and come back to the native land, and then…”.

The girl left the sentence unfinished, but  the scholar had got the message. Fully conscious of his fated misfortune, he decided to turn to music with a determination to achieve success. As time passed, he became famous. Bearing in mind the old promise, he returned to the native village, hoping to meet again his benefactor. Unfortunately, upon arrival, he learnt that the damsel had just passed away due to illness. In his great lament, the young man brought along his musical instrumentalist guild to pay tributes to the deceased and himself created a small, cylindrical drum with rice stuck against both drumheads in commemoration of the ill-fated girl. The strip from which the drum was hung was made of white cloth symbolizing the mourning band. And as he clapped the drumheads, the doleful sounds echoed his deep pain and the loss of his sweetheart.

The Trong Com is held at both ends by a strip hanging over the performer’s neck. It thus lies horizontally against the belly of the drummer who uses both hands to clap the drumheads. In the past, people stuck a handful of glutinous rice to each drumhead. The glutinous rice stuck against the drumhead lends its name to the drum (Trong Com in Vietnamese literally means “Rice Drum”).

The Trong Com gets its name from the practice of placing a pinch of hot steamed rice in the middle of the drum skin to “tune” the instrument. Cylindrical drums are straight-sided. They may have one head, but more often have two heads (one head at each end). One head may have a snare (buzzing string) stretched across it. The body of the drum is made of wood in a tubular shape with the ends slightly tapered. A string is passed through the holes pierced on the edge of each of its faces and strung across it in a zigzag fashion to regulate its tension. The sound obtained from one face is five tones higher than the other. The sound of the trong com is a little dull, somewhat similar to the large-sized dan ho, and it is used to express sadness.

The Trong Com is one of the percussion instruments used in worshipping and various ceremonies, in accompanying Tuong or Cheo drama and in Phuong Bat Am or an octet (a  popular  ensemble  of  eight  instrumental timbres). Its use has also spread to Cai luong (reformed opera) and other orchestras. The player, when standing, has the Trong Com slung over his stomach. When sitting he rests his instrument on his lap. He strikes the faces of the drum with his fingers with varied style.

Meaningful flow of sound in a rotating cylindricity of Trong Com is so popular in Vietnamese traditional festivals, that always bring about different feelings for the listeners, now happy and cheerful, now low, soft and woeful…

Today, there are “Quan Ho dai”, “New Quan Ho”, “the renovated Quan Ho”. This shows that there may be some kinds of Quan Ho that are not real Quan Ho. Thus, from what epoch has the tradition of Quan Ho dated?

Quan ho

One of the old polular tales narrates as follows: Once upon a time, Lung Giang village (Liem village) and Tam Son village (Tu Son), both in Bac Ninh province, were in very good relations. Every year, on the 13th of the first lunar month, Tam Son village held a singing party at the communal house and invited five or six elderly men and five or six elderly women together with a great number of young singers of Lung Giang to come to join them. At the festival came into being a form of dialogue. Alternately, each time the young man of one of the villages had sung, the girls from the other village would reply in singing. Such singing competitions lasted all night until the morning of the following day. However, it’s asserted that only under the Ly dynasty (1009-1225) did the folk-song Quan Ho begin to develop strongly and become joyful festivals lasting as much as half a month.

quan hoPeople of ancient times narrated as follows: Although their capital had been established in Thang Long, every year at springtime the Ly Kings always returned to their native locality, Kinh Bac, to hold joyful festivals. Each time, the fleet of dragon boats of the king entered Thien Duc river (or Duong river), the kindred and officials (Quan Vien Ho) of the Ly family, including children, the elderly, young men and young girl, all stood on the two banks of the royal canal which is reserved to welcome royal dragon boats. They sang hymns of praise, claping their hands and sang songs praising the king to the rhythm of the boat’s oars and to the rhythm of the castanets of the Chief Rower. The king often gave a special traditional feast, granted money, silk and opened a official sanity party who recited poems and sang. Since then on, this kind of folk-songs bears the name of Quan Ho songs, or the songs of the Officials and the Kindred.

Each year, on the 13th of the 1st lunar month, on the Lim hills or in the Lim pagoda’s park, among the blossoming peony bushes, the pilgrims come from every corner of the country and distinguished and smart young men and young girls of the region gather for sight seeing, contemplating blossoming flowers, encountering and making acquaintance with each other and listening together to recitals of songs, or sing Quan Ho songs.

