Video sample

Yên Bái is a mountainous province in the North of Vietnam where nearly 30 ethnic minorities are living. It can be said that their spiritual culture life is quite various. We would like to introduce 17 selected folksong and folkmusic items in this musical disc.

1. Logo

2. Khèn of the Mèo ethnic minority Item: Lò tọ (Rolling slope)
Performed by Thào A Chống (the Black Mèo ethnic minority), Khau Mang commune, Mù Cǎng Chải district, Yên Bái province.

With the timber of forest, Khen seems to welcome us to Mèo village highly and dangerously located on one side of the mountain. Khèn of the Mèo ethnic minority is played only by men in festivals or funerals. It is of wind instrument, freely vibrated reed branch. It is made of 6 hornless bamboo sections with different length. They are arranged in two rows and put through the bark of dry gourd. Each section is attached a brass reed, but the shortest and longest ones are attached two reeds. Therefore, its tone row has 7 tones, c1, d1, f1, g1, a1, c2 and d2. When performing, the players always both perform and dance and their foots also work. They play Khèn, lying on, turning and rolling and turning over many circles but Khèn still doesn’t touch the ground.

3. Mouth harp Item: Chú Yang (love exchange)
Performed by: Vàng Thị Sú (Mèo Nhẹh), Xà Lao Chảy, Mù Cǎng Chải district, Yên Bái province.

While sound of Khèn is strong, sound of the mouth harp looks like whisper. The girls of the Mèo ethnic minority use it in love exchange singing. It is made of a thin brass piece. In the middle, two cut diagonals create two sides of equilateral triangle and the base still sticks to the body of the instrument. This triangle is the shake part of the instrument. When performing, it is loosely put between two lips (oral cavity is the resonator), the left hand keeps the foot of the instrument and the thumb of the right hand plucks the head of the instrument to shake the triangle. The mouth harp has blur sound, not standard pitch, small volume.

4. Singing folksong Item: Gâu Ua Nhang (Being a daughter-in-law)
Performed by: Vàng Thí Sú (Mèo Nhẹh ethnic group), Xà Lao Chảy, Mù Cǎng Chải district, Yên Bái province.

The song expresses the mood of the girl of the Mèo ethnic minority when she marries to a boy who lives far from her home. The song is of the recitative, a popular singing style of the Mèo ethnic minority. It has reciting characteristic to tell long stories and is often played when they are sad and work at terrace alone.

5. Khèn bè Item: Pom Sao (Calling friend to go out)
Performed by: Hoàng Quyết (the Black Thái people), Tân An precinct, Nghĩa Lộ town, Yên Bái province.

Thái ethnic minority is one of the ethnic groups of Vietnam having a lot of musical instruments made of bamboo or hornless bamboo. Khèn of the Thái minority includes 14 hornless bamboo sections linked into two rows. Each section is attached to a brass reed. Its tone row is G, A, c1, d1, e1, f1, g1, a1, c2, d2, e2 and f2. It is of wind instrument, freely vibrated branch. It can be said that Khèn bè is one of the highly developed wind instruments of the Thái ethnic minority. It is used to accompany singing, dancing music and especially in love exchange activities.

6. Pí thiu Item: Pom Sao (Calling friend to go out)
Performed: Hoàng Quyết (the Black Thái people)

The talent of Thái boys is shown in the fact that they can play many different musical instruments. Pí thíu is a vertical flute having simple structure. It includes 4 pressing holes and 1 resonating hole. Its tone row is a1, c2, d2, f2 and g2. Pí thiu is often carried in the luggage of the boys to call friend for confidence at night at the step of stairs of the house on stilts or is played to sooth a baby during the day.

7. Pí lè Item: Mủa cống (Lǎn trống nhạc tiền)
Performed by: Hoàng Quyết (the Black Thái people)

Pí lè is played only by men in ceremonies like ceremony for welcoming spring, wandering souls day or funeral. Pí lè is of wind instrument, double-reed branch. It has 7 pressing holes above and 1 pressing hole below. The 7 pressing holes above are equally arranged and the pressing hole below next to the head of the instrument is opened only when creating a high octave. The reed is made of a worm nest and a bell of the instrument rolled from iron sheet. Its tone row is quite unique. Many tones are different from the standard tone of the Europe, including perfect c1, less d1, less e1, higher f1, perfect g1, less a1, less b1 and perfect c2. Pí lè is not only played as solo but also combined with drum to accompany dance.

8. Sáo mũi (Flute is played by using nose) Item: Phế hại cỏ bá (Happiness for bumper crop)
Performed by: Đặng Thị Thanh (Phù lá), Châu Quế Thượng, Vǎn Yên district, Yên Bái province.

Sáo mũi is a unique musical instrument of the Phù lá people. It is only played by female to call friend at the quite late night on the tent in the terrace field when she keeps rice in harvesting. The flute is made of an equal dry hornless bamboo section. It has two pressing holes and a node at one end. It is a transversal flute and played by using nose. The performer pushes air from her neck and blows out through right nose. Its tone row is C1, f1, a1 and c2.

