Bac Ninh and its specialty

Regarded as the cradles of Vietnam civilization and bring itself a lot of culture and tradition of Vietnam, Bac Ninh is one of the special and wonderful place to travel and discover the specilaty of Vietnam. 

Bac Ninh is located in the lowlands and hills of North Vietnam. It is also a province with a lot of feature in culture and custom. Recalling Bac Ninh, everyone knows the traditional and unique folk-song Quan Ho. It is one of the attractions in Bac Ninh and which is one of the traditional songs of Vietnam. Coming here, tourists and especially foreign tourists who are very interested in enjoying the folk-song Quan Ho. There are sisters and brothers in traditional clothes of Quan Ho performing famous songs in sweet and gentle voice attracting the interest of all audiences. Getting to know more about the tradition of Vietnam will make you understand more about the culture and specialty of the country. 

Traditional Music Classes

Established in 2005 in a small house near the ancient communal house of Hao Nam, the Vietnam Music Development Centre  has organised many classes to teach traditional Vietnamese musical forms, involving the participation of a  large number of people.

In a cultural space of the serene ancient communal house, students of different ages are engulfed in lessons on playing traditional musical instruments  and singing Ca Tru (ceremonial singing), Xam (an art form which has existed for centuries and was very popular in the rural areas of the northern plains in the past) and Quan ho (love duet) taught by People’s Artist Pham Dinh Khang and artist Thao Giang who founded and run the centre.

With a desire to preserve and bequeath the traditional Vietnamese folk music genres to younger generations,  artists  Pham Dinh Khang and Thao Giang established the Vietnam Music Development Centre where students are taught to perform with drums, flutes and castanets and singing folk music with a different method – without any manuals but approaching music directly in a natural and easy to understand manner.

Artist Thao Giang shows his students how to use Senh (clappers) in Xam singing. Photo: Trinh Van Bo/VNP

“ Xam” – A Tale of Vietnamese Folk Music

 “Xam” is known in Vietnam as  folk music usually performed by blind street singers to earn their living. As it originated from the working class and poor people, “Xam” has become an intellectual part of the commoners’ cultural life. Its most distinctive trait lies in the simplicity and popularity of its lyrics and the earthliness but profoundness of daily life in the songs’ lyrics, which often narrate daily-life stories, satirizing and criticizing severely the social evils while highly praising education and humanitarian values. 

 

Therefore, “Xam”  doesn’t care so much about costumes and stages like other types of traditional arts. “Xam” singing can be performed anywhere, on any street or corner where large numbers of people pass. It is so simple that anyone can sing some verses to express their inner feelings on life.

After a long period of decline, “Xam” has been recently revitalised through a program titled “Tale of ‘Xam’ ” performed by master artists of Vietnamese traditional music, especially People’s Artist Thanh Hoai and People’s Artist Xuan Hoach, who have fully and vividly revitalised the life and soul of “ Hat Xam” (Xam singing) through their beautiful vocals and talented musical skills.

The “ Tale of Xam” program is organised in Manzi Art Space at 14 Phan Huy Ich Street, Hanoi.

The country - The Vietnamese monochord

"“My country…gently dropping monochord soundings..”Whenever I hear this song, my deepen sentiment is vibrated with very tormented, fretty feelings, the obsessive memory of the soul and childhood in my very first school that when my teacher taught me to write two words “ Viet Nam” and called “ Country” reminded my mind. I understood this in vague, it is like something great and very precious. And now when time has passed very fast and it also brings my childhood away and after reading through so many verses as well as witnessing changes of Vietnam, I have been penetrated that the word “ Country” - the vague memory in my childhood has such a holy meaning. And, it is when the melody of the song: “ The Country” by composer Pham Minh Tuan spreads that my sensation seems to overflow, which helps me figure the image of my country that is: simple and bright; gentle and compassionate; poor but formidable.

Thien Hau Pagoda- one of the favorite tour attractions in Ho Chi Minh City

Built by the Cantonese Congregation in the 19th century and dedicated to the Thien Hau god and always has a mix of worshippers mingling beneath large coils of incense suspended overhead. The Pagoda is also one of the favorite tour attractions in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

When tourists visit HCM City you will see there are a lot of churches, pagodas and mosques sprinkled throughout the city. Most are of the newer variety, there are some pagodas that have stood for hundreds of years. Although older pagodas are spreaded throughout HCM city, a high concentration of them can be found in Cholon, which is the city's Chinatown that is Thien Hau Pagoda.