Coming Lim festival in groups of young men or women, Quan Ho singers are dressed in their best clothes, men carry with them an umbrella of black silk, women a fan under a cartwheel palm-leaf hat tucked under their arms. A female group may be the first to go up to a male group and offer betel quids, thus striking up an acquaintance. A dialogue begins in the form of songs. In any event, courliness is the rule. The men call themselves “Your younger bothers” and address the women as ” Our elder sisters”; conversely, the latter call themselves “Your younger sisiters” and address the former as” Our elder brothers”. Female duets keep up the conversation by exchanging songs with male duets.

For instance, if the female group sing:

“How dare we! You elder brothers are like the moon that shines in the sky, we your younger sisters, we are but tiny lamps lighting small cottages”.

The men will answer unpretentiously:

“Please be the first to sing, elder sisters, we’ll follow suit”.

The acting seen in this theatre is a dramatic art form in which the actors make use of their technical mastery to describe the actions and states of mind of the characters. This type of acting is different from other styles which require the actors to give up their individuality to transform themselves into the characters of the play.

Tuong stage has a very concise symbolization. Only with some actors on the stage, the whole scene of the court with all the officials who are attending royal ceremonies could be seen, or two generals with some soldiers fighting also show a battle with hundreds of thousands of troops and horses fighting fiercely, and even a gourd of wine and four wooden cups also express a lowish banquet. It is a mistake to deal with Tuong without mentioning the art of making up. It is because just looking at a made-up face, we may guess the personality and social class of that character. For example, a canthsus drawn toward one’s ears show that he is a great gentleman and hero. As for beards, a black, curly beard is for a fierce man, three-tuft beard for a gentleman; a dragon’s beard for Kings and mandarins and for majesty; a mouse’s whisker, a goat’s beard and a fox’s whisker for cunning and dishonest men. Beardless man must be students.

The gestures of characters on the stage are stylized with symbolization, which attract the viewers passionately. To a western-style drama, when a general rides a horse, it must be a real one or a horse-like costume ; but, to an actor of Tuong, only a white, brown red or black whip also means many kinds of horses: black, sorrel or white. The actor of Tuong acts very concisely. Only with a whip, he is able to make the viewers passionate through delicate acting’s with horses galloping or at full gallop, of which there are good-mannered or restive ones… With an oar, the actor of Tuong is able to show the viewers the boat fast sailing, wavering due to waves, making the viewers feel as through they were onthe boat.

The accompanying tomtoms in Tuong are very important, because they start the actor’s sentiment; they bring the past time and space to the present; they unite the character’s sentiment with the stage, and the actor with the audience. The art of Tuong in Vietnam includes those of painting, sculpture through the ways of making up, costumes and dance, pantomine, singing, saying through the actings of actors; as well as the combination of traditional musical instruments of Vietnam. The art of Tuong has raised the lofty view of desire to the true – the good – the beautiful (Chan – Thien – My) as well as the viewpoints of life of the ancients: Benevolence – Righteousness – Civility – Knowledge – Loyalty ( Nhan – Le – Nghia – Tri – Tin) through special characters who are benevolent and righteous. Tuong is one of the valuable pearls reflecting the rich and special culture of Vietnamese people.

“Hat then” performances are important ceremonial events, which unite the entire community.
Long Poems consist of several chapters with different content lengths. A show usually involves two or three groups of singers, plus musicians. The epics last for hours and are devided into short and long chapters, which are often repetitive. Anyone planning to sit through a “hat then” ritual had best get comfortable; the longest epic contains 35 chapters and 4,949 lines.

In the ceremony procession, not only must the artist carry out elaborate religious rituals, but also act as a general actor singing, playing music, dancing, and making gestures to demonstrate the meaning of the sentence he is singing. Sometimes the artist also performs other activities such as chewing cups and other things.

Music is the main element that completely penetrates the performance. Sometimes the music is accompanied with song, and at other moments it serves as a background for dance or connecting parts of a song.The main musical instruments in the “Then” performance is the “Tin Tau” (a traditional stringed musical instrument resembling a guitar) and a chain of shaking instruments. Sometimes the band has a bell present.
All people in the Tay Nung community, regardless of ages, sexes, and religions are fond of “Then” songs. Some groups such as the Kinh Mooing in the same region have also been incorporating this kind of art in their spiritual lives.

Young people now enjoy new music that comes tothem from the radio, television, audio and video tapes, as well as compact discs. So, do they still show any attachment to the old folk tunes so loved by their elders, such as the melodies of ca tru? Ca tru is a musical genre that calls for expertise as well as sensibility on the part of the listeners. In return, it provides the most refined enjoyment.

