CULTURAL SOUNDS: THE SPIRIT OF VIETNAM

    • CD6
    • CA TRÙ SINGING
    • Ca trù singing has other names such as hát ả đào, hát cửa đình, hát nhà tơ, hát nhà trò, or hát cô đầu. According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (The Complete Book on the History of Đại Việt), Ca trù appeared in the Lý dynasty (1010-1025) under the name Ả đào singing. Many Ả đào singing contests were held in the village communal houses. In that time, village notables often played the praised drum while enjoying the performers singing and threw reward cards to the singers who performed well. That card was call “trù”. Gradually, the way of rewarding the singers with cards became known as Ca trù. This name is found in the poem namely “Nghĩ hộ tám giáp làm giải thưởng cho cô đào hát” (“On Behalf of People from Eight Hamlets to Write the Rewarding Rule for Awarded Singers”) of Lê Đức Mao in 1500. Ca trù is a popular genre of traditional singing and dancing of the Kinh people in the northern and the central Vietnam. The key members of a Ca trù band include one đàn đáy (three-stringed lute instrumentalist) (the đàn đáy is the only musical instrument for accompanying Ca trù), one singer who both sings and plays the phách clappers, and one praise drummer (known as quan viên cầm chầu) player.
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Ca trù can be performed in a wide variety of places. Ca trù was born to serve as worship singing. From serving as worship at the village communal houses and ancestor worship, Ca trù has changed into singing for entertainment at private houses, restaurants, or cabarets. In addition to these main performance environments, Ca trù was performed at the royal palace and the palaces of mandarins. At present, Ca trù is sung as traditional music. In each performance environment, Ca trù has some changes in terms of the repertoire, musical nature, or performance styles. The CD Ca trù singing (Hát Ca trù) introduces some songs that which were performed for worship and for entertainment. They were recorded in 1970 (tracks 5, 6, and 7), in 1982 (tracks 1 and 4), and in 1997 (tracks 2 and 3) and performed by the three most famous Ca trù folk artists.
SOUND LIST
1 Hát lót cửa đình (singing at the village communal house)
Performers: Singer Đinh Thị Bản and the musical ensemble Time of audio-recording: 1982
06'37" PLAY
2 Bắc phản
Performers: Singer Phạm Thị Mùi and the musical ensembe Time of audio-recording: 1997
04'20" PLAY
3 Gửi thư (Sending a letter)
Performers: Singer Phạm Thị Mùi and the musical ensemble Time of audio-recording: 1997
09'03" PLAY
4 Đò đưa (on boat)
Name of the song: “Lỡ Bước Sang Ngang” (Getting married with a wrong man) (the poem of Nguyễn Bính) Performers: Singer Đinh Thị Bản Instrumentalist: Đinh Khắc Ban Time of audio-recording: 1982
02'51" PLAY
5 Ngâm vọng
Performers: People’s artist Quách Thị Hồ Instrumentalist: Phó Đình Kỳ Time of audio-recording: 1970
06'52" PLAY
6 Ngâm thơ (reciting a poem)
Name of the song: Cảm thu tiễn thu (saying goodbye with the autumn) (the poem of Tản Đà)
Performers: People’s artist Quách Thị Hồ Instrumentalist: Đinh Khắc Ban Time of audio-recording: 1970
09'10" PLAY
7 Tỳ bà hành
Performers: People’s artist Quách Thị Hồ Instrumentalist: Đinh Khắc Ban Time of audio-recording: 1970
14'14" PLAY
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