Vietnamese *Đàn Tranh* - Acoustic String Instrument Fantastic ...

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A week ago I unscheduled, meaning without plan it in advanced, entered a small central city shop in HoChiMinh-Saigon City. It was full of mainly Acoustic String Instruments. Some 'normal' Westernize Style Guitars but also some instruments that totally 'stole' my whole attention. Beside the Guitars I saw some Beautiful and really different string instruments, which I never really seen or touched before. I've probably been hearing the sound from them before in some Asian movie or so but never really understood the shape and form of the Instrument that Created that different beautiful 'Asian' music sound. Below I write about one of these Vietnamese Acoustic Instruments I believe is very Beautiful in shape/form and Sounds.

"Đàn Tranh" is the name of this Vietnamese Instrument Stealing my Attention, so I will - as real amateur - write about that instrument (info Wikipedia etc.,) and if you also get little 'hooked' you find info and especially music videos with its Sound on YouTube (1-3 link suggestion below).

The đàn tranh instrument is similar to a Chinese "Guzheng", a Japanese "Koto", a Korean "Kayagum" and a Mongolian Yatga. In northern Vietnam, this instrument is also known as the "đàn thập lục". It has a long soundbox with the steel strings, movable bridges and tuning pegs positioned on its top. The đàn tranh can be used either as a solo instrument, as part of various instrumental ensembles or to accompany vocal performances.

The Image above expose a Music Artist, Ms Phuong Bao. She has weekly music lessons for people that are just started and are new using the instrument to advanced students. She herself has been playing đàn tranh for 60 years and with her age of 65 years it means she started to learn playing the instrument from the age of 5. It was her father, mother and grand-parents who taught her, so not unexpectedly she belongs to a Family with Music Roots, going back several generations with connections to hundreds of years of music history here in Vietnam.

Would be Great to see a movie about her and her family, and their music Passion, starting in maybe beginning of 1800 VietNam, and follow them and their lives up to modern date. It could start from a specific music tune played in their small central shop and we move from 2015 with a 'flash-back' into country side house year 1828, for instance. Wow, that would be a Great Movie to watch, and for an old boy like myself to Produce. Maybe I could do some crowdfunding and see the result?! By the way, if you are Interested to get a Copy of Musician Artist, Ms Phuong Bao CD/DVD, only give me a hello. I make sure to fix this for you free of charge - exempt for cost of music/mail, of course - and make sure you get a String Acoustic Music Delivery to your job/home :)

The History of the instrument seems to go back as long as late 13th and early 14th centuries. Then the instrument đàn tranh 'only' had 14 strings and from the beginning of late 15th up to the 18th centuries, the number of strings increased to fifteen and the instruments was then called "thập ngũ huyền cầm". From the 19th centuries, the current style đàn tranh with 16 strings appeared and had become the standard version until the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The body of the đàn tranh is 'simply' very beautiful and I will not go into details more than the length of the instrument are usually between 104 and 120 cm. The soundbox consists of a curved top plate etc., and the top/bottom plates are usually made of a special wood called Paulownian. The strings are made of steel and have varying diameters. They are tuned to the pentatonic (what ever this means wonders a musical 'illiterate' person as myself) scale. Performers usually wear picks made of metal, plastic, or tortoise-shell to pluck the strings.

The standard version of the đàn tranh, or the đàn thập lục had 16 strings and had been used between the nineteenth century up to late 1980s. When I was in the shop I could see and counted to more than 16 strings, I believe 20 something which made it very nice and clearly difficult to play with. I guess that with 20+ strings it's like some kind of Asian Fusion between a Guitar and Harp.

Accordingly to Wikipedia, from the late 1950s a South Vietnamese master musician and instrumental designer Mr Nguyễn Vĩnh Bảo (b. 1918) began to design/construct a version of the instruments with 17, 19 and even 21 strings. By the late 1980s, this 17-stringed đàn tranh has become standard version of the instrument used throughout Vietnam. Even larger instruments with 22, 24 and even 25 strings have been started to be made and shown up in 1980s/1990s - the ones I saw in the shop stealing my attention.

I will not go into the details of Playing Techniques and instead give you some YouTube video links, where you instead yourself hear/see how the Musicians pluck the strings with the right hand and bend the strings with the left hand to create a Beautiful - a wide range of microtonal/tonal ornaments - sound. In traditional music, musicians use 2 or 3 fingers (thumb and index, or thumb, index and middle fingers) to pluck the strings. In some new compositions, as many as four or five fingers may be used to pluck the strings. In these new works, the left hand may also be used to enable the performer to play two simultaneous parts. Hope You also got little 'Stringed' of this Instrument from Vietnam and click on the Music Video Links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BMXuyA0xnY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr0xBC9-c4A&index=2&list=RD2BMXuyA0xnY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE_kgVP4Koc&index=16&list=RD2BMXuyA0xnY

Have a Nice Working Week and why not use 4 min/day this week with Traditional Vietnamese Acoustic String Instrument - Enjoy :)

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Share 1 1 Comment Ayoub M'himdi

IT Project Manager, PMP, PSM1

9y

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Hi Morris, this brings back memories to me, enjoy your travels!

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