Fortunately, ca tru is now being restored and is more liked by the younger generation. Research scholars have traced the origins of ca tru to areas of high culture, such as the ancient imperial capital of Thang Long (present-day Hanoi), Ha Tay, etc. Artists of great talent have practiced the art, including Quach Thi Ho, Thuong Huyen, Kim Dzung, etc. Some of them are now in their seventies, but a successor generation has blossomed and holds great promise.

Ca tru is where poetry and music meet. People familiar with such ancient verse as luc bat (the six eight-syllable distich) and hat doi (singing tossed back and forth between groups of young men and women), and who are capable of sympathizing with the sentiments expressed in the sound of a small drum or a two-string viol, are more likely to fully enjoy a recital of ca tru.
Many famous poets of past centuries were great amateurs of ca tru who wrote beautiful lines to go with its melodies. One well known instance is the poem singing the enchantment of a pilgrimage to Chua Huong (Perfume Pagoda) by Chu Manh Trinh. Coming from the lips of a ca tru singer, it has bewitched successive generations of pilgrims visiting the hills and streams of the famous pagoda complex in Ha Tay Province.

Ca tru music is most enjoyable when there is complete harmony between the words being sung, the rhythm marked by a pair of small bamboo sticks held by the singer who strikes a small block of wood or bamboo called phach, and, last but not least, the appreciation shown by a man among the audience beating a small drum at the appropriate moments.

In short, ca tru is a refined form of art which is paradoxically appreciated and loved by audiences of all compositions. There are those who sit in small numbers in an urban auditorium to enjoy a recital. A Ca TruClub has been founded in Hanoi where amateurs of this musical genre, young and old, local and foreign, regularly meet to enjoy its charming melodies.

Ca tru singing is inscribed on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of Urgent Safeguarding on 1st October 2009.

The local authorities are also offering a 50 percent discount on entrance fee to students and soldiers.

Town authorities are also further considering reducing the entry fee for diplomatic delegations, scholars and researchers.

Hoi An is an ancient town located in the central province of Quang Nam and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants.

The city possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Lam Ap Pho (Champa City). Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Cham (people of Champa) controlled the strategic spice trade and with this came tremendous wealth.

Hoi An was an important trading centre in Vietnam in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled.

During this period of the China trade, the town was called Hai Pho (Seaside Town) in Vietnamese. Originally, Hai Pho was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the “Japanese Bridge”(16th-17th century). The Chua Cau bridge is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese, the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist pagoda attached to one side.

In 1999, Hoi An was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, with buildings that display a unique blend of local and foreign influences.

Source: VietnamNet

Ngo Hoa, Deputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee and Head of the festival’s organising board, said that one theatre group from the region of Poitou-Charentes will entertain visitors with installation and street art while the funk band Les Traine-Savates will play at the festival’s opening ceremony and various other open sites in Hue City during the festival.

One of the more bizarre acts comes from the Siphon Cosmique Theatre Group which will perform a show on a special stage made from ploughing machines at Nguyen Trai High School in Thuan An Township and at the tile roofed bridge at Thanh Toan.

During the festival, famous photographer Sébastien Laval will exhibit his photos of ethnic minority groups from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia at the Dien Tho royal palace and in Nam Dong District. Laval will also place huge portraits of ethnic minority people at various sites throughout the city.

French artistes have appeared at the Hue Festivals in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 and France has also helped the province to carry out many other cultural and social projects.
Source VNA

An ancient house at Thanh Chuong Viet Palace.

This architectural structure was initially the home and studio of Thanh Chuong, one of the celebrated painters in contemporary Vietnamese art.

Soon after its existence in 2002, Thanh Chuong Viet Palace instantly became famous as a unique cultural preservation resort, a spiritual legacy of Vietnamese art and culture that attracts lots of local and foreign visitors, people who love and want to have an in-depth understanding of Vietnamese culture, fine arts and spiritual life.

Lying on a hill leaning back over Soc Son Mountain, the site covers over 10,000 square meters and keeps thousands of cultural and historical artifacts of dynasties Dinh, Ly, Tran and Le which artist Thanh Chuong spent his life to collect and store.

The simple path to the site, to cottage houses, lotus ponds, together with images of water rice civilization such as water ladles, rice mortars, bamboo beds and green-moss stone steps, brings tourists nostalgic feelings but is familiar and cozy.

