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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