FOLK MUSIC FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION
OF SOME ETHNIC GROUPS IN SƠN LA PROVINCE
(WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF PROJECT “SUPPORTING VIETNAMESE CULTURE FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 2005 -2009” SPONSORED BY SIDA-SWEDEN)
DR. NGUYỄN BÌNH ĐỊNH – POSTGRADUATE TẠ QUANG ĐỘNG
Directed by: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lê Toàn – Director of the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology
Project chairman: Dr. Nguyễn Bình Định – Deputy Director of the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology
Researchers: Dr. Nguyễn Bình Định - Postgraduate Tạ Quang Động
Recording: Nguyễn Anh Dũng, Ngô Đức Lưu
Director: Nguyễn Kha
Cameramen: Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, Nguyễn Quốc Hân
VTR: Nguyễn Trần Khánh
Photographer: Nguyễn Ngọc Long
Technical Assistants: Đinh Việt Thắng, Nguyễn Trọng Anh
Logistics: Phạm Minh Quyết
Fieldwork and collection time: From February 15, 2009 to March 01, 2009.
Ethnic groups and survey locations:
- Kháng ethnic group in Đán Đăm 2 village, Chiềng Ơn commune, Quỳnh Nhai district, Sơn La province.
- La ha ethnic group in Nậm Păm village, Pi Toong commune, Mường La district, Sơn La province.
- Thái trắng ethnic group in Mường Chiên (so-called Mường Chiềng) and Mường Giàng communes, Quỳnh Nhai district, Sơn La province:
- Thái đen ethnic group in Tủm village, Chiềng Khoi commune, Yên Châu district, Sơn La province.
KHÁNG ETHNIC GROUP IN ĐÁN ĐĂM 2 VILLAGE, CHIỀNG ƠN COMMUNE,
QUỲNH NHAI DISTRICT, SƠN LA PROVINCE
1. The cultural and social life
There are around 4,000 Kháng people, most of them live in Sơn La and Lai Châu provinces. Đán Đăm 2[1] village in Chiềng Ơn commune, Quỳnh Nhai district, Sơn La province is the most densely populated place of Kháng people.
This group is also called Xá khao, Xá xúa, Xá đón, Xá dâng, Xá hộc, Xá ái, Xá bung, or Quảng lâm. They also claim themselves to be Ba hang ethnic group. Kháng dialect belongs to Mon-Khmer languages.
Chiềng Ơn village is home to Kháng, Thái, and Kinh ethnic groups, consisting of 659 households. In particular, there are more than 400 Kháng households. 41 of 42 households in Đán đăm 2 village of Chiềng Ơn commune are Kháng people. Only one household is from Thái group.
Kháng people were accustomed to tilling their fields by pricking holes in the ground and putting seeds into. They mainly grew the sticky rice, corn and dug for yams in forests. They rarely grew fruit trees because they travelled from one place to another and followed the type of shifting cultivation. They used forest banana leaves as roofing materials and bamboo trees to build their house. When banana leaves got yellow, giving a signal that soil was no more fertile for cultivation, and they would move to live in other place. Nowadays, Kháng people live together in a village. Their house on stilts, similar to that of Thái people, is made from wood and roofed with tiles. They mainly raise buffalos, pigs and chickens. Some families also raise horses as a beast of burden.
Kháng people do not weave fabric. They plait and barter their products with other ethnic groups for goods, and with Thái group for clothes and skirts. Nevertheless, they create differences such as two patterned bands from shoulder to chest on the common shirt of Kháng women. Their clothes are similar to that of Thái people.
Kháng young people are free in dates-making. Once a couple has fallen in love with each other, parents of the man will find a match-maker, representing their family to bring offerings to the girl’s as proposal for marriage. This will be followed by engagement, matrilocal wedding and another wedding to take the bride to her husband’s family, and after all, newly-weds’ first visit to the bride’s.
2. Folk music
Mrs. Lò Thị Phấu (folk artist, Chairwoman of People’s Committee of Chiềng Ơn commune) said that the rich and popular folk music and dance of Kháng people has gradually sunk into oblivion. The youth are so busy with their study, work and business that they have little time for their traditional music. Those who can sing folk songs and play the musical instruments of Kháng people are middle-aged or old people. The youth can dance only.
2.1 Folk songs
- Singing in Pang á festival:Pang á is the biggest festival of Kháng people, which often takes place in October after the harvest. Pang á festival is held by a sorcerer in his house. He appoints his family members to invite all sick people who recovered after his treatment to attend the festival. Those are supposed as his adopted children and always bring offerings to him when attending. Those who were very sick must bring a pig, a wine jar and a wine bottle, while others bring a chicken, a wine bottle and an arms’ spread of scarf for the purpose of dance. In addition, many people from other villages, from far to near, also participate in such a festival.
Mrs. Lò Thị Phấu said, “Hearing that any village would hold Pang á festival, people would stop their work, put down their hoe, knives, and delay clearing or ploughing to attend the festival. It is very cheerful to all and is a chance for young men and women to meet each other, and to perform the love-exchange singing and dance”.
At the festival night, men and women declare love to each other via the repartee singing. The impromptu lyrics base on each concrete circumstance to be sung appropriately. Hereunder is an extract of the lyrics.
Từ bản gần bản xa
Cùng nhau đến xòe Pang á
Chớ để dứt tiếng trống, tiếng chiêng
Cùng nhau hát giao duyên
Đến tờ mờ sáng mới về
Ai ơi hãy nhớ đừng quên nhé
Cho dù ta có đi đâu
Tâm hồn ta linh cảm rằng mãi mãi bên nhau
Rồi lễ hội năm sau ta lại gặp gỡ
Chớ vội quên nụ cười
Chớ vội quên ánh mắt đêm nay
Ai ơi, cho dù hạnh phúc bao nhiêu
Hãy nhớ mãi không quên đêm hội này.
