|
|
Music Group 2026-02-19Music of Southeast Asia |
Vietnam — Hue Royal Court Music
Listen from the beginning to about the 4:00 mark.
According to researchers, the music of the court was born from the establishment of the Vietnamese monarchy. Since the Ly Dynasty (1010-1225), the palace music was shaped and developed through the Tran Dynasty (1225-1400), the House of Ho (1400-1407), the Le Dynasty (1427-1788), the Tay Son (1889-1801) and especially flourished in the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). At the end of the Le Dynasty, Nha music entered a period of recession due to many different causes.
Hue court music flourished again and was organized in the Nguyen Dynasty (phase 1802-1945). Especially in the first half of the 19th century, the royal family of Gia Long knew how to use this genre of music to “spiritualize” when starting a career in the south. The music of the court was used in the occasion of the royal sacrifice, the court, the ceremony of Nam Giao, the ceremony of the king and queen, the coronation ceremony, and the funeral of the king and queen.
After the Nguyen Dynasty (1945), Nha Music also lost its position as a primitive social function and environmental performance, fell into a recession and risked loss. Since the music was recognized by UNESCO as the Intangible Heritage and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003, Vietnam has had a national action program to preserve, restore and promote the value of Nha Trang.
Vietnamese traditional instruments play a central role in defining its musical identity. Instruments like the đàn tranh (zither) and sáo trúc (bamboo flute) are known for their ability to mimic the sounds of nature, while others, like the trống đồng (bronze drum), carry deep historical significance.
Vietnam — Ca trù
Watch from the 3:47 mark to the end.
Ca trù is a complex form of sung poetry found in the north of Viet Nam using lyrics written in traditional Vietnamese poetic forms. Ca trù groups comprise three performers: a female singer who uses breathing techniques and vibrato to create unique ornamented sounds, while playing the clappers or striking a wooden box, and two instrumentalists who produce the deep tone of a three-stringed lute and the strong sounds of a praise drum. Some Ca trù performances also include dance. The varied forms of Ca trù fulfill different social purposes, including worship singing, singing for entertainment, singing in royal palaces and competitive singing. Ca trù has fifty-six different musical forms or melodies, each of which is called thể cách. Folk artists transmit the music and poems that comprise Ca trù pieces by oral and technical transmission, formerly, within their family line, but now to any who wish to learn.
Ongoing wars and insufficient awareness caused Ca trù to fall into disuse during the twentieth century. Although the artists have made great efforts to transmit the old repertoire to younger generations, Ca trù is still under threat of being lost due to the diminishing number and age of practitioners.
Vietnam — Hat Xoan Singing
Xoan singing of Pho Tho province includes singing, dancing, drumming and clapper beating. It is closely linked to the worship of the Hung Kings, a belief rooted in the ancestor worship practice of the Viet people. Bearers and practitioners form four guilds, in which the male and female Trum play the most important role; they preserve the songs, select students, transmit the singing styles and repertoires and organize practices. They are also active in introducing and teaching Xoan singing at the four Xoan guilds, and in clubs and guilds. As a community performing art, Xoan singing fosters cultural understanding, community cohesion and mutual respect. Leaders and senior Xoan artists transmit the singing orally, combined with the use of written songs and audio and visual recordings. Experienced artists also teach Xoan singing to members of clubs and to music teachers in schools, who then transmit this knowledge to other club members and students.
The Royal Ballet of Cambodia — Robam Tep Monorom
Watch from 3:15 to about the 7 minute mark. Check back in at 8:30 for the big finale.
The Royal Ballet of Cambodia (Robam Preah Reach Troap) is a form of performing arts established in the royal courts of Cambodia for the purpose of entertainment as well as ceremonial propitiation. This dance, called Robam Tep Monorom, or The Dance of Heavenly Gods and Goddesses for Happiness, depicts Gods and Goddesses dressed in the finest regalia dancing in heaven. This repertoire is found through most classical court dance gestures in courting scenes where the hero meets his lover and they display the traditional affections that is often expressed in the Khmer style of love. The costumes reflect the ones of Khmer kings and queens of the 19th and early 20th century. This 2018 performance for the respective delegates of foreign countries as well as His Majesty the King of Cambodia took place at the Elephant Terrace in Angkor Thom.
Cambodia — Khmer Traditional Music Pin Peat
Listen from the beginning for 3 or 4 minutes. You’ll get the idea.
One of the traditional music forms is Pinpeat , in which an orchestra or musical ensemble performs the ceremonial music of the royal courts and temples of Cambodia. The royal orchestra would accompany the classical ballets, both male (Lokhon Khol) and female (Apsara), as well as the Grand Theater of Shadows, the Sbek Thom. The orchestra consists of approximately nine or ten instruments, mainly wind and percussion (including several varieties of xylophone and drums). It accompanies court dances, masked plays, shadow plays, and religious ceremonies.
Cambodia — Phleng Arak Boran
Phleng Khmer music includes phleng kar wedding music and phleng arak or phleng memot, performed during healing ceremonies and taking possession of a spirit by a female or male medium-exorcist during magical ceremonies called kru chol. Note that the instruments are very different from those used in the Pinpeat. The orchestra playing this music is sometimes called phleng boran ( ‘old music’.) The orchestras are pretty much alike in all cases, but with the addition of special ritual instruments for phleng memot music.
Here is a link that
describes and shows the phleng arak fresco
at Wat Reach Bo. The fresco, which survived the Khmer Rouge era, shows the age of the music used to accompany the Arak ceremonies. Although the musical concept of this type of ceremonies is found throughout Southeast Asia and beyond, it can be argued that it dates back to Cambodia to the times of the Proto-Khmer societies.
The oldest and most unavoidable instruments of the arak orchestra are undoubtedly the voice and the drums. The oboe is the next most important instrument. The mouth organs represented on the bronze drums of the Dong Sơn culture attest to the antiquity of the simple reed in ceremonial music. Bowed string instruments (formerly tro Khmer, nowadays tro) now hold an important place in the orchestra, but are more recent.
Cambodia — Original Music (modern) — Laura Mam
The music starts at 0:38, but this is an interesting video to watch all the way through.
The departure of the Khmer Rouge left Cambodia with virtually no music. Music during their reign was only allowed if it supported the pro-Communist regime. Lax copyright laws meant that there was a lot of music piracy, so there was no profit in funding artists to record original music. There was also a perception that there was no demand for it, since most of the music industry in Cambodia was producing copycat versions of American, Korean, and Chinese popular music. Laura Mam and other artists used the Internet to bypass the reluctant traditional recording industry to create demand and popularize a new generation of original Cambodian music. This particular song is definitely on the pop side, but has interesting influences from traditional Cambodian music.