Water Splashing Festival

At the time when Bo ma, a variety of wild flower that is used as an offering of the Thai ethnic people to Then (genies), and hundreds of varieties of wild flowers are in blossom and the area of Pu Nho Kho Mountain is full of festive atmosphere, Thai people in Khong Lao Commune, Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province jubilantly prepare for several traditional festivals.

Probably the most observed festival is the Water Splashing Competition. Although nobody knows the exact origin of the festival, for the Thai ethnic people of Vietnam it is a gala that raises community harmony and spirit.

At the time when Bo ma, a variety of wild flower that is used as an offering of the Thai ethnic people to Then (genies), and hundreds of varieties of wild flowers are in blossom and the area of Pu Nho Kho Mountain is full of festive atmosphere, Thai people in Khong Lao Commune, Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province jubilantly prepare for several traditional festivals. Probably the most observed festival is the Water Splashing Competition. Although nobody knows the exact origin of the festival, for the Thai ethnic people of Vietnam it is a gala that raises community harmony and spirit.

The teams participating in the competition consist of the strongest men and women
from the hamlet with the hope of winning the prize.

The sorcerer offers Bo ma flowers to invite Then to participate in the competition with the villagers.

The Glowing Lanterns of Ancient Hoi An

The tradition to decorate the ancient town in Hoi An with multi-colored lanterns, which started three centuries ago, is still continued today on the fourteenth night of each lunar month in this small town in central Vietnam.

The history of the lanterns

In the past, Vietnamese people often put oil lamps in decorative spherical and hexagonal lantern shades, which were hung in the eaves and both sides of the door in the Chinese style. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Faifo (the name of Hoi An`s ancient town at that time) was bustling with foreign merchants from the Netherlands, India, and Japan around the clock. Japanese merchants often hung tube and canary-shaped lanterns along the poles in front of their houses, which lit up the whole commercial quarters at night with a glowing, mysterious light. Locals began hanging lanterns out as well, with hopes for bringing good luck and coziness to the town.

A Journey to Vi-Giam Folk Singing Region

On November 27, 2014, in Paris (France), Nghe Tinh Vi-Giam folk singing was officially recognised as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. It is Vietnam’s ninth intangible cultural heritage honoured in the international arena.

«          Vi-Giam folk singing is two ways of singing without accompaniment which have been created and handed down by people in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces during their production and daily activities. People sing Vi-Giam songs while they lull their child to sleep, work in the fields, row a boat, weave cloth or husk rice. So the singing is often named after Jobs or activities such as Vi Phuong Vai (fabric guild), Vi Phuong Non (conical hat guild), Vi Phuong Cui (wood guild), Vi Treo Non (climbing the mountain), Vi Do Dua (rowing the boat), Giam Ru (lulling), Giam Ke (reciting) and Giam Khuyen (advising). These two ways of singing are usually performed alternately, hence they have the name Vi-Giam.»

Vi-Giam folk singing has an extremely strong vitality. It not only existed in the past but has constantly developed in the hearts of people in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces (Nghe Tinh). That’s why people in these provinces have a famous saying, “only when people here no longer have their voice will Vi-Giam folk singing be lost.”

Soon after Vi-Giam folk singing was officially honoured by UNESCO, we went to Nghe An Province, a “Vi-Giam singing region” to learn about the special features of this type of folk singing.

At 6am on a very cold winter day, we left Hanoi to begin our journey to the “Vi-Giam region”. Our first destination was Kim Lien Commune in Nam Dan District, Nghe An Province, the native land of our great President Ho Chi Minh. This place is considered one of the areas having the most developed Vi-Giam singing movement and is also the cradle of the Vi Phuong Vai singing, one of the famous tunes of the Nghe Tinh Vi-Giam.

We were received by Trinh Hung Minh, a cultural cadre in Nam Dan District. Being a cultural cadre, Minh composed lyrics of most Vi-Giam songs for Vi-Giam clubs in the region. He led us to a hundred-year-old house in Kim Lien Commune where the commune’s Vi Phuong Vai Club with nearly 30 members have regular activities.

Tran Cong Son and Pham Thi Nha, members of Nam Thanh’s Vi-Giam Club in Nghe An Province sing a Vi-Giam song at an old house in Nam Thanh Commune  where the club’s members have regular activities. Photo: Trong Chinh/VNP