music scene in Hanoi

[Blue]

I was in Hanoi for a one day in transit city tour. Wondering around the chaotic streets, I found one place that was a school for Chinese music. Pictures I will upload when I can find internet access with sufficient bandwidth. At another place, I found membrane-free dizis as well as snake-skin erhu for sale. One dizi cost about US$3. Bought one (but should have bought more . . . . ) The Hanoi airport also sells dizis near the VIP lounge on the upper floor, but the skin is shaved off, making it necessary for the dizi to be lacquered on the outside.

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[davidmdahl]

In 2001 during adoption trips to Vietnam, I bought two bamboo flutes off of the street in Hanoi and Saigon for $1 each. They have been handy for when I wanted something easy to blow and didn't want to mess with a dimo. Originally I figured they would be good knock-around flutes, but now due to the connection with my daughter and the trip they are unreplaceable and precious to me.

I remember trying out an erhu-shaped object in a Hanoi music store in the old section near Hoan Kiem Lake. At the time, it sounded pretty nasty. I wonder if I could find something halfway decent now that I know something about how to play one. Now I would try to find out where the Vietnamese musicians get their instruments. I suspect that they don't get them at the same places that cater to tourists.

[edcat7]

Touching story David, that explains your love for Vietnamese music.

[Blue]

Well, a bowl of pho costs 20,000 Vietnamese dong. A membrane-free bamboo flute costs 50,000 dong. USD30 is roughly 600,000 dong. You could imagine my head hurting a lot at some many zeroes in the currency, not to mention that for all practical purposes, the Vietnamese only use polymer money (never encountered the 500 dong coin).

In Japan, people don't get their shinobue flutes at the same places that they cater to tourists in places such as Kyoto. I had to try really hard to search for those shinobue stores (except for Mejiro, which is located near the Mejiro train station and a french crepe restaurant).

[Blue]

Even though Vietnam is technically a communist country, some places look too much like Thailand. Prices are generally really cheap. Too bad Hanoi doesn't have a metro system yet, and they are building a new terminal because their existing terminal is way too small.

[Blue]

Another thing that struck me about Hanoi was that everyone was sitting on low stools on the sidewalk either having lunch, dinner, or just simply coffee. Especially the part of the cafes. I don't drink coffee, but I went to a coffee house and ordered a tropical fruit drink mix. I ended up sitting on a low stool on the sidewalk next to all those passing cars and motorcycles. The tables were also low level. Certainly not as romantic as drinking at a cafe in Paris!

Many shops owned bird in cages, a scene that I would once see in Taiwan, but is now abandoned in Taiwan because of bird flu scares.

And very interesting to see people eating Pho with youtiao (a form of salty doughnut). I would typically eat it with soybean milk, but I do know that Malaysians often eat youtiao mixed with green, not ripe mangos, and a type of fruit sauce. So yes, Southeast Asians can do interesting things with youtiao!

All the temples still have plenty of Chinese characters inscribed or plastered on their walls. Additionally, many Vietnamese homes have Chinese idols as well as paper charms written in Chinese.

Fortunately the inside of the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum is closed on the afternoons. I don't like to see dead bodies on display.

My only regret was that I couldn't find too many tropical fruits sold in the city center. I did see plenty sold at the outskirts of the city, though.

[davidmdahl]

My first Vietnamese musical experiences were at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre and a restaurant on Hoan Kiem Lake that had a house band playing traditional music. I also had mangoes and mango juice for the first time in Hanoi. Those are some wonderful memories.

[Blue]

I had mango juice and mangoes with coconut rice all the time in Thailand. As well as mangosteen, rambutans, and pomelos. How I miss tropical food. You can purchase very cheap sheng musical instruments in Bangkok as well. I was hesitant to purchase one because no idea how many tourists tried it, though.

[Blue]

And Vietnam grows so much dragonfruits (pitaya) that many people in Asia erroneously think that they originated from Vietnam. Correct answer is Mexico.

[carol]

Ah, I miss dragon fruits so much. We sometimes have those in the supermarkets in California, but they are like $5 for one.

When I visited teacher Thanh Thuy last year, she recommended an instrument shop next to the Conservatory of Hanoi. There are a street of instrument shops over there. The store she recommend has all sorts of Vietnamese instruments. They all sound very nice. I love the sound of their dan tranh there. Alan tried their danh nhi and flute, and they are good. Prices are a lot lower than HCM. However, the craftmanship is not so pleasing.