Meaning translation:
(From far to near
All come together for Pang á xòe dance
Don’t stop drums or gongs
Perform together the love-exchange singing
Until early in the morning
Please never forget
That wherever we go
Our souls are still together
We will meet again next festival
Don’t forget the smile
Don’t forget the eyes tonight
However happy you are
Never forget Pang á tonight).
Xòe (dance) in Pang á festival presents four tunes and is accompanied by drums, gongs, cơ dơng, and bằng ỏng tệnh (dỗ ống).
- Tang lơ song:It is an old song about an inconclusive love affair. The couple fell in love with each other but they could not get married, then the guy got married with another girl and the girl got married with another guy. However their sentiments and souls were still secured for each other. They missed each other whenever hearing the sad singing of Tang Lơ bird. They thought their lover had died already and became a Tang Lơ bird finding the other to confide in. They put everything on the back burner and sang with Tang Lơ bird:
Chim ơi! giữa bầu trời đầu xuân đẹp
Chim bay từ phương nào đến đây
Sao giọng chim buồn thế!
Chim có phải hồn người mà tôi yêu quí năm xưa?
Nếu phải thì hãy hót mãi nghe chim
Kể lại những tháng năm của tuổi còn son ấy
Ông trời không se duyên thành lứa, thành đôi vợ chồng
Hôm nay đây, tại nơi này chỉ mỗi mình tôi
Chim hãy hót và hót mãi nghe chim
Khi nào chim hót mệt, chim hãy bay đi
Và mong chim giữ lời hứa năm xưa mà hai ta đã hò hẹn
Cho dù đi ở phương trời nào
Cho dù sống hay chết
Lời hẹn đó ta sẽ không quên, phải vậy không chim?
Hãy trả lời tôi đi
Chim ơi sao buồn thế!
Ước gì tôi hóa thành chim
Cùng chim bay đi đến phương trời nào đó để xây tổ ấm
Nhưng giờ đây quá muộn rồi phải không chim?
Chính tiếng hót này người không còn sống nữa phải không?
Chỉ là linh hồn đến chào vĩnh biệt?
Thì tôi xin viếng người bằng tiếng hát tiễn đưa
Tôi xin mang cả tâm hồn năm xưa đến viếng người
Hẹn kiếp sau gặp lại, sẽ đem hạnh phúc trọn đời nghe chim.
Meaning translation:
(Dear bird, to the sky in early beautiful spring
Where are you from?
How sad your voice is!
Are you the soul of my former beloved?
If you are, please sing more
About those days of our youth
When we were not enabled to be husband and wife
Now that only me here
Please sing and sing, my dear bird
Until you are tired, then fly away
And just keep our words
That anywhere
Alive or dead
Those words will never be forgotten, right?
Please answer me
Why are you so sad!
Just wish I could become a bird
Fly to anywhere and make our home with you
Now it is too late, isn’t it?
Your song is of my dead beloved?
Are just the words of good-bye?
Then I see you off with my song
Herewith my own soul
Wish to see you again next life when we will be happy together.)
- Lullaby:
Bố mẹ đi nương đi rẫy
Ông ở nhà trông con
Cho bố mẹ yên tâm đi làm
Ông bà ở nhà có việc nhà việc cửa
Ru con ngủ, con ngủ cho ngon
Để ông bà làm các việc trong nhà, quét dọn
Nấu cơm nấu canh chờ bố mẹ đi nương đi rẫy
Bố mẹ về con mới dậy đón mẹ đón bố
Bố mẹ về mang hoa quả về cho con.
Meaning translation:
(Mum and dad go to the mountain fields
Grandpa is at home taking care of you
We are secure to go to work
Grandparents have housework to do
Lull you to sleep, you sleep well
Then they can do their housework
And cook food before we return from the fields
Waking up, you will welcome us
We will bring you fruits and flowers.)
- Love-exchange singing: Kháng young people often sing to express their love. They sing everywhere when possible, such as on the field, at the market, at festival and also when they go out in the evening.
Mrs. Lò Thị Phấu said, “Despite going to work on mountain fields, what they mainly do is to sing with one another when they meet. Sometime no work is done”.
Such kind of love-exchange singing often takes place in September and October after the harvest and everybody is free. During some nights when moon is so bright and the sky is so transparent, young people meet at the yard of a girl’s house. They sing until around midnight. After that, the girl in love will invite her boyfriend to go up to her house for talking. Then, she asks for the excuse to go to bed. The guy is still there for a while, and goes to her bedroom to continue their talk when her parents do not notice. He will not leave until 2 or 3 a.m.
Hereunder are two repartee verses between guy and girl.
Guy sings:
Tôi ở xa nhìn thấy lửa,
Ở xa nhìn thấy nước.
Nhìn thấy áo chàm đen, lòng muốn mặc
Nhìn thấy người má hồng, lòng muốn hỏi thăm.
Meaning translation:
(From far I could see flames
From far I could see water
Seeing black indigo dress, I want to wear it
Seeing a beautiful girl, I just want to talk to)
Girl sings:
Hôm nay, giờ đẹp, ngày đẹp mới gặp anh
Ta gặp nhau thì vui chơi với nhau
Nếu anh có vợ rồi thì xin nói chuyện với chồng người khác
Đừng để cho vợ anh biết, vợ anh sẽ đánh, sẽ chửi em….
Meaning translation:
(Today I see you at good time and good day
We can enjoy together
If you are married, please talk to other’s husband
Don’t let your wife know, otherwise she will shout at me and beat me…)
2.2. Musical instruments
As far as the folk artists said, Kháng people own such musical instruments as drum, gong, the pí tam lay, biếng tóng (the mouth harp), cơ dơng, and bẳng ỏng tệnh. At time of survey, there was not any musical instrument in the village. We created all favourable conditions for folk artists to restore, but they were only able to restore two musical instruments including the cơ dơng and bẳng ỏng tệnh.
