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Why would foreigners learn Vietnamese traditional music? The answer is not simple. These three stories show that, to research their own music, foreign researchers must study the music of other countries like Vietnam.  

Besides senior researchers, a young British man attended the conference of the International Council of Traditional Music in Hanoi in late July. This man, Lonan O’ Briain, surprised the conference with a presentation: “Music and the Sustainability of the H’mong Community in Vietnam’s Northern Mountainous Region”. The presentation is part of his doctoral thesis. 

Not only Briain, but some other foreign researchers who participated in the conference wrote studies of Vietnamese traditional music. Gisa Jahnichen from Germany wrote her Master’s thesis on ca tru and a doctoral dissertation on don ca tai tu (southern folk songs) and Baley Norton from the UK wrote her dissertation on hat van. 

It is difficult for Vietnamese to study music of an ethnic minority group and it is extremely difficult for a British man, because he has to study language first and then musical knowledge related to the H’mong community. Briain can speak Vietnamese but he can’t speak H’mong. He met with H’mong pan-pine and bamboo flute artisans through the introduction of H’mong tourist guides in Sapa. 

After nearly two years researching H’mong music, Briain can play H’mong flute and leaf-horn, but he cannot play dan moi (similar to Jew’s harp) and pipe-pan. However, he knows a lot about the structure and origin of these instruments. “Research means you must learn profoundly to be able to play some musical instrument or sing well . . . That is compulsory for a researcher of traditional music,” he explained.  

Like Briain, Jahnichen can play the Vietnamese bamboo flute while Norton can perform hat van. But they research Vietnamese traditional music not to know or to advertise Vietnamese music, but to serve their job and the music sector. 

Study to enhance skills 

From 2007 to 2009, Ton Tien, a Chinese girl, attended an extra class about dan bau (Vietnamese monochord) besides studying at the Vietnam National Music Institute in Hanoi. During her free time, she met with dan bau artisans to learn their secrets. She also collected CDs of dan bau artisans for research. She revealed that school fees to study dan bau are very “reasonable” in comparison with studying other musical instruments. 

She noted that China also has a monochord instrument, but Vietnamese are better at playing the monochord, so she came to study these techniques. Ton Tien notes folk terms and methods to play dan bau, because Vietnamese traditional musical instruments don’t use musical notation. People who don’t know how to read musical notes can learn to play Vietnamese traditional musical instruments. Ton Tien has a Master’s degree and is seeking a scholarship to pursue her doctorate in Vietnam. 

Musician Thao Giang, who taught dan bau to Ton Tien, praised Ton Tien’s serious research. “I think that, in the future, Vietnamese may have to learn from Chinese about dan bau because the number of dan bau artisans in Vietnam is very few at present. The young generation also studies dan bau, but they don’t really want to learn it seriously.” 

Study for experience 

Esbjörn Wettermark has studied Vietnamese music at the Malmo Music Institute in Sweden since 2003. He can’t speak Vietnamese, but he can play several Vietnamese musical instruments. Esbjörn Wettermark experimentally studied dan bau, dan tranh (16-chord zither) and dan nguyet (two-chord zither) before he realized what he really likes. In 2009, he met with Meritorious Artist Nguyen Ngoc Khanh and began studying tuong and ken bop. He then studied cheo and bamboo flute with artisan Pham Van Doanh.  

“At the beginning, I studied some famous folk songs like Ly Can Bong or Cay Truc Xinh. They are not very difficult. But the more I studied, the more I discovered that it is very difficult to understand Vietnamese music thoroughly. I can play ten kinds of musical instruments, but I may really only understand one,” he recalled.  

After obtaining a Master’s in music education, Wettermark studied for a second in ethnological music at Goldsmiths School in the UK. His thesis was on Vietnamese ca tru. This time he didn’t study the musical instrument (dan day) but the process and how ca tru has returned to modern life. “If you are not fluent in Vietnamese, you will need years to understand the structure, tune and the impromptu art of ca tru artisans. I leaned ca tru by ear instead of taking notes,” he admitted.  

Wettermark also performed Vietnamese traditional music with his troupe named “Ojzaioj” (Oi Gioi Oi in Vietnamese). This troupe performed in Vietnam, Sweden and Denmark. Jahnichen remarked that “Vietnamese traditional music researchers only research the music of self, not the music of the world. You also don’t read a lot about what the world writes about your music because many Vietnamese researchers don’t know foreign languages.” Without a serious program to preserve Vietnamese traditional music, future generations may have to go abroad to research Vietnamese music. Back to News Main Page

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