Vietnamese music

In 2012 Tran Phuong Trinh was visiting the Netherlands, during her visit she was invited by the editors of 'Encanta' of the Amersfoort radio broadcasting the Golfbreker to tell about Vietnam and Vietnamese music. Her story can not only be read in this bulletin, you can also hear the whole radio show on You Tube

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Trinh did start with singing an old song for children. And this is what she told about her country and its music: Vietnam has a 4.000 years old history, you can find a lot of this history when you visit the country. It a long country from the north to the south 2.000 kilometres. It has the shape of the letter S. In the North the capital Ha Noi and the Red River, in the South we have the Mekong river and the biggest city which is Ho Chi Minh City or known as Saigon . And in the Middle we have Hue with the old Royal Palace, where the king was living. We have all varieties of nature and animal, some of our heritage is recognised as World Culture Heritage. We have 54 different ethnic groups living in the country. 90% of the people speak Vietnamese. The accent in the North, the South and the Middle is different. I will let you hear the mains stream of Vietnamese music. And we start in the North:

.Ca tru singer Pham Thi Hue with the Dan Dag ,a uniquely shaped lute .

Ca tru
In Chinese, tru means card. Ca means song in Vietnamese, hence the name ca tru. This refers to the bamboo tally cards men bought when they visited ca tru inns where ca tru was most often performed in the past. They often visited these inns to be entertained by the talented young women, who did not only sing, but with their knowledge of poetry and the arts they could strike up a witty conversation along with serving food and drink. The tallies were given to the singers in appreciation for the performance.

Cheo
Cheo , is considered the oldest music in north Vietnam. It is believed to have originated in the 11th century, and has its roots in village festivals in the Red River Delta. It based stories which can be legends, poetry, history or even daily life are the most important, "whenever there are stories, we have Cheo".

Some very special instruments
Next we are listening a Lullaby song which played with DAN BAU, an unique traditional Vietnamese monochord .

Another beautiful instrument is the DAN NHI, the Vietnamese two-chord fiddle, it is a sort of vertical violin with two strings, a long handle and a sound box, held in front of the player like a small cello and played with a bow. Dan Nhi comprises a tubular body made of hard wood with snake or python skin stretched over one end and a bridge. The neck of the Dan Nhi has no frets. Made of hard wood, one end of the neck goes through the body; the other end slants slightly backward. There are two pegs for tuning. .

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Here it is played by Ng¢ H¢ng Quang, he plays Royal music from Hue. Hue was the Royal city it is in the middle of Vietnam. Quang was stuying in the Netherlands for a while, here you can hear and see him on national Dutch television: Vrije Geluiden.

Now we're going to listen to the KLONG PUT.

Klong put

This woodwind musical instrument was intended for women. It is played by ethnic groups in the Central Highlands, such as the Xo Dang, Ba Na, Gia Rai, Hre, etc. In Vietnam we do have 54 different ethnic groups. The Klong put is made of a set of 2 to 12 bamboo tubes. When played, the tubes are laid horizontally and the player must either stand with her back bent or kneel while clapping her hands to push air into the tubes to produces only tones/ different pitches this instrument is considered as the residence of Mother Rice (goddess) and closely associated with agricultural production, being player exclusively by women on the field and at specific festivities, such as eating new rice, closing the rice storage house, welcoming the New Year, etc. This instrument has been brought to stage by professional artists who perform various pieces.

Cai Luong
In the South we have the CAI LUONG which is a form of modern folk opera, particularly famous in Southern Vietnam. It is combination of southern Vietnamese folk songs, Chinese-based classical theatre form and modern spoken drama, more or less influenced by Western opera. It took origin in Southern Vietnam in the early 20th century and blossomed in the 1930s as a theatre of the middle class under the French colony. Listening to cai luong songs, one can feel their beautiful lyrics praising Vietnamese moral values. The principal supporting songs in cai luong is the vong co - a special type of singing with the background music of the "dan tranh" (16-chord zither) and the (electric) guitar.

. de Dan Tranh

In the past another important instrument was the Dan Nguyet. It is still played, but now they have also a very special electrric guitar.

A Cai luong performance always includes dances, songs and music, whose influences is originally drawn from southern folk one. The music of Cai luong has so far been enriched with hundreds of new tunes.
Cai luong types. There are mainly two types of Cai luong: ancient cai luong and modern cai luong. The latter consists of stories of modern Vietnamese society. Its plots refer to romantic love stories blended with family or social relationships. The stories also explore cultural norms, social norms and other aspects of Vietnamese society. This type can be somehow described as tragedy but happy ended.
Up to now, although cai luong had passed through the bright period but it still has a lot of loyal listeners. Throughout one hundred years of development, cai luong had claimed its important role in the Vietnamese traditional art cradle! de cai luong guitar We will hear first an older recording an then a recording where you can hear the electric guitar very well.

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Popular Music in Vietnam
Now young people probably listen to half Western, half Vietnamese music. We also listen to Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber. And for me, that is good that people should have more choice. One of the most famous singer/songwriter is Trinh Cong Son, he has inspired a whole new generation of Vietnamese singers, and not only singers.

here you can see him together with Khanh Ly, she was his favorite singer and is also very very popular in Vietnam. This is one of his most beautiful songs, performed by Khanh Ly .

This is one of his very beautiful songs performed by Khan Ly:

Each Day I Choose a Joy

Every day I pick a fun
Choose the flowers and smiles
I invite you to keep sun ??wind picked up to take
For your eyes smiling leaning bay leaf

Every day I choose to go my way
Road to the brothers to friends
I'm waiting for you on your feet too familiar
Carpet yellow leaves me to step through

And so I live each day happy
And so I came in my life
Fell in love with the life of my heart

Every day I choose joy
Along with everyone you find to
I chose this place together singing
To see the flight laughter

Every day I choose once
Choose the language in real life lullaby light
I chose full sun, rain choose to
To Rice waved title celebrations

And so I live each day happy
And so I came in my life
Fell in love with the life of my heart

Every day I choose to sit very still
Looking clearly hometown, sitting rethink their
I suddenly knew why I live
Because the country needs a heart

Tran Phuong Trinh