- Cơ dơng is designed similarly to the đao đao of Khơ mú people. The cơ dơng is made of one neohouzeaua pipe which is around 60 cm in length and 3.5 cm in diameter. It belongs to the percussion mainly played by females. It can be played solo or in ensemble with biếng tong. It is also used as a prop, or to accompany Kháng dances.
- Bẳng ỏng tệnh is a bamboo pipe in 5 cm diameter, and is about 110 cm long. The lowermost node of the pipe is maintained while all others inside the pipe are pierced to create an air column. To perform, player holds the upper end of the pipe and strikes the end with node on a wooden plate. This instrument is only used in ensemble with drums and gongs in Kháng people’s dances.
Regarding other musical instruments, we can only describe according to the folk artists’ narration.
- Biếng tóng (the mouth harp) is a small bronze musical instrument, and tuned by mouth. The way to play the mouth harp of Kháng people is different from that of some ethnic groups living in the Northwestern region of Vietnam. For example, Hmông and Thái people use the thumb to pluck one end directly while Kháng people pull a string tied to one end of the instrument.
- Drum, chiêng gong, the pí tam layare similar to those of Thái people.
LA HA PEOPLE IN NÀ TẠY VILLAGE, PI TOONG COMMUNE, AND
HUỔI LIẾNG VILLAGE, NẬM PĂM COMMUNE, MƯỜNG LA DISTRICT, SƠN LA PROVINCE
1. The cultural and social life
There are around 1,400 La ha people living in Sơn La and Lào Cai provinces. In Sơn La province, the majority of La ha people live in Thuận Châu and Mường La districts. This group is also named Xa khắc, Phlắc, and Khlá. Their dialect belongs to Kađai language.
La ha people live on fields in the pattern of shifting cultivation, fruit-picking, hunting, and fish-catching. Nowadays, La ha people grow paddy rice and live in a village of dozens of houses. They mainly grow sticky rice, paddy rice, corn, cassava, soy bean and cotton and raise buffalos, cows, pigs and chickens.
There are four villages in Mường La district where most of the residents are La ha people. Nà Tạy village in Pi Toong commune and Huổi Liếng village in Nậm Păm commune of Mường La district, Sơn La province are the place of many folk music artists. All 35 households in Nà Tạy village are La ha people. Only in some households, either husband or wife belongs to other ethnic group. In Huổi Liếng village, all 31 households of 154 people are of La ha group.
La ha people speak their dialect only within their village and speak Thái language in other places. Almost all La Ha children speak Thái language at school. Even some of them do not want other people to know that they are La Ha people.
La Ha women do not weave fabric. They grow cotton and batter it or other products for clothes and skirts of Thái people. However, they also have some additional decorative details such as some extra edges and hems in comparison with cóm shirts of Thái people.
Houses are made according to the type of tilt houses of Thái đen people.. The roofs used to be covered with thatches. Now roofs are made of tiles or cement plates.
La ha young people enjoy free marriage. They are free to love and do not suffer from parents’ pressure on marriage but still need their consent. After a marriage proposal ceremony, the bride’s will distribute betel and areca to its relatives to ask for their ideas. Anyone who does not approve will return the betel and areca. After five days, if the bride’s does not return betel and areca to the groom’s, it means they are consentatenous. Then the groom’s will hold a ceremony for the groom to stay with the bride’s. The groom must stay there for between 4 to 12 years, depending on the agreement of two families. After that time, a wedding will be held and the bride will go to stay with the groom’s. There will be alternate singing between the two families. Nowadays, the maltrilocal custom is no more compulsory. If the groom stays with his bride’s, his family will bring just a few offerings. If he does not, his family must bring much more offerings to the bride’s, which means they give money in addition to the offerings in replacement of his twelve years’ stay with the bride’s.
According to the burial-holding custom of La ha people, a dead person is buried with some essential things. A small house is built above a grave. Some personal things including rice baskets, clothes, and blankets are put inside. Returning home after burial, people drive away evil spirits by using trees and firewood to beat into the air in order that these spirits will not disturb the families. There are some songs reserved for dead people during funerals.
Annually, La ha people organize two main festivities including the praying-for-rain ceremony and the good-crop celebration. The praying-for-rain ceremony, which is organized in April before cultivation, still exists these days. As routine, heads of households must gather at the village head’s house on festive days, each of them must bring a chicken as an offering. Then a sorcerer is invited to conduct rites outdoors to pray for rain. The offering tray comprises one pig which weighs around 30 kg and a chicken. The good-crop celebration is held after harvest. Each household makes a jar of rượu cần (wine drunk out of a jar through pipes) and get two bottles of wine for the celebration. All families organise and invite their close friends and relatives to join them. People sing to celebrate each other for good crop during this celebration.
2. Folk music
2.1. Folk song
Nowadays, we can find some similarities with Thái folk songs when listening to the folk songs sung by La ha people. Even some of them would rather sing Thái folk songs than their group’s. This does not happen to only La ha people but also to many other ethnic minorities in the Northwestern region of Vietnam, such as Kháng, Xinh mun, or Khơ mú people, and so on. Nowdays, there are very few people who can sing La ha folk song. We were only able to collect two folk songs of La ha people including Ma ha ma hỡi ha and U lạc.
