In order to preserve and promote the art of Chau van singing, the French Cultural Centre in Hanoi and Vietnam’s Chau van Singing Preservation Club recently organized a two-night Chau van singing performance, drawing much attention from the public

Chau van, also known as Hat van and Hat bong, originates from the Red River delta and mainly the northern province of Nam Dinh. It is a religious form of art which combines singing and dancing that is often performed in the Hau dong(mediumship) rite of the religion of the “Four Palaces” or the Mother Goddess and Saint Tran (Tran Hung Dao). The lyrics and verses of the songs in Chau van singing focus on extolling the merits of beneficent deities or national heroes. Therefore, the melodies are smooth and attiring and then quick, strong and joyful in the fuss of tambourine, castanets and cymbal noises that always give the performance an animated atmosphere.  

Hau dong and Chau van singing are often performed at temples where saints are worshiped.
The medium is considered “a bridge” from the spiritual to the real world.

The book entitled “Kien van tieu luc” by scholar Le Quy Don (1726-1784) says: “In the Tran Dynasty (1225-1400), there was a style of singing in the kings’ presence, called Chau signing”. Chau van singing consists of different forms, including Van thi or Hat van (competition singing), Van tho or Hat tho (worship singing) and Van hau or Hat len dong (singing at the Hau dong rite).

Hat thi is often seen at competitions and only one person performs while Hat tho is performed on the first and fifth days of the month according to the lunar calendar and on festive days of saints’ parties. Hat len dong plays an important role in the rite of going into a trance. During the rite, the spirits of saints incarnate into male and female mediums who then dance and enjoy songs performed by Cung van (singers and instrumentalists).

The medium performs at  Hau dong rite.
The verses of songs in Chau van singing focus on praising the merits of saints.
The Hau dong rite is highlighted by Chau van singing and dancing for extolling the merits of
A dance at the Hau dong rite. 

The verses of songs in Chau van singing focus on praising the merits of saints.

The two-night Chau van singing show at the French Cultural Centre in Hanoi not only introduced to the audience the history and development of the unique artistic genre, but also presented the space of Chau van singing performance with the popular scenes of temples and palaces.

The show attracted the participation of famous artists who have been a part of Chau van singing for years, including Duc Hai (clarinet), Van Khai (two-string Chinese violin), Thanh Ha (zither with 36 brass strings) and Xuan Dung (flute). The artists brought the audience unique performances like “Quan Tam Phu”, “Quan Tuan Tranh”, “Chau De Nhat” and “Chau De Nhi”.

Prof. Ngo Duc Thinh, Head of Vietnam’s Chau van Singing Preservation Club, said: “Chau van singing is a valuable religious form of art that needs to be preserved, promoted and introduced to the public both at home and abroad. Chau vansinging has acquired over the centuries both quintessence and folksy characteristics so it has all factors to be recognized as a world’s intangible cultural heritage.

VNP

Tapping instruments form an integral part of the Vietnamese traditional musicology in general and the imperial court music in particular, helping to establish a particularity and identity to the Vietnamese culture. 

 

Tapping instruments are found in exceptional abundance across Vietnam, in terms of quantity, category and sonority, creating a diversity in function and occupying a major position in virtually all the genres of traditional arts. Hundreds of tapping instruments have made contributions to the enrichment of the patrimony of Vietnamese traditional music.

From the Ly Dynasty (the 10th century), the Tran Dynasty (the 13th century), the Le Dynasty (the 14th century) to the Nguyen Dynasty (the 19th century), Vietnamese musicology generally and court-music particularly made giant strides in the formation of the genre of professional, academic musical culture.

In 1060, King Ly Thanh Tong permitted the adoption of the Champa music, re-arranging Champa musical compositions for court singers' and dancers' training and performance. Then the "trong com" (or Phan co) and the "nao bat" represented the tapping pieces among the musical instruments of the court orchestras.

During the Tran Dynasty (the 13th-14th centuries), both the court music bands and orchestras already used three tapping pieces of different sonority: the "chum choe" or "bo tieu bat" - the cymbals, made of brass, the "trong com" or "Phan co" -- cylinder-shape drums, swelling in the middle, with its two ends covered with leather and rice paste on, giving two different sounds, low and high, and the "trong cai" or "dai cau" -- the bass drum, giving a deep-toned rumbling or booming sound upon percussion.

In the court music under the Le Dynasty (the Year of Quang Hung 1578), the "dong van" set of tappings included the "nguong thien" drum -- the one with a thin drumhead stretched over only one end and painted yellow, the "long sinh", the "long phach", and the "phach xau tien" (castanets).

The military band (of the cavalry and the "ba lenh") under King Le - Lord Trinh used 10 snares to accompany a bass drum (the "Dai co"), and the wind instruments for the cavalry corps. The "ba lenh" utilized more wooden or bamboo tappings and a variety of drums, especially the "phong yeu" -- a cylinder-drum constricted in the middle, producing "tam" (low-pitched bass) on one end, and "bong" (high-pitched sound) on the other, hence its name also the "tam bong" drum.

Aside from the wind- and string-instruments, the court-music pieces of the Nguyen Dynasty (the 19th century) used only the drum with one end covered with a drumhead of leather (i.e the "Ban co"), along with a set of 3-sound drums -- the "tam am la" and the "sanh tien".

In the "Te Nam Giao" (Heaven-Praying Ceremony), the tapping instruments of the musical symphony orchestra included up to 28 drums and gongs (both low- and high-pitched) besides other wind instruments.

The "Nhac huyen" band alone used a "12-bell" set, a "12-piece" lithophone, a set of 8 small drums and many others.

Just these few lines are enough to show how rich the Vietnamese tapping instruments are! By far, the statistics and collection, study and enhancement of the values of hundreds of different categories of tapping instruments throughout the country are far from worthy of what has been bequeathed by our great great grandfathers.

Source: VietNamNet/VNP

 

 

The trong com (rice drum) 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.

The trong com onsists of a hollow cylinder or hemisphere with a membrane stretched tightly over one or both ends, played by beating with sticks.
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.
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 to accompany tuong or cheo drama. Its use has also spread to cai luong (reformed opera) and other orchestras.