9. Singing folk music Item: Hát đón dâu (Singing for meeting the bride and bringing her home).
Performed by: Nịnh Quang Thanh (the Cao Lan people), Hòa Cuông, Trấn Yên district, Yên Bái province.

Like other ethnic groups, the formalities of the wedding ceremony of the Cao Lan people are expressed not only by speech but also through music. The Cao Lan people follow patriarchy, so there is not the custom that the bridegroom lives at his wife’s family. Hát đón dâu is one of the songs sung by a matchmaker to ask for bringing bride to her husband’s house.

10. Singing folksong Item: ú nung nón (lullabye)
Performed by: Nịnh Quang Thanh (the Cao Lan people)

11. Singing Folk music Item: Ê mê kha bá (lullabye)
Performed by: Đặng Thị Tuyên (Phù lá people), Châu Quế Thượng commune, Vǎn Yên district, Yên Bái province.

A baby hears lullabies of its grandmother and its mother from birth. Those are the first lessons of a baby to be aware of cultural character of the community. Generally, lullaby is lyrical song having adagio rhythm and is used to lull baby to sleep. However, lullaby of each ethnic group has its own characteristic. We would like to introduce you the melody of lullaby of the Cao Lan and the Phù lá ethnic minorities.

12. Tang sành drum (drum whose frame made of terra - cotta)
Item: Xúc tép và Chim gâu (Scooping tiny shrimp and gâu bird)
Performed by: Trần Vǎn Thành (the Cao Lan people), Vĩnh Kiên commune, Yên Bình district, Yên Bái province.

Today, very few of Tang sành drum are kept by the Cao Lan people. It is holy musical instrument mainly kept by a sorcerer or the head of a clan. Drum frame is made of terra - cotta. The drum surface at the right (vum surface) is covered with varan’s skin and is clapped by using hand. The surface at the left (khlênh surface) is thicker than the right one and covered with buffalo or snake’s skin and played by stick. The stick is made of small hornless section nicked two notches to tie to strain the curved section. The curved part is used to play. Tang sành drum is used most after the harvest. It is used to accompany dance in the house on stilts, the offering ceremony, Lunar New Year or later period ceremony for the dead.

13. Dancing under rhythm of drum Item: Xúc tép và Chim gâu
Performed by: Trần Vǎn Thành (the Cao Lan people)

Like other ethnic groups, besides music, dancing is an indispensable ritual in the ceremony of the Cao Lan people. Xúc tép tune is danced in the New Year and Chim gâu tune in the offering ceremony.

14. Singing folk song Item: Sịnh ca
Performed by: Trần Vǎn Thành, Đàm Thị Lụa (the Cao Lan people), Vĩnh Kiên commune, Yên Bình district, Yên Bái province.

Sịnh ca is a unique love exchange singing of the Cao Lan people. Specific characteristic of Sịnh ca singing of the Cao Lan people is the custom for making friend and antiphony between the boys of this village and the girls of the other one. Each singing can be lengthened all night. The Sinh ca includes 4 main tunes: Calling singing (a boy outside the street sing to call a girl inside the house), antiphony (repartee between a boy and a girl in a house), recitative and lament singing.

15. Singing Item: Trong múa Dậm thuông
Performed by: Nông Bích Kiệm (the Tày ethnic group), Mường Lai commune, Lục Yên district, Yên Bái province.

Twice a year, when the spring coming on January 14, 15th, the autumn arriving on lunar July 14, 15th, boys and girls of the Tày ethnic group gather to dance and to enjoy themselves in the house of a bụt or then master to sing Khắp then and Dậm thuông lỉn tính. The singing has jubilant and bustling atmosphere of village’s festival.

16. Dancing Tiu đô mừng ngoa (picking flower)
Performed by: Lý Minh Thông (the White Dao ethnic group), Ngòi A commune, Vǎn Yên district, Yên Bái province.

Dancing for picking flower is a ritual dance taken from Lập tĩnh ceremony (Receiving the soul of the dead from the grave buried in the forest to come home) of the White Dao ethnic minority performed under the rhythm of the Bồng drum by a dancing master.

17. Dancing Item: Qủi phá nhà chay (Devil disturbs pagoda)
Performed by: Lý Minh Thông (The White Dao ethnic minority)

Quỉ phá nhà chay dancing is a dance taken from Lập tĩnh ceremony of the White Dao ethnic minority. This is a ritual for receiving a devil master to check all formalities made in the world. The devil master both comes home and dances the tune Quỉ phá nhà chay.

18. Dancing Item: Đuổi ma (Chasing ghost)
Performed by: Lý Kim Viên (the Red Dao ethnic group), Nậm Lành commune, Vǎn Chấn district, Yên Bái province.
This is a magic dance used to chase evil spirits of the sorcerer in the ceremony.