- Ma ha ma hỡi ha is sung when people go to the mountain field to clear land. The singing lyric is presented by the folk artist Lò Văn Pháng, 65, from Nà Tạy village, Pi toong commune of Mường La district:
Bà con anh em trong bản ơi
Gà gáy trời sắp sáng rồi
Hãy dậy để nấu cơm
Vợ gói cơm cho vào túi vải
Những người đàn ông, con trai hãy mài dao cho sắc
Để lên rẫy phát nương
Chúng ta đến nương rồi
Chúng ta chuẩn bị phát nương
Chặt cây, chúng ta chặt cho kỹ, cho ngay
Chúng ta phát xong rồi
Đến trên đầu đỉnh núi
Chúng ta quay xuống thì chúng ta phải đè cho kỹ
Khi đốt nương thì nó mới cháy tốt
Các con, các cháu chúng ta vào chỗ lều
Chúng ta tập trung để ăn cơm.
Nghỉ ngơi ăn cơm xong rồi chúng ta lại phát tiếp
Xong lần này chúng ta mới nghỉ về nhà
Đi xuống suối tắm giặt, bắt cá
Khi về đến nhà
Ăn cơm tối xong
Thanh niên trai gái trong bản
Ai có khèn, pí thiu, pí tam tặn, tam lay
Thì chúng ta hãy mang ra
Chỗ ngoài sân, trăng sáng để vui chơi, múa hát
Rồi chuẩn bị cho ngày mai,
Ngày khác chúng ta lại tiếp tục lên phát nương nữa.
Meaning translation:
(Hey all my villagers
Cock-crow appeals for the sun
Wake up to cook rice
Wives put rice in your bags
Men and boys sharpens our knives
To clear land on mountain fields
We arrive at the fields
We are going to clear them
Chopping down a tree, we have to chop it carefully
We have cleared the fields
To the top mountains
Then we have to tread them down
So that it will burn well
Our children now come to tents to eat food
Take a rest before coming back to work
After work we go home
Have a bath in the spring and catch some fish
Arriving home
We have dinner
All boys and girls in the village
Let’s bring khốn, pớ thiu, pớ tam tặn, tam lay
To a yard where the moon shines to sing and dance
Then we will be prepared for tomorrow, another day on the mountain fields).
- U lạc (lullaby) sung by folk artist Quàng Thị Toản, born in 1969, from Huổi Liếng village, Nậm Păm commune:
Mẹ sẽ dậy nấu cơm xong rồi
Mẹ sẽ đi làm nương
Làm nương xong rồi
Mẹ mới về nhà cho con ăn bú
Mẹ sẽ đi xúc cá, xúc tôm
Con ở nhà chơi ngoan,
Ngủ với ông với bà
Với chú với cô
Mẹ đi làm nương
Mẹ lấy quả dưa, quả vả, quả dâu da
Con ở nhà, con đón mẹ, chờ mẹ
Cả mẹ cả bố đi làm về con mới được ăn.
Meaning translation:
(I will wake up to cook food
I will go to mountain fields
After work
I will come home to feed you with my milk
I will go and catch fish and shrimps
Please be nice at home
Sleep with your grandparents
With your uncles and aunts
I go to the mountain field
I will get melons, figs and lichee
Wait for me at home
When Dad and Mum arrive home, you will have food).
2.2. Musical instruments
Nowadays, La ha people in Nà Tạy and Huổi Liếng villages could only make and play Pơi lôi, Kén thiu, Pơi lót, Pí tam tặn, and Pí một lao.
- Pơi lôi,the vertical flute of freely-vibrated reed branch, has similar structure to that of the pí pở, a musical instrument of Thái đen people. The reed is made of silver. One end with reed has tight notch while the rest end is empty. The pơi lôi comprises six pressing holes (one underneath and five above) to create pitches.
Pơi lôi is 37.5 cm in length; the pipe’s diameter is 0.9 cm
Reed - B, C, D, E, F, G: the pressing holes that create pitches- H: The sound hole
This instrument is often played by men who go to their girlfriends’ house at night. According to their traditions, men wake their girlfriends up to let them know their love and to talk to them by music of pơi lôi or kén thiu. Therefore, all men learn to blow at least one or two musical instruments. Nowadays, this custom is no more maintained, thus only a few old and middle-aged people know to play this flute.
- Kén thiu is a blowing airophonic instrument of arched branch. It comprises one pressing hole and four others to create pitches. It is 88cm long, and the pipe’s diameter is 1.5cm, which creates a deep and warm harmony.
There are two melodies, one slow and one rapid. The slow melody is played when a man comes near to the staircases of a girl’s house with a view to waking her up for talk. The melody is based on a song of La ha people, for example:
Dậy đi em dậy đi,
Mặt trăng sắp khuất xuống núi rồi
Sao em nỡ để mình anh đứng đội sương phơi gió thế này…
Meaning translation:
(Wake up, wake up my dear
The moon is going down from the mountain
Why could you leave me standing in fog and wind?...).
The rapid melody is played when the couple goes downstairs to take a walk.
- Pơi lót (a junction neohouzeaua pipe) is a blowing airophonic instrument of freely-vibrated reed branch. The reed is separated from the flute’s body. Pơi lót, comprising two pressing holes to create pitches, is the longest flute of La ha people. It is up to 106 cm long. The pipe’s diameter is 0.8 cm, and the sound is very deep.
Pơi lót is usually made from old and small long-sectioned bamboo. Pơi lót is made anywhere when people want to play. It is usually used to perform between 1-2 days, since the sound is no more beautiful after becoming dry.
Pơi lót is often played on mountain fields, or at bright moonlit nights for entertainment. Pơi lót is mostly played during the time when upland rice ripens (around lunar September). Pơi lót can be played solo or accompanies the singing. It can be played by both men and women.
- Pí tam tặn is a blowing airophonic instrument of freely-vibrated reed branch. The reed is seperated from one end of the flute’s body. Pí tam tặn of La ha people can be made of either a small neohouseaua pipe or a rice straw. There are three holes on the flute to create pitches. Pí tam tặn is often played by ladies and always at the time when rice ripens. It is often played solo, and rarely accompanies the singing.
