Vietnamese Music Intruments

Dan Bau consists of a long piece of wood, on which is stretched a silk or brass string, which is fastened at one end to a peg and at the other to a flexible bamboo plate. The string is passed repeatedly through an open dried gourd as sound box. Although having only one string, it can emit all the sounds in the pentatonic scale. The eight notes of Vietnamese music give modulations of greater amplitudes than those obtained by any other single-stringed instrument in the world. Today, Dan Bau is made very carefully to ensure aesthetic and sound quality. When played in public, it is often used with an electronic amplifier.

Danda , discovered by the French in Dac Lac in 1949,Danda (Lithophone) is an ancient musical instrument with 11 slabs of stone. Later, four more Dan da were discovered in Song Be and Khanh Hoa. It results from the researches that Dan da existed between 4,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Also called Tinh Ning, §µn gong is a musical instrument of the ethnic minority Ba Na (in Western Highlands). It has between 10 and 18 chords. The player uses his fingers to pluck the chords when playing. Each chord generates a separate tune, but §µn gong has no key. Young men use it to make solo performances when promenading, going to milpa or confiding to their sweethearts.

Nhi (or Co) is a sort of vertical violin with two strings of braided silk, a long handle and a sound box covered by a membrane of snake skin. With its melodious sounds, Nhi can express the subtle mood of man's soul. Due to its diversified use, Nhi is indispensable in a traditional musical orchestra.

 §µn tranh is also called Dan thap luc (16-chord zither). The holed bottom of its box makes echo. There are different musical skills, such as vibrating, clapping, pressing, stroking....Women use it when making solo performances, playing in an orchestra, accompanying a singer, declaiming poems...

The T'rung consists of 5-7 bamboo stems graduated in length and tied together with two parallel cords. It can be rolled up and put in a back basket. But on stage, the T'rung is hung in a metal stand, and the player uses two or even four beaters to strike the bamboo stems at the same time. The sound of T'rung is said to resemble that of the running or falling water from the streams and waterfalls in the Highlands

 

 

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