Last time, I got a chance to soak up in the rhythm of Ca Tru – one of the fragile, intangible cultural heritages of Vietnam by UNESCO. Ca Tru which dates back more than 1000 years was popular form of entertainment for wealthy people and royal court. Listening to Ca Tru can be challenging at first but once listened will linger on your mind.
The most common form of Ca Tru involves only 3 performers: a female singer (named “Dao Nuong”), a three stringed lute player and a spectator. It is the singer’s vocal methods that fascinate me the most. Ranked as the 20th world’s most unique vocal technique, this sophisticated method makes singers look like they are pursing their lips while singing but still involves vocal articulation, hence creating unique ornamented sounds. If you are familiar with opera singing where the singer’s mouth are widely opened when singing high notes, get your brand new experience with Ca Tru to immerse in the great variety of traditional music from all over the world.
While acknowledging the significance of vocal music, all the instruments play in harmony with one another making it as important as vocal element. The backbone of the singer is the “Phach” played as percussion with two wooden sticks beaten together on a small bamboo bar. Notably, the two wooden sticks which are called “Phach Cai” and “Phach Con” produce different sharp sounds of the clicks and clacks. On the other hand, the three stringed lute (“Dan Day”) with its the long neck produce a deep and mysterious sound, creating an unique musical contrast.
Last but not least, the praise drum (“Trong Chau”) is made from buffalo skin and jackfruit wood having typical sound of “chat” and “tom”. Unlike any other traditional music, the drum acts as a bridge between perfomers and audiences since the artist strikes the drum to encourages the vocal to sing better or disapproves of the performance.
Traditionally, audiences would throw some bamboo cards with the numbers corresponded with the amount of money the singer would receive onto a pot to praise or encourage the singer. Observing how the artists play their instruments, it is reasonably thinking that the tunes are easily mimic. Actually, it takes a great effort and time consuming to learn the complex technique. “It took a beginner 6 to 10 years to master the vocal and Phach technique” shared by Thuy Chi – a very young Ca Tru singer.
Due to the wars in the past as well as insufficient awareness, Ca Tru has been fallen into disuse causing the threat of being lost. Despite the decrease in the number and age of practitioners, there are some great effort to preserve the genre. Beyond water puppet, Ca Tru is a great alternative for you to explore the Northern Vietnam’s rich culture. Join in a short but interesting performance of some indigenous singing and instrumentation and have an opportunity to try your hand at playing these instruments with Ca Tru Thang Long club.