- Pí một lao is played by men during worship of sorcerers such as the treatment worship or spring festivals. Pí một lao is the unique instrument to accompany the sorcerers’ singing during worship.
THÁI ETHNIC GROUP IN SƠN LA PROVINCE
1. The cultural and social life
Thái ethnic group is the biggest community in Sơn La province, accounting for 54% of the population. It consists of Tay đăm (Thái đen) and Tay khao (Thái trắng). Its dialect belongs to Tày- Thái languages. Thái people live at house on stilts. There are around 40-60 houses in each village.
Thái people know a lot about embanking plank, digging ditches, and using water spouts for rice irrigation purposes. Sticky rice is the main food. Thái people also grow rice on mountain fields, farm produce and many other plants. Households raise cattle, poultry, weave things and fabric. Some households also make potteries. Their famous products are brocade with unique patterns and durable and splendid colors.
In recent years, more and more Thái men have started wearing western clothes while women wear their traditional costumes, dress, piêu scarf, and jewellery.
Thái people have the matrilocal custom and the husband must live with his wives’ family for some years. When they have children, the wife then goes to live with her husband’s family. Today, this custom is no more popular except for the fact that the bride’s family is in too difficult condition.
Thái ethnic group has their own dialect and scripts. They have mythologies, legends, tales, poetic stories and folk songs. Thái people very love music and xòe (dance). They have many different types of musical instruments, folk songs as well as famous xòe dances.
2. Folk music of Thái trắng ethnic group
(Hé village, Mường Chiên (Mường Chiềng) commune and Nghé Toỏng village, Mường Giàng commune of Quỳnh Nhai district, Sơn La province)
2.1. Folk songs
Thái trắng ethnic group in Hé village has such melodies as khắp Then, khắp Báo sáo, Sao sên, khắp ú lụ, and Loong te.
- Khắp Then is performed in two forms: the 1st one is singing (without dance) accompanied by tính tẩu, and the 2nd one is singing and dance of folk artists accompanied by tính tẩu. For singing without dance, they can use khắp Then tunes to sing different folk songs, such as “Hát với người yêu” (Sing with lover), “Dạy dỗ con cháu” (Teach your children and grandchildren), and so on.
For example, lyrics of the folk song “Hát với người yêu” as below:
Vào tháng một, hai, ba
Hoa gạo, hoa ban, đỏ trắng rừng
Bốn phương trời đều có tình yêu
Không ngờ anh thấy gió Lào tháng ba
Ngồi một mình đợi chờ không thấy
Ngày đêm lòng luôn nhớ người ơi
Lúc đêm ngủ mơ màng
Ngồi tỉnh dậy mà ngỡ bóng ai
Nhìn lên trời thấy ngàn ánh sao
Thấy ánh sao nhưng không bao giờ với tới
Lòng mơ thành sợi tơ tằm nhuộn tình không phai
Tình thương yêu như chân kìm[1], đôi đũa
Mong ông trời làm khuôn đúc thành đôi
Đúc hai người cùng chung một kén
Ở bên em, anh hết phiền lo
Cuộc đời có số có đôi
Gặp khó khăn, giông bão không phai
Dù ai có nó gì cũng không thay lòng đổi dạ.
Meaning translation:
(In January, February, March
Bauhinia and kapok redden forests
Love is everywhere
I could not imagine that I could see winds from Laos in March
Sitting here all alone and waiting but I could not see you
All of my minds are for you
Unsoundly sleep at night
Sitting up I thought it was you
Looking up the sky I see thousands of stars
The stars that I could never reach
I dream to be unfading silk of love
My love is so firm and lasting
If the Heaven could make us into one
If he could cast us in one cocoon
No worries when I am with you
Everyone has his own fate
But no change despite stormy obstacles
No changes despite others’ words).
- Khắp báo sao is thelove-exchange singing. The lyrics are full of fantasy, the girl and boy will base on different contexts to sing the lyrics. On mountain fields, they cite grass, trees, flowers, leaves and so on. At night, they cite the images of the moonlight, flame, cock-crow, etc, to show their own feelings. These alternate songs are often long and can last from the nightfall until late at night.
Hereunder is an extract of those songs.
Man sings: Từ xa nhìn thấy bóng lửa hồng
Nhìn thấy người mặc áo màu đen
Nhìn thấy người anh muốn hỏi thăm
Muốn kết bạn, kết duyên đôi lứa
Meaning translation:
(From far I could see the flames
I could see some one in black
Some one that I want to speak to
Some one that I want to make friends with and marry)
Woman sings: Người yêu ai đã lạc đến đây
Bông hoa trắng ai rơi vào vườn hoa đỏ
Bông hoa đỏ ai rơi vào vườn mía
Mặt son trắng đang đợi chồng ai ơi!…...
Meaning translation:
(Some lover losts his way here
A white flower amid a red flower garden
A red flower amid a sugarcane garden
A beauty is waiting for her husband!….).
Man sings: Thuyền đứt (neo) mà không có ai kéo giúp vào bờ
Người nghèo khó không có ai yêu
Người khốn khổ không có ai đợi ai chờ
Không ai thèm nói chuyện ai ơi!
Meaning translation:
(No one helps me onshore though anchor has been broken
No one loves a poor person
No one waits for a miserable person
No one wants to talk to me!).
Woman sings: Hợp duyên hai bên cùng nhau xây dựng
Cùng đắp đập dẫn nước vào mương
Nước vào mương cho dân mường gieo mạ
Anh cầm xẻng, em sẽ cầm mai
Em cầm dao, anh sẽ lái cầy khai phá
Sức hợp từ phương trời xa sẽ thành đôi.
