The Gia Rai, Ede and Gie Trieng ethnic groups use two types of dinh tut (aerophone), one for female players and one for males. The women's instrument is smaller. People play the dinh tut only in their fields or communal houses, for they believe the instrument wakes up the soul of the rice and makes the rice grow fast and well. The rice soul is female. If a male player performs the dinh tut, the rice soul will awaken and flee because of shyness. Thus, a man playing the dinh tat must disguise himself as a woman.
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| The Kloong put |
The kloong put is another wind instrument with five big pipes of various lengths made from ni'ia, a naturally thinner bamboo, which gives the instrument its clarity of sound. Pipes made from other bamboos must be thin-walled with a diameter of five to eight centimeters and a length of sixty to 120 centimeters. Performers place the kloong put parallel to the floor and clap their hands in front of the tubes. Air pressure released during the clapping creates the sound. Only women play the kloong put. Local people believe rice will grow faster if a woman plays the kloong put on the cultivated land.
The Gia Rai ethnic minority may have made the first t'ru'ng, which is similar to the xylophone and is also very popular among the Ba Na, Xo Dang, Ro Ngao (of the Ba Na group), Gie Trieng, and Ro Mam, The titling, which is often called a klang and kldi, has several big bamboo pipes with lengths ranging from forty to seventy centimeters.
The popular t'rong has five pipes bound into a set and two sets of strings. The performer ties the two string ends at the shortest pipe to the base of a tree or a post and the other two ends to his body. He then knocks on the pipes with two pieces of wood to create sounds.
Only men play the eru'ng and only in the fields, never in a residential area and never in a house. Local people believe each pipe of the ening shelters tiny spirits, who drive away pests and protect the crops. Similarly, people believe that a Ming played in the house or residential area will frighten the livestock, hampering their growth and reproduction.The sic ngang, a horizontal flute of the Kinh (ViO) people and other ethnic groups, has one hole for blowing and six finger holes. The sic) ngang produces a joyful, melodious, and resonant sound that conjures up the image of a vast countryside. It has a variety of uses in everyday life and is played while tending buffalo in the meadows, while whispering to a lover in the moonlight, and while entertaining others at festivals. The Ca Tu ethnic group has a similar horizontal flute, which musicians play when resting or speaking of love.
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| The flute |
The Ba Na minority group makes its alal flute from a small nila bamboo pipe that is open at both sides and has a diameter of one and a half centimeters and a length of approximately twenty centimeters. The Ba Na cut a small, rectangular hole at one end and seal it with a thin copper plate to make a reed. The performer holds the alal horizontally and puts it to his mouth in such a way that the reed is totally in his mouth. In this way, all the air blows continuously through the pipe. With one hand, the player rapidly closes and opens the other end of the alal to create alliterating sounds.
The awl is twice as long as the alal. One end is closed, with the reed in a hole in the sealed end. The avol has between two and four holes at its base. The performer plays it like the a/al and covers the holes to create the desired sounds. Only men play the alai and the awl. They commonly play them in alternative singing.
The khen, the well-known panpipe, is popular among most of Viet Nam's ethnic groups. Its name and construction vary slightly among the groups. The khen be has an even number of pipes (from six to fourteen) divided into pairs with each pair a different length. The pairs are arranged in adjacent lines and run through the khen box, which is made of soft, light wood. Pipes of different lengths create different sounds. The overall effect of the khen be is a crisp, thin sound.
The H'mong have a khen with six thick-walled bamboo pipes set in a wooden box. One pipe is three centimeters in diameter and has two reeds. The E de have another variation of the khen called the dinh nam, which they play at Grave-Leaving Ceremonies. The Xa Pho have the khen ma nhi. The Royal Orchestra of the Old Viet had a type of khen known as the sinh or senh. Traditionally, in all these cultures, men play the khen to accompany singing or alternative singing at festivals.
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| The Khen |
Many instruments made of bamboo have been preserved and promoted in Viet Nam. Artists have studied preservation techniques and different methods of treating bamboo for higher durability. Vietnamese musicians are experimenting with improving the sound quality of bamboo instruments and increasing the musical range so they can perform more complicated music. Musicians using instruments such as the kloong put, t'o'ng, H'mong flute, sao ngang, and the khen now perform folk music with more complex melodies, thus appealing to a wider audience.
The musician and a bamboo instrument are just one example of how people and nature are intertwined. Vietnamese from many ethnic groups say that bamboo harbors a god who helps human hands create instruments with mystical voices so that people from Viet Nam's various ethnic groups can express their desires and laments.