狠狠撸

Music of minority people in Vietnam
Junichi USUI
UiTM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
November, 2019

Contents
1. Tay people, Lang Son
2. H’mong people, Ha Giang and Bac Ha
3. Ta Oi people, Hue
4. Cham people, My Son and Phan Rang
5. Giarai people, Pleiku
6. Raglai people, Bac Ai, Ninh Thuan
7. Ede, Buon Ma Thuot
8. Bana, Giarai
9. Khmer people, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang
Music of minority people in Vietnam 2

1. Tay people
Living in hilly area of North Vietnam. They speak Tay language(Thai-Kadai language)
and still have strong local shamanism. The population is 1.4 million.
Photo: Left from Wikipedia, right from facebook of Mr. Nguy?n Pháp Vinh

1. Tay People’s music instruments
?àn tính is a traditional instrument of Tay people, this instrument accompanies singing
for amusement. This is also used by shaman for religious chant and story telling.

1. Tay People’s music scenes
? Video
– Chanting with percussion
on foot
– Group singing

2. H’mong people
? Living in hilly area of North Vietnam. They speak H’mong language(H’mong Dao
language), their population is 787 thousand. They are called by their costume
such as black H’mong, flower H’mong, red H’mong…

2. H’mong people’s music instruments
? These are string instrument of H’mong people in Meo Vac village, Ha Giang
province. Unfortunately these instruments are now disappearing in North Vietnam.

2. H’mong people’s music instruments
Khèn is a free reed mouth organ, it is performed with dance, which can be found
among H’mong in Thailand, South China, Laos too. The man who performs well can
take advantage to get their bride.

2. H’mong people music instruments
The left photo shows their altar dedicated to their ancestor. People outside must not
touch to those instrumentss (the left is percussion, the right is reed flute).

2. H’mong people’s music audio/video
? Audio
? String instrument
? Video
? Khen
? Khen contest
? Group singing

3. Ta Oi people
? Living in highalnd area of Central Vietnam and South East Laos. They speak Ta Oi
language(Austroasian language) and have many own traditional
customs(comparing to other ethnicities in Vietnam). Their population is 35
thousand.

3. Ta Oi people’s music instruments
? Ta Oi people has many type of music instruments from wind instruments, string
instruments, free reed instruments, in addition to gong and big drum.

? A’bel is a one string instrument to use player’s mouth as resonator. Though same
instrument is found in Giarai and Banar people, Ta Oi style changes pitch quickly.
? N’trul (Dan Ta Lu) is lute. Those are played for personal enjoyment.

? A’reng is a small wind instrument made from thin bamboo pipe. Not only one
people, this can be played by two people to user the other’s mouth as resonator.
? Longer model is called “Ti Reel Ahel”.

? Toat is vertical flute, having external adaptor to send air. Since player hold the one
bamboo piece under the lip, the playing style is different from similar flute from
Ede and Toraja people.

? Khen from Ta Oi people is almost same as Khen from Isan, North East Thailand for
shape, technique, tuning, except playing style Isan people often sound octave note.
? This Khen is played in ceremony with gong too.

4. Cham people
? Living in Central Vietnam and South West Vietnam. They speak Cham language
(Austronesian language) and keep their own tradition nowadays. Their population
is 130 thousand.

4. Cham people’s music instruments
? ?àn Kanyi, Paranung, Ginang, Saranai. During their festival and ceremony,
Paranung, Ginang , Saranai are mainly played with other percussions.

4. Cham people’s music instruments
? Cham has family group such as Ede, Raglai, Giarai, Churu who join Cham festival too.
? Left, top-right picture from museum of Po Kong Giarai tower, Phan Rang, Ninh Thuan

4. Cham people’s music audio/video
Videos
? Ceremony, April, 2018
? Kate Ceremony, October, 2018
? Saranai, Paranung, Ginang from My
Son

5. Giarai people
? Living in central highland of Vietnam, well known for their gong music (admired by
Unesco). They are family group of former Champa kingdom and speak similar
language. Their population is 2.3 million.

5. Giarai people’s music instruments
? They have many instruments made from natural materials (bamboo, gourd,
wood) such as harp and other string instruments, percussion. These were their
main instruments before they got gong.

