Nha Nhac – Oral And Intangible Heritage Of Humanity

Court Music is understood as music genres in its ordinary meaning, including music for opera and dance. It is used in worshiping ceremonies, national court and organized festivities, and occasions of entertainment for kings and royal families. The different genres of the Vietnamese Court Music include worshiping ritual music, court ritual music, court dances, chamber music and opera (royal classical opera – Tuong). Nha Nhac (Elegant Music or Ceremonial Music) is the term which was used by Vietnamese feudal dynasties from Ho Dynasty with different meanings. It attracted the participation of many talented songwriters and musicians, with numerous traditional musical instruments.

Although Nha Nhac has appeared since the 13th century, it only reached the peak under Nguyen Dynasty. In about 1948, mother of Former King Bao Dai – Madame Tu Cung gathered once again some court music artists to maintain some genres of this court music and dance. Nha Nhac has begun the renaissance period and has been introduced in many countries in the world since 1990s.

On 7th November 2003, at the official meeting in Paris, UNESCO recognized Nha Nhac – the Vietnamese Court Music as oral masterpiece and intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The Vietnamese Court Music has highly professional, consists of many large scale orchestras, music and dance items performed by a large number of instrumentalists, singers and dancers. Moreover, this is the music genre that has high degree of improvisation and variation of the melodious scheme.

Hue Monuments Conservation Center – Hue Royal Tradition Theatre has duty on conservation and promotion functions of genres of Vietnamese court arts. There collected and staged many attractive ritual music programs such as Three wheels and nine variations (Tam Luan Cuu Chuyen), Drum sounds for peace ( Trong Thai Binh), Duet of drum and Khen (Song Tau Trong Khen), A medley of ten pieces (Thap Thu Lien Hoan); solo musical performance of one-stringed zither; court dance programs  such as A unicorn gives birth to its child ( Lan Mau xuat Lan Nhi), Lantern Dance ( Luc Cung Hoa Dang), Gathering all the best wishes to the king ( Trinh Tuong Tap Khanh), Women Generals go into battle ( Nu Tuong Xuat Quan); and royal classical opera plays as An artist’s heart ( Trai Tim Nguoi Nghe Si), Hong Son Flame ( Ngon Lua Hong Son), The initiator in Dang Trong Region ( Nguoi Khoi Nghiep Dang Trong), …

The programs are performed daily to recreate culture and art space of Hue Royal Palace in Nguyen Dynasty with ancient palaces, citadels at:

Duyet Thi Duong

Address: Forbidden Citadel, Thuan Thanh Ward, Hue City

Minh Khiem Duong

Address: King Tu Duc Tomb, Thuong Ba Hamlet, Thuy Xuan Commune, Hue City

Performance time: 02 shifts/day, each shift lasts for 30 minutes.

Morning: From 10h00′ to 10h30′

Afternoon: From 14h30′ to 15h00′

Paradise Travel offers many 10 day Vietnam culture tours including  Hue City with tourist services at two theatres:

Take photos with artists of the theaters.

Visit the exhibition hall of antiques and pictures about the royal art (musical instruments, costumes, masks… ); souvenir stalls selling arts, products, paintings, photos, books, tapes, discs about court music, dance, and royal classical opera…

Enjoy royal tea, lotus tea; Hue types of cakes, jams, traditional tea.

Tourists also visit Hoi An by taking our one day Hoi An tours to enjoy peaceful beauty of the Center of Vietnam.