Vietnam Culture Art performance

Introduction Vietnamese music has had a rather long history. Since ancient times, the Vietnamese have had a strong inclination for music.    (Detail)

Royal dance 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 of ceremonies. The Vietnamese royal dance has been fixed the form clearly in the Viet and Cham people community.    (Detail)

Folk Dance 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 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)

Religious Belief Dance Religious belief dance is closely connected to ceremonies, beliefs and customs of Vietnamese nationalities.    (Detail)

Modern Dancing 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)

Nha nhac, Vietnamese Court Music - An Intangible Cultural Heritage 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)

Ca Tru 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)

Quan Ho 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)

Water Puppets 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)

Cheo or Vietnamese Popular Theatre Cheo is a form of stage performance that originated in the northern countryside. The word cheo means “lyrics of folk ballads, proverbs”.    (Detail)

Cai Luong 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 luongvery romantically.    (Detail)

Classical Opera or Tuong 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 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)

Then Song 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)

Hue music and song 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)

Ly Folk Song or Ly Nam Bo The ly song is one of the special folk songs of the Vietnamese people. It is sung in the northern, central and southern regions of Vietnam.    (Detail)

Gongs or Cong-Chieng 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)

Lithophone or Dan Da 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 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)

36 string zither 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)

Tranh zither 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)

Moon-Shaped Lute or Dan Nguyet 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 Dan nhi is a simple instrument that can achieve miracles. A folksong of the north, a lullaby of the centre, or a cai luong aria of the south will lose much of its charm if not accompanied by the dan nhi, a traditional instrument capable of a great variety of expression.    (Detail)

K’ni 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)

Dan Day 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 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)

Xam Song  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)

Dan Tam 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)

Dan Ty Ba The Ty Ba is a string instrument which is frequently present in a traditional orchestra.   (Detail)

Tinh Tau musical lute The tinh tau is an original musical instrument very popular among the Tay, Thai and Nung minorities of the northern highlands.    (Detail)

Traditional Wedding Music of the Khmer It is impossible to be without this kind of traditional music at a Khmer wedding reception in the South of Vietnam.    (Detail)

Khen Mong 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). The E De ethnic minority in the Central Highlands use a similar instrument called Ding Nam.    (Detail)

K'long Put 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 Festival Music 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)

Tay Son Military Music 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)

Trong Com 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)

Mong flute or Sao 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)