[davidmdahl]

Hello Carol,

When I was in Hanoi, no one I knew had any idea where to find good instruments, and the shops in the old section only had decorative instruments. It seems obvious now, but at the time I did not think to inquire about music conservatories.

The best dan tranhs I have come across were from Nguyen Vinh Bao's family in HCMC. I understand that you carry tranhs from the maker "Thanh" as well as Vinh Bao. I think that a video on Thanh mentioned that they have a Vinh Bao model of dan tranh. That is intriguing. I like the flatter curve of the sound board and the guzheng-style box for storing accessories.

I never have found a dan nhi that I like very much. My teacher brought back a few from a trip several years ago, but they are all quite harsh-sounding. I don't remember if she got them in Hanoi or HCMC. I have an old dan nhi reskinned by a maker in China. The old skin was very tired and thin. The Chinese maker used a high quality skin that makes the nhi sound great. Maybe the Chinese skin makes it an erhu now <g>, but I still call it a dan nhi and feel justified in using it to play Vietnamese music.

[carol]

Hmm, my Thanh's dan tranh actually has a very flat soundboard according to their standard. I would say the Vinh Bao's is even more flatter. The teachers here don't like the Vinh Bao's because of the bigger string spacing that will hinder them from doing fast movements. It would be perfect for me since I'm used to play guzheng which has relatively bigger spacing.

The dan tranh in Hanoi are all the half-moon shape ones. Much rounder soundboard. They only make flat soundboard for the bigger 19 or 22-string version.

I think instruments from HCMC are much more delicate in craftmanship. The instruments I saw in Hanoi all have lousy lacquer and crappy craftmanship. They appear to be in a different standard.

I bought a dan nhi at the NAMM show this year. The seller is from HCMC. I found him cause I thought somebody was playing a very loud erhu very well. So I followed the sound and found him playing a violin he made. LOL This guy is amazing! He actually convinced me and all the people at the Dunhuang booth that he was playing an erhu.
Any way, the dan nhi I bought looks delicate. It comes with a descent bow. The snake skin is young and thin comparing to the erhu standard. The skin is peeling off. I don't think it's processed well. I've never seen an erhu's skin is peeling off. As for the sound, I guess I'll have to wait for Alan back.

[davidmdahl]

I didn't realize that the Vinh Bao tranh string spacing was different from Hanoi normal, but it works well for me. I also like how there are no inlaid note labels. That lets me tune the tranh differently without getting distracted by wrong labels.

I have started guzheng lessons with Ruisi Li, a young master who recently moved to Portland. It is great to finally get back to playing the guzheng. I had worried that it would mess me up for dan tranh, which I am also studying, but the Vinh Bao tranh seems to be a good match for guzheng. I don't know if it is the string spacing, the shape of the sound board, both or something else, but I think this is going to work fine. It is a lot more work to press the guzheng strings with my left hand, so that is something to get used to.

For dan nhi, the Vietnamese wood crafting is excellent, but the snake skin seems to be a persistent problem. I don't know if the Vietnamese snakes are unsuitable, or if the makers are not treating the skins correctly. In China, the high-quality skins are getting rarer and more expensive. In Vietnam, they don't appear to have access to even what passes for medium-quality skins for erhus in China. I would love to be proven wrong though.

Regarding instruments from Hanoi vs. HCMC, I have a dan day from each. The HCMC dan day is very well made and decorated, but as an instrument the Hanoi dan day suits me better.

Best wishes,

David

[carol]

David, I really have to agree to that. I do like the dan tranh I bought from Hanoi the most, despite it's ugly looking, LOL.

[Blue]

Alright, here's a small collection of images from Hanoi:

Preparation for Good Friday activities at the Catholic cathedral in Hanoi:


Certainly not the most romantic way to have dinner or afternoon coffee/tea:


Outside a traditional music ensemble building:


A musical instrument shop (note some of the instruments obscured by the guitar):

[davidmdahl]

I recognize several of those Hanoi scenes, Allen. Even if dining on the sidewalk from those plastic chairs doesn't look like good living, I would love to return to do things like that. My memories of the trip remain only in short vignettes, but I have great memories of the food. I will have to dig out my photos of the trip and see what might be interesting to others.

Best wishes,

David