Meaning translation:
(If it is fate, we will be together
Together we dam up to get water into ditches
Once water enter ditches, mường people start sowing rice
You hold a showel, I hold a spade
I hold a knife, you control a plough
Together we will make something).
- Khắp sao sên is usually sung by old people. The singing is accompanied by the two-string tính tẩu (tuned at a fifth).
Khắp sao sên, the tune Thánh hiền (Teaching children and grandchildren):
Đời người như rừng cây
Đời người như bông hoa
Bông nối cành nối lá mọc hoa
Bông héo rụng xuống, bông khác mọc lên
Đời người dưới quyền thần thánh
Truyền xuống cho có thấp, có cao
Cho có quyền, có chức
Con người, động vật, thực vật chỉ có một đời mà thôi
Yêu thương nhau không đánh chửi nhau
Như anh em cùng cha cùng mẹ
Có việc gì tốt xấu
Không được coi thường, ác hại về nhau
Hãy vứt bỏ cái nghề oan ức, tham lam
Suốt đời đừng nói bừa, gian ác
Lời nói này phải chăm phải học
Hàng năm, hàng tháng phải xem, phải nhớ
Lúc qua đời còn nhớ còn thương
Vì có chuyện thánh hiền dạy loài người
Kiêng ba năm, ở lâu có phúc
Đừng ăn trộn, chèo leo, nói chày, nói bửa
Phụ nữ giỏi hai việc trong nhà
Dệt vải và trông bố mẹ già hai bên.
Phụ nữ có hai chồng trời phạt, trời đánh.
Ôi sao buồn thế vì hàng năm thêm tuổi
Lời nói này trời đã định ra
Hạn chết này chẳng ai tránh được
Ai không nghe phép thánh hiền truyền lại
Ai cũng bỏ phép này hàng năm không nhớ
Chỉ biết hung hăng vô cớ
Thì suốt đời khổ mãi không thôi
Nhiều đời chỉ nối tiếp nhau như vậy
Nhiều đời nên học và nhớ ông cha truyền lại.
Meaning translation:
(Life is a forest
Life is a flower
Flowers would appear after leaves and branches
Withered ones will be replaced by new ones
Life is controlled by god and saints
All have levels
All have rankings
Humans, animals and plants all have one life
Love each other, don’t fight each other
Just like brothers and sisters of same parents
Anything though good or bad
Never look down on each other, never harm each other
Throw away bad things and greed
Never tell lies or evils
This lesson must be learnt by heart
All the year round
Remember it till you die
As human beings are taught
Do good things to receive good things
Never steal things or tell lies
Women must be good at two jobs at home
Fabric weaving and taking care of parents on both sides
Women who have two husbands will be punished by heaven.
How sad it is because we are becoming older and older
These words are already mentioned by heavens
No one could avoid his death
If you do not listen to these good words
If you do not do good things every year
And unreasonably aggressive
You will face a hard life
For many lives
Therefore, you must learn and practice those words).
- Khắp ú lụ is the lullaby of Thái trắng people.
Lyrics of khắp ú lụ:
Bố mẹ đi nương rẫy chưa về
Cháu ăn rồi cháu ngủ cho ngoan.
Con ở nhà con ngủ ngoan
Bố mẹ về sẽ có quà cho con
Có con cào cào, châu chấu, con ếch, con nhái về đón con
Có con gà nướng cho con ăn
Meaning translation:
(Parents are still on the mountain fields
Eat and sleep well dear.
Please stay at home and sleep well
We will have gifts for you when we are back
Locusts, grasshoppers and frogs will cheer you up
Also we will bring a roasted chicken for you).
- Khắp loong te: When men are at full sail, they see women picking vegetables on riverside. Men stop the sailing, sing khắp Loong te to inquire after and joke, then women sing to repartee. The love-exchange singing is fine, spontaneous and plain depending on their sentiments.
2.2. Musical instruments
Thái trắng people in Hé and Nghé toỏng villages now play four musical instruments: the tính tẩu, the pí pặp đôi, the pí một lao, and the ma hính.
- Tính tẩu, the tính lute whose resonant is made from gourd, used to be very popular. Nowadays only few old people can play it, among them Mr. Lò Văn Đoan (born in 1952) is considered to be the most talented folk artist and knows most melodies in Hé and Nghé toỏng villages. He learnt to play the tính tẩu at the age of 17. The teacher was his father, folk artist Lò Văn Mận – a well-known tính tẩu player in Quỳnh Nhai district. Apart from the instrumental-playing skill, Mr. Lò Văn Đoan is also a tính tẩu maker cum teacher. He makes the tính tẩu as a gift to his friends or as a product for selling.
He said, “To make the tính tẩu, you must choose a nice old and round gourd which thus produces beautiful music. Its neck is made of light and curved wood, the most popular wood is tin tết (chân vịt), bead-tree or dổi tree. According to the folk measurement, the neck’s length is as long as nine fists of a player. This will make the musical instrument suitable for players and their voices. If it is shorter, the music will not be resounding. The tuning axis is also made of a similar type of wood. Its surface is made of a soft and light wood, called Mạnh Tong. It is planed thinly down to about 2mm. There are small holes on the surface and behind the bottom of tính tẩu, serving as the sound holes and for decoration as well. The head looks like a bird’s beak, which is both decorative and used as a hook to hang the instrument. Strings used to be made of tiny silk. Nowadays, those are made of nylon.
Apart from the instrumental making and performances, Mr. Lò Văn Đoan is absorbed in teaching the young generations. He said, “During cheerful festivals and happy days, or when children come to visit me, I often play music for them. Anyone who likes to play the instrument, I will show him how to. In my village, some children can play the musical instrument to accompany dances. But none of them can play some difficult musical pieces such as the tính doóng and the loong te. They have to learn more”.
