In April 2023, the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology conducted a survey and collection of folk music of the Raglai and K’ho people in the Bắc Bình district of Bình Thuận province. They are two large communities whose population is only less than the Kinh, Chăm and Hoa (Chinese) people in Bình Thuận province. They live together and have similarities of traditional culture including folk music activities.

The Vietnamese Institute for Musicology, during the survey and collection, recorded and flmed thirty-nine folk songs, folk music and dance of many genres: Hari singing and ensemble of the mã la set (the brass percussion instruments) in the worship to celebrate new rice performed by the Raglai folk artists from Phan Lâm commune; Pra koông singing, solo of the rơ găm (a kind of musical instrument), ensemble of the goong chít and sa chít set (the musical instruments) in traditional ritual music of the K’ho people in Phan Sơn commune.

The collected materials will supplement the documentation of folk music heritages of the Raglai and K’ho people in the archive library of Vietnamese Institute for Musicology.

NGUYỄN VƯƠNG HOÀNG