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Featuring performances by the Hanoi Ca Tru Thai Ha Ensemble.

Vietnamese ensemble Ca tru is a fascinating type of vocal music from northern Vietnam. It has a long and distinguished history, and its roots probably date back to the sixteenth century. Today, the ca tru ensemble consists of a female singer who accompanies herself on a small bamboo percussion instrument (phach); an instrumentalist who plays a three-stringed lute (dan day); and a drummer who beats a small “praise drum” (trong chau).

The best performers of ca tru today are the Hanoi Ca Tru Thai Ha Ensemble. This ensemble is made up of the singers Nguyen Thuy Hoa and Thanh Hoai, the lute player Nguyen Manh Tien and the drummer Nguyen Van Mui. Nine video examples of performances by the Hanoi Ca Tru Thai Ha Ensemble can be downloaded from this website.

This website accompanies an article by Barley Norton published in the journal Asian Music, 2005, Vol. 36, Issue 2, pp. 27-56, called "Singing the Past: Vietnamese Ca Tru, Memory and Mode". A pdf file of this article can be downloaded through libraries that subscribe to the electronic database Project Muse. The research for the article was made possible by a ThaiHa group small grant awarded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. For further information contact b.norton (@gold.ac.uk)

 

Video Excerpts

The video excerpts can be downloaded and viewed using Windows Media Player or Quick Time. These examples consist of a full performance of the piece Bac Phan (Example 1) and eight short instrumental phrases (Example 2-9). Nguyen Thuy Hoa is the singer featured on the video examples, and she is accompanied by Nguyen Manh Tien on the dan day lute and Nguyen Van Mui on the “praise drum”.

vietnamese musicians

Video 1 - Bac Phan (mov - 8611kb) (wmv - 6755kb)
Video 2 - Kho song dan (mov - 610kb) (wmv - 311kb)
Video 3 - Kho rai (mov - 1012kb) (wmv - 552kb)
Video 4 - Kho giua (mov - 842kb) (wmv - 442kb)
Video 5 - Kho xiet (mov - 505kb) (wmv - 240kb)
Video 6 - Kho doc 1 (mov - 705kb) (wmv - 357kb)
Video 7 - Kho la dau (mov - 1381kb) (wmv - 849kb)
Video 8 - Kho doc 2 (mov - 1040kb) (wmv - 590kb)
Video 9 - Drumming (mov - 1812kb) (wmv - 1233kb)

Transcription of Bac Phan

A transcription of the ca tru piece called Bac Phan (video extract 1) can be seen on this website by clicking below. Bac Phan was transcribed by Barley Norton.

Further Information

If you would like to buy a CD of ca tru performed by the Ca Tru Thai Ha Ensemble on the Nimbus Records label (2001) please go to the Nimbus website at www.wyastone.co.uk/nrl/world/5626a.html.

If you would like to read more about ca tru, you can order a copy of Barley Norton’s "Ca tru: a Vietnamese chamber music genre" (1996) by contacting Phong Thuyet Nguyen at ivm@vietnamesemusic.us. Details of this publication can also be found at the Institute for Vietnamese Music website at www.vietnamesemusic.us/publications.html.

© The Hanoi Ca Tru Thai Ha Ensemble and Barley Norton.
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Unauthorized copying, public performance and broadcasting of the recordings and all other material on this website is prohibited.