Vietnamese Music

An upsurge in the growth of Vietnamese music is not because of a sudden show of creativity but rather because of it being under the thumb of the Chinese and the Japanese respectively. Large amounts of musical influences came not only from these countries but also from India in the form of chamber music as well as Mongolia and Champa. The Vietnamese Music theory is founded upon the Chinese theory as most instruments used by the Vietnamese share a similarity with Chinese instruments. With its large cultural heritage, musical diversity was phenomenal as it also had foreign influences. Located in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has a large number of ethnic minorities which in turn has given rise to a number of musical expressions.
Even though musical instruments had Chinese markings, the Vietnamese soon introduced some of their own musical instruments such as the đàn bầu and đàn đáy. Modifications were done to these instruments as well as musical connotations began to diversify from Chinese and moved onto the country side’s folk music which gained popularity even in the imperial court. Folk music was such that it could be merged from one kind of traditional folk music to another genre.
Folk music also contains quan họ - which is used for courtship rituals, hát chầu văn – is a form of religious expression and is deeply spiritual, incorporating Chinese and Buddhist traditions and consist of chants popular throughout North Vietnam, ca trù – where females sing, similar to a geisha encompassing a female singing while entertaining rich men and hò – is commonly used as a courting ritual or to profess ones love.
Modern music comprises of Western instruments and Western influences which is starkly different from the traditional beats. Modern music songwriters include Diệp Minh Tuyền, Thanh Tùng, Pham Duy, Trịnh Công Sơn and Văn Cao. ‘Tân nhạc’ meaning new or modern music, largely incorporates Western pop. With a slow and steady economic boom, Vietnamese music is now engulfed with leading international Chinese and Korean pop artists.
Besides pop music, other Western influenced genres include, pop rock, hip hop, R&B and Western classical music as well. Western classical music however has slowly started blending in with Vietnamese sounds and instruments producing a whole new range of artistic impressions. Vietnamese music consists of instruments such as Đàn gáo, Đàn nguyệt, Đàn nhị, Đàn sến, Đàn tam, Đàn tam thập lục, Đàn tranh, Đàn tỳ bà, Kèn bầu and T'rưng.
With traditional classic songs continuously being amalgamated and remixed it isn’t surprising to see modern hybrids or nhạc quê hương as they are popularly known in Vietnam getting a steady fan following. Chamber music or ensemble music, delves into poetry recitation with few percussionists performing largely for the royal family, people from tea houses and the upper class. Theatre music comprises of genres like chèo which consists of powerful vocalists and percussions, cải lương introduced in the early 20th century is heavily influenced by Southern Vietnamese music and lastly hát bội was the re-creation of the Chinese Peking Opera which was pushed forward by the Royal household.