Some musical attractions of "Don ca tai tu"

Don ca tai tu has won international admiration, especially among connoisseurs of traditional music. South Korean expert Sheen Dae-Cheol is one of them with his report on the charm and special characteristics of the genre.

He is one of dozens of experts who will take part in an international conference on don ca tai tu to be held in Ho Chi Minh City from January 9-11 ahead of its presentation for UNESCO recognition as a world heritage.

Tuoitrenews makes some excerpts of his report prepared for the meeting.

Since the influx of western and foreign music, Vietnamese traditional music genre of don ca tai tu has survived and not lost its unique musical flavor or aesthetics.

Don ca tai tu is comparatively young Vietnamese music, appearing in the 19th century. However it is loved by many southern Vietnamese people and openly holds a very good position in the nation’s music.

Lyrics of don ca tai tu can be accompanied by several musical instruments as dan tranh (16-stringed zither), dan bau (one-stringed gourd zither), dan nguyet (moon shaped two stringed lute), dan nhi (two-stringed fiddle), song lang (two pieces of bamboo struck against each other to keep rhythm, guitar phim lom (concave-fret guitar) and also likely with western violin, flute of Chinese origin.

Vietnamese musicians accepted the Western guitar for don ca tai tu but they transformed and Vietnamized it to be a suitable one for playing their don ca tai tu.

They improved the guitar by making the frets deeper, turning them into deep fret guitar and changing the way to attune the instrument.

The instrumentation to accompany the song is very peculiar and unique. Upper mentioned musical instruments are used to accompany the songs of don ca tai tu as ensemble, however, the instrumentation is very flexible as only two or three of them can form up an ensemble.

Vietnamese doctor Tran Van Khe said, “Of the instruments for the ensemble, the dan nguyet plays the most important role. The dan tranh embellishes center tones of music and dan nhi ornaments other tones. Off all musical instruments of the ensemble, the role of these three is more important than any other.”

The monochord dan bau is a very peculiar and charming musical instrument. It is one of real Vietnamese traditional musical instruments and its sound is amazingly beautiful. Vietnamese musicians widened the range of it and dan tranh to play higher and lower tones respectively.

Originally the musicians of don ca tai tu did not perform for their livelihoods, just to entertain themselves or others and that is a reason why it is called amateurs’ music. But it doesn’t mean to be a musician of don ca tai tu is easy. Its musicians have to practise very hard for a long time so that don ca tai tu musicians can be called as professional musicians even if they don’t perform it for materialism.

As an amateur, it needs not any special prepared stage as professional art music. Accordingly it can easily and deeply goes into every corner of usual Vietnamese life so that it can be played at festivals, various parties, after harvests, under shade of trees, on boats, temples and romantically under a bright moon night.

It can be said it possesses a musical and magical power of charming Vietnamese people. Especially it is said that the emotion and the soul of southern Vietnamese people are melted in it.

Don ca tai tu has some extemporaneous nature when musicians perform it, but maintaining the integrity of music is very important. Don ca tai tu has to learn it by heart the basic tune of each repertoire from which they can improvise, yet still maintain the integrity.

Don ca tai tu players are free to create their own musical style as the spirit if impromptu is highly respected in don ca tai tu as such.

Accordingly it can be concluded that don ca tai tu, from the point of musical and cultural view, is very valuable traditional music to be preserved, disseminated and enjoyed. Naturally, don ca tai tu is qualified to be the center of public attention from Asia and the world. In addition, it is qualified to be designated as a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity as well.

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“Don ca tai tu” – the southern spiritual creature

Coming to life no more than two centuries ago and becoming much loved by southerners of Vietnam, “đờn ca tài tử” is deeply rooted in the culture and spirits of locals and considered a traditional music of the nation.

Origin

Two professional forms of arts, “Tuồng” and “Nhạc lễ”, have taken roots among the southern community in Vietnam since the 19th century. “Tuồng” is a kind of theater in which drums and oboes are the main instruments and “Nhạc lễ” is the other genre serving ritual customs and mainly uses string and percussion instruments.

Starting from playing for relaxation during periods between crops or during free time, musicians started to create “don cay” movement (playing musical instruments without percussion). This movement quickly expanded its influence all over the region.

In the late 19th and the early 20th century, many musical mandarins and musicians of the Nguyen Dynasty moved to the south during a revolutionary movement and they combined their Hue music and that of the south to compose new “tài tử” songs and open classes to locals.

