Vietnam music instrument t'rung bamboo xylophone
T'rung is a traditional bamboo xylophone used by the Jarai people and Bahnar people in Vietnam's Central Highlands.More complicated developments of the Jarai and Bahnar's xylophone have become used in Vietnamese traditional music ensembles (known as the đàn T'rưng) representing the music of the highland minorities.
Musical instruments found in Vietnam, including bronze drums, bells, and lithophones, and the images depicted on these instruments, provide valuable historical clues. Several sets of lithophones from Ndut Lieng Krak, Khánh Son, and Bác Ái villages—the music of which remains unknown—date back to this era, extending from the third to the first millennium b.c.e. These lithophones were likely played by ancestors of the highlanders who live in the Truòng Son mountains near the border with Laos and Cambodia. The discovery of these lithophones and bronze gong drums confirms a direct connection between Vietnamese music and that of Southeast Asia in general. Vietnamese lithophones may have been precursors of Southeast Asian xylophones, such as the bamboo xylophones called t’rung in Vietnam and ch’lung in Indonesia. The Ðông S10 ptn bronze gong drums are of major significance, as they were distributed throughout Southeast Asia and southern China.
Many Vietnamese scholars regard the Ðông S10 ptn period (700–100 b.c.e.) as a foundation of their culture, but relating that period to later ones has proved impossible. After the Văn Lang Period (258 B.C.E.–939 C.E.) After 258 b.c.e., the dearth of descriptions of music has led some scholars to speculate that indigenous music became an integral part of customary festivals and religious ceremonies and was therefore kept secret. Buddhism and Indian culture were introduced to Giao Châu by ship-borne merchants, who helped establish thriving commercial relations with Western Asia as early as the first century. In the second century, envoys of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (reigned 161–180 c.e.) arrived in the coastal city of Vinh. Vietnam then served as the eastern terminus of maritime trade from the West. Indian Buddhism, therefore, was known in Giao Châu, and in the second century became an important religion there. Vietnam won its independence from China in 938.
Music, dance, and theatrical genres were major entertainments at Vietnam’s royal palace. From 985, annual water-puppet theater performances and boat races were held to celebrate the king’s birthday. In the tenth century, Buddhist dynasties, the Ngô, Đinh, and earlier Lê dynasties (939–1009) served as a transition to the more prominent reigns of the Buddhist zealots and kings ofthe Lý and Trɞn dynasties (eleventh to thirteenth centuries). Vietnamese consider this a golden age of music and culture. A kind of vocal chamber music began to evolve in the royal court, and an illustrious female singer, Đào Thʂ, received an award from the king. As a result, many singers thereafter were named in her honor, and the phrase “songs of Lady Đào” (hát ɟ đào, Sino-Vietnamese đào nuong ca) became synonymous with the musical genre she performed. After many years of neglect, water-puppet plays were again treated to full productions, with a full complement of musicians, singers, and dancers.
Music from Laos and Champa was regularly performed for Vietnamese kings as a tribute. The song style ɟi lao, still practiced in festivals for Saint Dóng, is believed to be the first foreign music presented to Vietnamese kings during the Lý period. Hundreds of singers and dancers captured during victories over Champa performed, and by all accounts were well treated, in the royal palace. Foreign elements were also assimilated into theatrical performances at the Trɞn court. Iand the ritual ensemble (nhɝc huyɽn), which later came to be known as the small ensemble (tiɿu nhɝc) and the large ensemble (đɝi nhɝc), respectively. The string-and-wind ensemble had two three-stringed lutes, two two-stringed fiddles, two two-stringed coconut-shell fiddles.
Courtesy: The Garland handbook of Southeast Asian music—— Terry E. Miller, Sean Williams
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