Tính tẩu used to have two strings with two tuning ways of a fourth and a fifth. In recent years, it has extra one string, so-called the three-string tính tẩu lute. Two outer strings are at octave and the middle one is a fourth or a fifth far from two outer strings. The two-string tính tẩu lute is played to accompany singing while the three-string tính tẩu lute is sometimes played to accompany dance.
Thái trắng people play tính tẩu solo or in ensemble, or to accompany some folk songs and dances. Tính tẩu solo usually wake up ladies for chatting. According to custom, guy plays tính tẩu to perform Tính doing melody all the way from the alley to ladies’ bedroom to wake her up. Once recognizing the music of her lover, the girl would wake up, open doors and invite him in. This custom is no more maintained today.
During joyful days of community, people play 2 or 3 tính tẩu lutes in ensemble, or perform a tính tẩu lute and other musical instruments such as xi xa lo (a bowed chordophonic instrument similar to the nhị two-string fiddle), double pí pặp in ensemble.
To accompany the singing: the tính tẩu is often played to accompany such melodies as Then, Loong te and Sao sên. To accompany the dances: tính tẩu accompanies such dances as Then, dance with hats, and dance with fans, etc. As Thái trắng people have many dances, they also own the correlative numbers of tính tẩu repertoires.
- Double pí pặp is the airophonic musical instrument of freely-vibrated reed branch. At present, only Mr. Điêu Chính Pánh (born in 1938) in Quỳnh Nhai district knows to make and play this musical instrument. In terms of his experience in making the double pí pặp, he said that he has to choose small bamboo in forest, called mạy pao in Thái dialect. Its diameter must be around 1 cm, and the material must be dried. The length of the pí is defined by two and a half of his spans, or about 50 cm. The pí comprises two pipes of same measures but with different numbers of pressing holes on each. Two pipes are considered to be one male (sảng tờ pô) and one female (sảng pún sao). The male pipe has only one hole to create pitches while the female has six holes. The male pipe just accompanies the singing presented by female pipe[1]. The reed can be made of copper or silver. It is often made of silver, which is good, durable and does not cause bad smell, differently from copper”.
In the past, a man who knew to perform the double pí pặp used to play this instrument to wake up his beloved girl to talk with him. From the music of the double pí pặp the girl could know whether that was of her beloved or not. It depends on players who create different lyrics. Hereunder is the lyrics of a double pí pặp tune:
Khuya rồi, nghĩ tới em quá
Nếu em thương anh thì hãy dậy ra ngoài sàn
Nếu thương nhau thì em hãy dậy để tỏ lòng tâm sự …
Meaning translation:
(It is late at night but I think so much of you
If you love me, please wake up and go to the floor
If you love me, please wake up to tell me your mind...)
When the girl wakes up, the couple sits down on the outdoor floor of the tilt-house. The man plays the double pí pặp while the girl sings till late at night. Then they say goodbye.
The double pí pặp is often played during Hạn khuống (in Thái dialect, hạn means floor and khuống means yard). Hạn khuống means an outdoor stage which is decorated vividly and nicely. This is a place for the love-exchange singing of Thái people in Northwest. This activity often takes place in autum evenings when it is dry. In the evening, ladies spin and weave fabric as well as do embroidery work on the floor while men bring the double pí pặp and tính tẩu to the foot of hạn khuống to play and perform alternate singing with ladies. If men sing and play the musical instruments beautifully, ladies will provide a ladder for them to climb up to the stage. Then, they will talk and perform alternate singing till late at night.
In addition to the solo function, double pí pặp is also played to accompany such folk songs and melodies as Loong te, weddings, newly-built house celebrations, and longevity celebrations.
3. Folk music of Thái đen ethnic group
(Tủm village, Chiềng Khoi commune, Yên Châu district, Sơn La province)
Mr. Lừ Hồng Xưa in Tủm village lives in a family of music tradition. The folk artist Mr. Xưa is also famous in Sơn La province for making khèn bè (the reed airophonic instrument) and pí pở. All members of his family can perform many folk musical tunes and songs of Thái đen people.
3.1. Folk songs
- Khắp báo sao (male and female singing). This is a popular melody that young people often sing to exchange their love with one another. Hereunder is the lyrics of the song “Tặng khăn người yêu” (Present a handscarf to lover), sung by Ms. Lừ Thị Bình.
Anh đi bộ đội, em không biết lấy gì tặng để làm kỷ niệm.
Chỉ có chiếc khăn tay tặng anh để lau mồ hôi
Em ở nhà sẽ làm ruộng nương để thay cho anh đi bộ đội.
Em ở nhà đợi anh, khi nào hết nghĩa vụ thì chúng ta kết hôn.
Meaning translation:
(You become a soldier, I don’t know what to give you as a gift
Only this handscarf to wipe you from sweat
I will be at home to work on mountain fields while you are on duty
I will be waiting for you and we will get married when you come back)
- Thẩu ké is often sung by old people when they drink to celebrate Tết (New Year’s Day) and other festivals. Below is an extract from the lyrics of “Mừng mùa xuân mới” (Welcome another spring), sung by Ms. Lừ Thị Bình.
Xuân đã về trên quê hương
Muôn hoa đua nở trên khắp bản mường
Ta chúc nhau ai cũng được mạnh khỏe, hạnh phúc
Ai cũng được sống khỏe, sống vui cho đến già
Để chúc tuổi nhau để sang năm khác nữa
Mãi mãi được mừng những năm tiếp theo
Mùa xuân về chúng ta cùng nhau tăng gia sản xuất
Làm ruộng làm nương được nhiều thóc lúa.
Meaning translation:
(Spring has come to our homeland
Flowers are everywhere in our village
We wish all healthy and happy
All are fine and happy till old age
Wish that all can see another new year
Wish that we can make wishes in other years
Spring comes as we increase production
Mountain fields will give us more rice.)