Successful learners of “tài tử” can be listed as Nguyen Quang Dai (Ba Doi) (1880) in Long An Province, Tran Quang Diem (1853 – 1927) in My Tho, Le Binh An (1862 – 1924) in Bac Lieu, together with masters like Tam, Dzung, Phan Hien Dao and Ton Tho Truong who studied music in Hue.

They contributed to composing songs and transmitting them to the south. Thanks to the “don cay" movement, musical teachers of Hue – the old capital – created physical changes to make “don cay” music the new kind of traditional music: “đờn ca tài tử”.

The art

It often takes people from 2 to 3 years to play fluently some of the most famous pieces and to be able to well deploy the techniques of “điệu” and “hơi” (tune and air).

Now there are hundreds of pieces in “tài tử” repertoire, in which 20 typical songs include Luu Thuy truong, Phu Luc Chan, Binh Ban chan, Co ban truong, Xuan tinh chan, Tay Thi truong, Xang xe, Ngu doi thuong, Ngu doi ha, Long dang, Long ngam, Van gia, Tieu khuc, Nam Xuan, Nam Ai, Dao ngu cung, Tu dai oan, Phung hoang, Giang nam – cuu khuc, Phung cau.

While playing these 20 oriental pieces as well as others, musicians are allowed to improvise new sub-melodies based on “long ban”, which is the basic theme.

Each musical sentence has a fixed number of measures. There are usually two types of sentence: sentence with 4 measures of 4/4, sentence with 8 measures of 4/4. The basic tunes was created on Bac tune (Bac air, Ha air), Nam tune (Xuan air, Ai air, Dao air) and Oan tune (Oan air).

All “tài tử” musicians have to learn by heart the basic tune of each repertoire from which they can improvise, yet maintain the integrity.

A traditional “tài tử” orchestra comprises such instruments as don kim (Vietnamese two-chord guitar), don tranh (Vietnamese 16-chord zither), don ty ba (Chinese four-chord lute), don co (Vietnamese two-chord fiddle), don bau (monochord) and ong tieu (flute).

Since the late middle of 20th century, guitar and violin have been added into the “tài tử” orchestra.

But the guitars’ frets are carved so as to leave a concave surface. With such a deep fret, the guitar, now called “guitar phim lom” or concave-fret guitar, offers a unique sound that goes along well with other acoustical sounds produced by traditional instruments in the “tài tử” orchestra.

Based on “tài tử” music, lyrics are composed for singers. Lyrics soon became a very effective tool to promote the art values and educational functions of “đờn ca tài tử” to the public.

Soon after that, “tài tử” singers changed the way of performance which does not only include singing but also acting called “Ca ra bo”, which was the first step for forming “cải lương”.

In 1917, the play “Luc Van Tien” by Truong Duy Toan was opened in Sa Dec and it was considered the first “cải lương”, the third Vietnamese stage art after “tuồng” and “chèo”.

Thanks to great artists and improving repertoire from “tai tu” music, “cải lương” has been developing fast and became one of the most attractive on-stage performances in the south during the 20th century.

In its turn, cai luong plays an active role in helping “tài tử” expand.

People who play “đờn ca tài tử”

Most “tài tử” performers are also composers. They don’t earn their life as singers, just act alone or sometimes together for relaxation in their free time. Usually, they are close friends and neighbors joining together to perform the music, as a way of expressing own emotions.

That is the reason why they perform with their whole hearts.

And when “đờn ca tài tử” became popular, public demand for it increased and that has urged greatest artists to build the “tai tu" band for greater performances in larger places.

Four criteria to list “đờn ca tài tử” as traditional

“Đờn ca tài tử” is the youngest in comparison with other kinds of Vietnamese traditional music such as “Hát xoan”, “Ca trù”, “Hát văn”, “Ca Huế”, “Hát xẩm” because its age is less than 200 years old. However, the music is considered traditional for the following criteria:

Firstly, it retains the Vietnamese traditional structure with “long ban” structure.

Secondly, it employs the musical scales and the ranges of scale of Vietnamese traditional music.

Thirdly, performers use Vietnamese traditional musical instruments. The instruments are promoted with new techniques by their composers.

Fourthly, professors keep their traditional teaching by direct instruction with traditional songs.

Nowadays, although the Vietnamese culture is greatly impacted by integration, information technology and globalization, the southern people still hold dear “đờn ca tài tử” and perform them in their daily life.

“Đờn ca tài tử” is thus worthy of being regarded as the Vietnamese spiritual creature.

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