WORK OF ART: The house of a traditional drum craftsman in Đọi Tam Village. VNA/VNS Photo: Minh Hiếu At any number of social and cultural events around Việt Nam, especially traditional festivals, drums feature as the centrepiece of almost all activities. They are often used to offer a warm welcome to guests, signal when school begins or ends, and accompany musical performances at weddings, longevity celebrations, and funerals. Depending on the event, drums could either create an atmosphere of joyful union or sad separation. When festival drumbeats fill the air, farmers put on their best clothes and head out to celebrate. Drums have become a key part of many community activities held throughout the length and breadth of the country. Though drums are readily found in traditional Vietnamese culture, those with the best quality are only made in a few areas, among which is ancient Đọi Tam Village in the northern province of Hà Nam. Located at the foot of scenic Đọi Mountain in Duy Tiên District, the village is renowned not only for making drums for more than a thousand years but also for creating the largest 'thunder' drums in the country, with two of the biggest played at festivals celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of Thăng Long - Hà Nội capital in 2010. LIVELIHOOD: A villager focuses intently on making a drum. The traditional craft provides a living to all local people. VNA/VNS Photo Minh Hiếu Đọi Tam is a long-standing traditional craft village that complements the typical features of northern Vietnamese culture via its drums. All villagers, from old to young, know the legend of their ancestors - the two brothers Nguyễn Đức Năng and Nguyễn Đức Bản. The legend says that when the two heard about Emperor Lê Đại Hành’s return to their village to hold a royal ploughing ceremony to promote agriculture, they immediately chopped down the biggest jackfruit tree in their garden and killed the biggest buffalo to get wood and leather to …
Blast beats drums
9th generation descendant reveals know-how to make drums
With jackfruit wood and buffalo leather, the talented craftsman can make drums, creating the sounds of life. The Cu Hong leather drum workshop in Van Thuong Hamlet, Dai Dong Commune, in Thanh Chuong District in the central province of Nghe An, owned by Phan Van Cu, born in 1961, is particularly busy in the last months of the year. Cu and his co-workers implement hundreds of orders. Inheriting his ancestors’ traditional profession, Cu has devoted his whole life to making drums. The process of making drum comprises many stages, but Cu believes that choosing wood and making the drum barrel is especially important, because this affects the sound and durability of the drum. In Vietnam, craftsmen use many different types of wood to make drum barrels, but Cu only uses jackfruit wood. He explained that drums made of jackfruit wood can create interesting sounds. The older the wood is, the sharper and more soulful the sound will be. To choose the wood of high quality as he wants, Cu and his son have to go far to mountainous districts once every several months, such as Ky Son, Tuong Duong and Que Phong, to collect wood from locals. Wood will be sawn into plates with a width of 5-10 centimeters. After drying them, craftsmen will continue to saw the plates to make drum barrels with the curvature and thickness that fit the size of the drums. According to Cu, processing leather and stretching the drumhead is the most important task in making drums. Buffalo skin is used to make large drums, while cowhide is for smaller drums. In general, cowhide drums can give better sounds that resonate farther. The buffalo skin used for drumheads must be from old female buffalos. The skin is tougher and softer than the skin of the male buffalo, which allows it to create the best sounds. Buffalo skin is scraped of its excessive fat until it has a certain thickness. Only experienced craftsmen can do this work because each part of the buffalo skin has different thickness. If …
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The dance of ‘girls playing drums’
The Hanoitimes - Each of the traditional folk, dances which performs on festive days in the northern region, features different tunes and dance languages, but they all show the people's wishes for a peaceful new year to come. The clourful festival of Trieu Khuc village lasts from the 9th to the 12th day of the first lunar month (or 20 to 23 February this year) with the procession of Phung Hung emperor (the leader of a third uprising against the domination of the Northern Tang Dynasty (602–905) in Vietnamese history) procession, is mean to invite the saint to dwell at the great communal house, congratule him on the coronation and thank him for giving the villagers a warm, full and peaceful life. The dance called "Con di danh bong" or "girls playing drum" is now restored and become an important element of Trieu Khuc village festival. Photo: Le Bich According to the elders in the village, in the past, Trieu Khuc was the place where Phung Hung trained his troops to fight the enemy, General Dao Chinh Binh of Tang China. This was not Phung Hung's hometown but after winning the throne, the Trieu Khuc villagers worship Phung Hung as a Saint. The funniest parts of the Trieu Khuc festival are five dances performed by the villagers, including dragon dance, lion dance, dance with coint money, gong dance and flag dance. The two dances of dragon and lion are always performed together in many Vietnamese festivals until nowaday. However, it’s a limited chance for audiences to admire the coint money dancing and drum dancing (also known as the ‘girls playing drums’ as they are facing with lost. Currently, these dances are being restored and being an important position in the village festivals. Flirting ‘girls’ in the drum dance In the dance, boys are disguised as girls in beautiful makeup, wearing headscarves, colorful dresses, and playing with small drums hanging infront of their chests. Photo: Le Bich Different from other folk …
