Royal dance in Viet Nam had a development process during many dynasties, from Dinh Dynasty in the 10th century to the Nguyen Dynasty in the early 20th century. It originated to serve royalty, and it was performed at different types ofceremonies.The Vietnamese royal dance has been fixed the form clearly in the Viet and Cham people community.
(Detail)
Approximately
2,500 years ago, pictures of dancers were engraved on the Dong Son
drums. These engravings reveal two dance styles, one with accessories
and one without accessories. The main dance accessory was a hat
ornamented with a bird feather; it appears that the ancient Vietnamese
treasured hats.
(Detail)
Religious
dance may sound similar to the also-mentioned religious belief category
of dance, but is more structured to the three main organized religions
of Buddhism, Catholicism and Brahmanism.
(Detail)
Vietnamese
modern dance started developing around 1945. It consists of a
combination of materials; some from the folk dance period and others
from the new era.
(Detail)
On
November 7, 2003, UNESCO bestowed world heritage status on 28 relics of
nations as masterpieces of oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
Among the 11 masterpieces of Asia, nha nhac (royal music) represents the
first intangible legacy of Vietnam to have been put on this list.
(Detail)
Young
people now enjoy new music that comes to them 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.
(Detail)
The birth place of quan ho folk
songs is Bac Ninh Province. During village festivals, which are held
every year, particularly in spring, young men and women gather in the
yard of a communal house or pagoda, on a hill or in a rowing boat, and
sing quan ho. This is a style of singing where songs alternate from group to group.
(Detail)
Vietnamese
water puppetry has a long history. An inscription on a stone stele in
Doi Pagoda, Duy Tien District, Nam Ha Province, relates a water puppet
show staged in the year 1121 to mark a birthday of King Ly Nhan Tong in
4036 words.
(Detail)
Cai luong is a kind of folk music that developed
in the early 20th century. It was first played by amateurs in the south. Thanks
to their soft voices, southerners sing cai luong very
romantically.
(Detail)
Tuong, also called hat boi
in the south, is a stage performance that came about during the Ly-Tran
dynasties and that became very popular nationwide during the following
centuries.
(Detail)
Hat van or hat chau van,
a traditional folk art which combines singing and dancing, is a
religious form of art used for extolling the merits of beneficent
deities or deified national heroes. Its music and poetry are mingled
with a variety of rhythms, pauses, tempos, stresses and pitches.
(Detail)
The then
song is the religious music of the Tay, Nung minorities. This type of
song can be considered a religious performance of Long Poems which
depict a journey to the heavens to ask the Jade Emperor to settle
trouble for the head of the household.
(Detail)
Chamber
music originated from royal music at the beginning of the 19th century
in the Nguyen Dynasty. It was well developed by the time of King Tu Duc.
(Detail)
Gongs
are musical instruments made of alloy bronze, sometimes with gold,
silver, or black bronze added to their composition. In the Kinh
language, the word cong identifies convex gongs and the word chieng refers to the flat ones. Gongs vary in size from 20 to 120cm in diameter.
(Detail)
The
lithophone is a set of stone slabs of different sizes and shapes
fabricated through an elementary technique. These stones are available
in the mountainous areas south of Central Vietnam and east of South
Vietnam.
(Detail)
T'rung is one
of the popular musical instruments closely associated with the
spiritual life of the Ba Na, Xo Dang, Gia Rai, E De and other ethnic
minority people in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
(Detail)
The
36-string zither is a percussion instrument. It has the shape of an
isosceles trapezoid, with a slightly convex sound board made of light,
porous, unvarnished wood.
(Detail)
The tranh zither is also called the thap luc cam or sixteen-stringed zither. The tranh zither appeared in Vietnam in the time of the Tran dynasty (12th-13th centuries).
(Detail)
According
to ancient carvings, the moon-shaped lute appeared in Vietnam in the
11th century. Intended to be played by men, the lute has maintained a
very important position in the musical traditions of the Kinh.
Therefore, this instrument is widely used in their folk, court, and
academic music.
(Detail)
Dan nhi is a simple instrument that can achieve miracles. A folksong of the north, a lullaby of the centre, or a cailuong aria of the south will lose much of its charm if not accompanied by the dannhi, a traditional instrument capable of a great variety of expression.
(Detail)
This
term, popular among the Ba Na and the E De, is used to name the
single-stringed fiddle played by some ethnic groups in the Truong
Son-Tay Nguyen region (Ba Na, Gia Rai, E De, Xo Dang, Pako, and Hre,
etc.).
(Detail)
In the past, the dan day was an accompanying instrument used only for one genre of songs, which later divided in two variants known today as hat cua dinh and hat a dao.
(Detail)
Dan bau is a musical instrument that touches the heart. The music of dan bau (one-stringed zither) should be solely for the pleasure of its player. Don't listen to it if you are a young woman.
(Detail)
The xam
song is one kind of song that was created by the Vietnamese a long time
ago, and which is considered a very special performance. People used to
walk in a group of two to three or four to five and sing, mainly in
residential areas such as a parking lot, a ferry-landing, or a market
gate.
(Detail)
This three-stringed lute is used by several ethnic groups in Vietnam. The Viet call it dan tam, whereas the Ha Nhi calls it ta in. This instrument exists in three sizes: large, medium, and small. The small is the most popular.
(Detail)
The khen is a musical instrument used by the Mong ethnic minority, who call it the kenh, while the Viet gave it the name Mong Khen (previously Meo Khen). TheE De ethnic minority in the Central Highlands use a similar instrument called Ding Nam.
(Detail)
This musical instrument was intended for women. The name klong put
of Xo Dang origin has become the common name of this woodwind musical
instruments depicted to the right. It is played by ethnic groups in Tay
Nguyen, such as the Xo Dang, Ba Na, Gia Rai, Hre, etc.
(Detail)
Rija is a term used by the Cham to designate numerous festivals related to agriculture and clans (for instance, Rija Prong, Rija Nagar or Rija Yaup, etc.).
(Detail)
This
type of music is played in military dance ceremonies. The Tay Son
Military Music originated in Binh Dinh Province, a place famous for its
practice of martial arts.
(Detail)
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.
(Detail)
Sao
is usually used to designate a vertical bamboo flute pierced with
finger holes. However, this term is often used by ethnic minorities to
describe several woodwind instruments that are quite different in
structure (single or double flutes, with or without a reed, with or
without finger-holes, etc.) and in how to hold them.
(Detail)