Vietnamese Folk Music

[dustin]

Hello,

I was needing sheet music for any Vietnamese folk songs I could get my hands on and was curious if anyone could point me in the right direction.

We have a yearly global festival coming up and Vietnam is the spotlight country this year. I thought since I am playing at this, I could hopefully learn a couple of songs from this country.

If anyone has any sheet music they might want to share or could direct me to a source, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you!

[davidmdahl]

Hello Dustin,

Vietnamese music is near and dear to me. I will be happy to help. It will be helpful to me to know more about what you are after. If you want folk songs - vocal music to sing, I do have some suggestions. If you want to play instrumental folk tunes, then please let me know what instrument or instruments will be available.

Some of the most easily accessible Vietnamese vocal music for Western ears is the Quan Ho (kwan haw) from Bac Ninh Province in the North. Some of it works well with instruments also.

While there are MP3 files of Vietnamese music downloadable here and there from the Web, I can't think of any notation available in the same way. I do have a few books, but almost everything I actually use has been written out by hand. There is a book that might come in handy "From Rice Patties to Temple Yards" by Phong Nguyen. If this is not easily available to you, please send me a PM, and I will help. I think that it is downloadable from JSTOR, which might be available through your library.

Best wishes,

David

[dustin]

Thank you! I found this shortly after I made that post:
www.tienghatquehuong.com/FolkSongs/

It has PDFs of sheet music along with other things (it separates it from traditional and modern) and even has midi files.

What I am wanting are maybe a couple of short instrumental pieces. I will most likely being playing the hammered dulcimer at this festival, but there is a slim chance that I might be able to get enough down on the guzheng to bring that.

Are there any songs from that web site you would recommend (ttp://www.tienghatquehuong.com/SheetMusic/dancaindex.htm )? I have a friend who knows a bit about music from this country and even has a "Đàn tranh," but I am having a hard time getting ahold of her currently (she is a really busy person). I thought I would ask around in case she is too busy to help.

We have a pretty big population of Vietnamese here, but most of the people I know who's parents are from Vietnam do not listen to traditional music.

Thank you!

[davidmdahl]

That's right, I forgot that the Tieng Hat Que Huong website has some scores available for download. For dulcimer, Trong Com (Rice Drum) would sound good. At least it sounds good on the Vietnamese version of the yangqin, the dan tam thap luc. Qua cau gio bay would sound good on flute or whistle. I don't think guzheng is suitable for playing Vietnamese music, but I am rather particular about the traditions.

If you don't mind me asking, where will your program be? I know a few Vietnamese musicians in other parts of the USA. Maybe I can put you in touch with someone. PM me if you wish. Is it for the Autumn Moon festival? We will have our own program in September in Portland. I am planning to play dan bau and maybe dan day. Others will perform on sao (flute) and dan tranh.

The Portland area also has a sizable Vietnamese community, but there is the same ignorance and ambivalence about traditional music as you mention. We are working on that.

Best wishes,

David

[dustin]

Thank you for the recommendations (I think Rice drum and Dang Dan Cung would work well).

The event is a yearly festival that takes place at Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma. It is called "Global Oklahoma" and it is free to everyone (http://www.rose.edu/commfriend/globok/index.asp). They usually have a lot of good performances there.

I have been very lucky to have been asked to play there several times and I think it is because I kind of do a "world music" gig when I play, so it works well with whatever culture or country that is in the spot light that year. I try to ad one or two songs to my list when I can.

Thank you again!