Cottage houses with earthen walls are not cold and alone in the world of Vietnamese culture at all but they inspire visitors to think back to their forefathers. Once visiting the complex, visitors also have a chance to contemplate old houses belonging to many varied regions and cultures such as an old stilt house of the Muong ethnic people which is over 100 square meters and bought from Hoa Binh Province or another stilt house from the Northern mountainous area. In front of the stilt houses is a large pond with a stone bridge spanning through. Next is a five-floor tower built in ancient style and standing imposingly on a hill. At the middle of the site is an old house bought from the countryside of Nam Dinh Province, especially a five-story house nearby, striking with architecture of old temples, carved with meticulous and elegant patterns and decorated with many parallel sentences and bas-relief.

The highlight of the site is a complex of statues made of stone, wood, bronze or ceramic, installed and displayed in the houses and yards around the site. Moreover, tourists also have a chance to admire paintings of artist Thanh Chuong, works made by harmony of folk and contemporary, past and present.

At the palace, visitors can also enjoy folk music performances of quan ho, dan ca and water puppet shows.

Thanh Chuong Viet Palace will make guests who call on it feel as if they were living simultaneously in ancient and modern times since they can see with their own eyes the lost beauties of Vietnam now being resuscitated.

In a quiet valley, seven kilometers from Son La Town in Son La Province, there is a lush, bucolic beauty all around. The jungle mingles with the newly planted forest, which is well tended and protected by the local Thai hill tribe. Sparkling streams flow down the surrounding mountains where young Thai girls can be seen fetching water.

The valley is just a scattering of stilt-houses which look spacious and beautiful against the backdrop of the rolling hills and imposing mountainside. Local people who used to keep their cattle underneath the houses now keep cattle-pens further away from the settlement as they have been advised by the government. Each house has a tank of clean water supplied by the local reservoir.

In Tong hamlet, eight-year-old Leo Thi Vi is being taught a traditional dance called Mua xoe by her mother. Next year, she will join the village’s dance troupe and perform in Hanoi for the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long – Ha Noi.

“I like this dance very much,” says Vi. “My mother told me that this dance is important to Thai people. I have seen them dancing during harvest time and New Year celebrations.”

The dance is performed to welcome a bumper harvest of rice and corn. Dressed in traditional attire, Thai women always invite visitors to participate. It is ebullient music and a great way for hosts to have fun with guests.

When people get tired, they are invited to sip ruou can, the sweet rice alcohol kept in a large, bulbous jar and drunk through bamboo straws. The atmosphere is happy, if not boisterous, especially during a harvest festival. The party can keep going through the night.

Besides dancing, women also sing lyrical songs praising the beautiful scenery of their native land while wishing for good weather in order to ensure bountiful crops.

Vi’s grandmother, 70-year-old Loc Hoa Xuyen, says that although there were 32 variations of the traditional dance in the past, only a few remain nowadays. Different versions suit the changing mood of the evening.

“The Xoe vong (a dance with joined hands) is boisterous, while the Xoe non (a dance with conical hats) is gentle and the Xoe dieu (a dance with both hands and body movements) is graceful”, says Xuyen, who has taught traditional dancing in her community for 50 years.

In her opinion the most beautiful dance is Xoe non as the dancers’ hats collectively open to create a giant forest of white flowers.

“The hats move around concealing the dancers’ faces like dancing butterflies. It’s a very bewitching dance for audiences to watch”, the old woman says.

Xoe vong is the most popular dance as it demonstrates community solidarity and can be performed by as few as two or as many as a few hundred people. The dancers form a human circle while moving in time to the music.

If there is one circle of dancers, it moves counterclockwise around a fire. If there is more than one circle, the circles will move in opposite directions to be joined by people of all ages and social backgrounds.

In Muong Lo, Yen Bai province, women have a dance called Xoe kham khan moi lau in which dancers slowly lift up a handkerchief to reveal a bowl of liquor for guests to drink. No one can refuse this as it is a way to show respect and hospitality.

Another dance Xoe don hon symbolises the importance of maintaining loyalty despite living a hard life. The dance Xoe pha xi is performed by a group of dancers, and symbolises the importance of never forgetting one’s family or native land even if you travel to the furthest corners of the world.

For Xoe om lom top mu  people clap their hands while moving around in a circle. This shows people’s jubilation in the flush of success and happiness when reaping a bumper crop, welcoming in the New Year or getting married.

The culture of “xoe” dancing reflects and preserves Thai people’s lifestyle and culture. The dances also reflect people’s wish for a happy life of peace and prosperity.

The dances and accompanying music are truly an indispensable part of Thai culture. A Thai folk song warns that “without Xoe dancing, festivals will be meaningless, the crops of rice and maize will not be abundant and people will not be able to get married.”

In the quiet valleys of the countryside, the show will always go on.