ETHNIC MINORITY MUSIC OF NORTH VIETNAM
1 kheng, mouthorgan of 6 bamboo tubes played by an old black Hmong man , Sin chai village, Sapa. July 2006
2 Kheng, mouthorgan of 6 bamboo tubes played by an old black Hmong man, Sin chai village, Sapa Jjuly 2006
3 Song performed by a Lu woman from Bin Lu province, recorded in Sapa.
4 Chungja, jew s harp performed by a black Hmong woman, used indoor for young boys and girls who express interest in each other in Lao chai village, Sapa. June 2006
5 kheng, mouthorgan of 6 bamboo tubes played by a black Hmong man , for charming a girl in Lao chai village, Sapa. June 2006
6 Hungao, the singing style of the Hmong people sung by Ma, a black Hmong woman, an improvised love song intended for a boyfriend, recorded on a rainy day, by the river in Lao chai village, Sapa. July 2006
7 kheng, mouthorgan of 6 bamboo tubes played by a black Hmong man for Hmong new year in december in Ta phin village, Sapa. May 2007
8 Hungao, sung by May, a black Hmong woman, a love song intended for her boyfriend who lives in a foreign country far away from her, in Sapa. July 2006
9 Pain sing, a bamboo stick with coins performed by a black Hmong man , dancing with the stick and clapping it on his body, in Taphin village, Sapa. May 2007
10Bao zoo, the singing style of the Mien people, performed by 2 red Zao women, called Mien mouat zoo tiemto, to welcome you at night by the fire, in Lao chai village, Sapa. June 2006
11Bao zoo, performed by 4 red Zao women, called Too pouan toy tiemto, to celebrate at the first meeting with someone you like, in Lao chai village, Sapa. June 2006
12Bao zoo, performed by Ly man mei, the local star of bao zoo singing in her community, a solo song called Moo mien zoo, sung only at home to welcome outsiders, in Ta phin village, Sapa.July 2006
13Bao zoo, performed by 2 red Zao women Ly man mei, Dja leu mei and one red Zao man Dja wen wa, a song for appreciating interactions with foreigners, in Ta phin village, Sapa. July 2006
14 Piem zat, reed played by a red Zao man (Mien), for various occasions such as wedding ceremonies, he s fromTa phin village, Sapa. Recorded in the Goethe Institut in Hanoi . March 2007
15 Song performed by a Giay woman, in Lao chai village, Sapa. July 2006
In spring 2006, after some unlucky experiences with amibias and malaria in Cambodia and hot southern Laos, i wanted to go away from really tropical weather and headed north towards China and the Himalaya mountains, but i had to stop in northern Vietnam and find out more about two singing techniques I ve heard previously on a french double cd of CNRS Musee de Lhomme, released in 1997. I used to call those songs ot Giay people ( pronounced Zay) and Dao people (pronounced Zao)<descending singing>They seem to start very high with a long note and then go down scale.
In northern Vietnam, in 2006, not being associated to any vietnamese organization, i had to limit my sound investigations to the area around Sapa, where i don t need a permit and where tourists congregate freely with colorfull costumed local ethnic minority women . They retain a very strong cultural identity, not only in the way they look but definetely in the quality of their music and singing techniques . Some black Hmongs or red Daos women of the area have permanent contact with vietnamese and foreign tourists, and we could speak english together. I gave them cds of their music I recorded, for their own pride and pleasure and also for sale to tourists.
Within the last 10 years, Sapa, at the chinese boarder, became a popular touristic destination for both vietnamese and western visitors, basically Sapa has profited from the trend of ethno tourism and the ethnic minority groups of this area are appreciated on a visual point of view, for their beautiful embroderies and costumes; but very few visitors are aware of their extraordinary musical patrimony . . If you look at the development of vietnamese society, pop culture has eclipsed most forms of traditional music, especially in cities; the traditional Dao or Hmong societies and most ethnic groups around Sapa have not yet been polluted by commercial vietnamese musical trends and remain, as much as the structure of their societies, relatively untouched. The Mien ( YAO for the chinese, called DAO by the vietnamese ( pronounced ZAO ) or Man by the french at the time of french colonisation have arrived from China as early as the 13th century, they are more than 2 millions in southern China, more than 500 000 in northern Vietnam and several thousands in Laos and northern Thailand. They have common origin with the Hmongs, in Guizhou,China, their language differ but have common roots, both belonging to the austro-asian language family; most of the red DAOS are now at least bilingual as they are taught vietnamese at school, the frequent commercial exchanges between ethnic groups has required the knowledge of one or several other languages. They do not have their own written system but use chinese characters, but prononced the dao way, the educated Hmongs also use Chinese characters. The red DAOs have settled down in mountain areas, their houses are build directly on the ground . They have been heavily influenced by chinese culture, especially by Taoist rituals and their social structures are patrilenear and monogamous, the married woman leaves her family and lives with the family of her husband for some years before the couple is able to build their own home . They practise chamanic transe to be linked to the invisible world . The BAOZOO singing techniques can be responsive songs , or canon singing where a leadsinger has his or her words repeated with delay,by 1, 2 or 3 singers . For the instrumental music, an oboe (piem zat) seems to be the essential instrument, solo or linked to a drum , a pair of cymbals, and a gong, used for wedding and various ritual ceremonies. This instrument requires circular breathing .
The Hmong also come from China, especially Guizhou, but came more recently, mostly in the 19th century, they fled south and settled down in those mountainous areas.
The Kheng is the predominent instrument of Hmong people, who all over (several millions in southern China, Laos and vietnam) have developped this musical technique , aiming to reproduce the Hungao singing technique, actually every Hmong instrument is aiming at copying the human voice flow. The hmong s jew s harp Chungja is made of simple copper and is used for courting between young boys and girls, also imitating the sound produced by human voice.
The Lu are the most mysterious to me, first I m easily impressed by people who have radical different beauty criterias, their way to blacken their teeth with a thick layer of black stuff makes every smile special, they seem to have been established in north west Vietnam since 12 th century.
The Giay like the Lu or Lao belong to the Tay kadai language group, well established in northern parts of Vietnam and Laos, but emigrated from China 200 years ago. They have 3 styles of singing for different occasions, for feast, for night drinking or to sing farewell to someone.
Under the name KINK GONG you find 2 activities, the 1st one is to record ethnic minority music mostly in south-east Asia, the 2nd is to transform, collage, recompose the original recordings into experimental soundscapes.
An exuberant contemporary rendering of Traditional Gamelan music; all proceeds go forward developing Balinese culture and artists. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 23, 2022