5. Giarai people’s music scenes
? Gong music is played in their ceremony and festival (including funeral, regular
ceremony in church). They play gong by wooden stick against other people playing
gong by their hands.

5. Giarai people’s music audio/video
? Videos
– K’ny
– Harp
– Gong
? Funeral, 2018
? Church, 2018

6. Raglai people
? Living in coast of South Central Vietnam. They speak Raglai language(Austronesian
language) and their culture is close to Cham. Their population is 97 thousand.
Photo from Ban Dan Tloc,

6. Raglai people’s music instruments
? Raglai people also have group gong music and dance as same as indigenous
people of Central Vietnam. They have colorful traditional costumes from their
village.

6. Raglai people’s music instruments
? Raglai people has small instruments too.
Sarakel, a free reed gourd mouth organ, Chapi, bamboo zither.
These are made by craftworker.

7. Ede(Rade) people
? Living in Central highland of Vietnam. They speak language(Austronesian
language) and keep many unique customs. Their population is 270 thousand.

7. Ede people’s string music instruments
? Danh Bro is 2 string instrument of Ede people
? 6 string sinstruments is called Goong,
? These are played to relax after farmer finishes their work

7. Ede people’s free reed music instruments
? Dinh Nam is a gourd mouth organ, played for personal amusement, often accompanies a
their folk song called AyRay.
? Dinh T?kta (Tak tak) is single free reed instrument with some holes on pipe.
? Kipah is shaped like buffalo’s horn, which is played for special dance with gong.

7. Ede people’s music instruments
? “Dinh Buot Klia ( ??ng Bu?t ??k) “ is bamboo flute with external adjuster to
send air from player’s mouth, similar to Toraja people, East Indonesia.
? They also have “Dinh Tut”, 5-6 small flutes and mouth harp.

7. Ede people’s music scenes
? They have folk song called Ayray, whose lyrics is improvised to express their
feeling such as past, love.
? Flute and strings, those are not for played for ceremony.

8. Bahnar people
? Living in Central highland of Vietnam. They speak language(Mon Khemr language)
and their gong playing is famous for recognised as Msterpiece of the Intangible
Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Their population is 174 thousand.

8. Bahnar people’s gong ceremony
? This ceremony is held at Nhà R?ng(Big house), young people gathers in circle then
starts to dance with playing gong and dance.

8. Bahnar people’s music instruments
? Goong is a bamboo based string instrument with 11 strings.
? They have K’ni, mouth fiddle too.

9. Khmer people
? Living in South Vietnam. Their music is as same as Khmer people in Cambodia.
They speak Khmer language(Mon-Khmer language). Their popluation is 1 million.

9. Khmer people’s music instruments
? These instruments has been played in local folk music and court music of Khmer
kingdom, can be found on reliefs of Angkor Wat build on 12th century.

9. Khmer music instruments in religious art
Sa Lon pagoda, Soc Tran, Vietnam
Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

9. Khmer music instruments in Cambodia
? Almost all instrumens can be found in Khmer people in Cambodia, except Kse Diev
(bottom-right). Some says this is earlier model of ?àn B?u, Vietnam.

9. Khmer people’s music audio/video
? Khmer used to have many instruments, some of them are found in neighbor
countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Yunnan(South China).
? Videos
– Kids percussion ensemble, Soc Trang, 2018
– Khmer musician practice, Tra Vinh, 2019
– Cambodian livng arts, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2018

References
? Ethnic minorities in Vietnam by Dang Nghiem Van,
Chu Thai Son, Luu Hung, The Gioi publishers, 2014
– Notes of population depend on this book
? 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, Vietnam news agency
publishing house, 2016
? Sounds of Angkor, Patrick Kersalé
? Chronicle, history of Vietnam, Sadao Ogura, Chuko
shinsho, 1997

Update history of this document
? May 25, 2019 at Hutech Univ. Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam
? Nov, 2019 at UiTM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Thanks
http://junichi-usui.com
@ junichiusui (instagram)

狠狠撸

Music of minority people in Vietnam

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot (18)

Similar to Music of minority people in Vietnam (20)

More from Junichi Usui (6)

Recently uploaded (20)

Music of minority people in Vietnam