- Ụ lu non is a lullaby of Thái đen people. The lyrics of ụ lu non sung by Ms. Lừ Thị Bình is as below:
Ngủ ngon đi con,
Mẹ còn đi nương đi rãy
Nếu không ngủ có con cua nó kẹp má, kẹp môi
Ngủ đi con để cho mẹ đi làm ruộng làm nương
Để có nhiều thóc, nhiều lúa.
Nếu con không ngủ con gà nó cắn vào má, vào mắt
Con chó nó cắn vào chân vào tay
Mẹ đi nương lấy quả ổi cho con
Mẹ đi làm sẽ lấy cá ở ruộng, ở ao về cho con
Ngủ đi con, ngủ đi.
Meaning translation:
(Sleep well my baby
I have to go to mountain fields
If you don’t sleep, crabs could clamp your cheeks and lips
Sleep my baby so that I can go to work
To get more rice
If you don’t sleep, chickens could peck your cheeks and eyes
Dogs could bite your hands and legs
I will get guava from fields for you
I will get fishes for you from ponds and fields
Sleep now my baby)
3.2. Musical instruments
- Khen pé (khèn bè, the reed airophonic instrument).There are different types of khèn in term of measures. Their length varies between 75 cm and 120cm. According to Mr. Lừ Hồng Xưa, if these instruments were made shorter, the music would not be beautiful. If they were made longer, the neohouzeaua pipes would not be equal from top to bottom.
Khèn bèconsists of 14 small neohouseaua pipes, which are arranged in two columns close to each other. Twelve of them have either copper or silver reeds which are thinly laminated. The rest two pipes are decorative.
The gourd of khèn is made of light and plastic wood that cannot be chapped such as ink-wood and jackfruit wood. A hole is made on the upper end of the gourd. The part attached with reed is set inside the blowing gourd. After piercing the pipes through the gourd, the black beeswax (or khỉ sụt in Thái dialect) is used to cover all gaps.
There is a pressing hole that creates pitches on each pipe (except two pipes without reed). The pressing hole is around from 2 cm to 8 cm far from the gourd depending on the fingers’ suitable position during performance.
The pitch-adjusting holes are situated inside two lines of pipe.
The look of khèn bè from outside:
The look of khèn bè from inside, the left tone row:
A, C are the pitch-adjusting holes - B is reed
Pipe No. 1 is measured from the reed to two ends of pipe in order to standardize sounds for other pipes. 68cm from the reed to the right end of pipe and 24cm from the reed to the left end of pipe.
Pipe No. 2: BA = 56cm, BC = 24cm
Pipe No. 3: BA = 39.5cm, BC = 12cm
Pipe No. 4: BA = 29cm, BC = 15cm
Pipe No. 5: BA = 22.3cm, BC = 8cm
Pipe No. 6: BA = 22cm, BC = 8cm
Tone row: Fis - A - e1 - fis1- h1
The look of khốn bố from inside, right tone row:

A, C are the pitch-adjusting holes - B is reed
There is not any pitch-adjusting hole on Pipe No. 2 (no reed)
Pipe No. 1: AB = 27cm, BC = 24cm
Pipe No. 3: AB = 51.2cm, BC = 16cm
Pipe No. 4: AB = 42.6cm, BC = 16.5cm
Pipe No. 5: AB = 42.6cm, BC = 15cm
Pipe No. 6: AB= 37.2cm, BC = 12.5cm
Pipe No. 7: AB = 20cm, BC = 5.2cm
Tone row: A- H- cis1- d1- e1- d2
Khèn bè of Thái đen people in Tủm village can be played solo or in ensemble. It can also accompany the singing or dance.
The most popular function of khèn bè solo is to wake lovers up. According to the traditions of Thái đen people, when a man reaches a girl’s house, he must play khèn bè or another musical instrument to wake up his lover for talks. From the music of khèn, a girl can learn whether the player is her lover or not. If he is her lover, she will get up, open the door and invite him in or sit down with him on sàn phơi (the place for young people to weave fabric, and for girl to have heart-to-heart with her lover at night). It is also common to consider a person not to be decent if he does not play khèn or flute when he goes out to flirt a girl in the evening. Because when people hear dogs barking, instead of the music of khèn and flute, they think there must be evildoers.
The most popular function of khèn bè ensemble is its performance on happy occasions of community. There are two forms of ensemble, i.e. the ensemble of two khèn bè and the ensemble of a khèn bè and pí pở.
The function to accompany the singing is very popular, there are many folk songs with accompaniment by khèn bè.
For the (xòe) dance accompaniment: The khèn bè is usually played during occasions such as Tết, festivals, good harvest celebrations, etc., when people drink enough and get excited, men and women often invite one another to join a circle, hand in hand, and dance according to the rhythm of the khèn bè. On this occasion, khèn player stands in the middle of the xòe circle (dance), he both plays the instrument and sways himself in accordance with the dance.
Nowadays, almost all men do not know to play the khèn and the pí. Neither do they play these musical instruments to wake girls up any more. If they want, they will just knock underneath the floor where girls are sleeping with their hands or a small stick, while saying “wake up, wake up now”. This could be called a floor-poking custom.
- Pí pở is the vertical flute of freely-vibrated reed branch. The reed is made of silver. The end of the flute where the reed is attached to is tight while the other end is open. Pí pở comprises six pressing holes that create pitches, one underneath and five on top.
According to pí pở-making experience of the folk artist Lừ Hồng Xưa, he often chooses a small and old neohouseaua with slender internodes. It is then dried in the sunlight for one month. The folk artist uses a bamboo string as a ruler to measure and figure out where to make holes on the pí that create pitches. The circumference of the outer circle of the flute is taken into account to define the positions of the holes. Distance from the blowing end to the underneath hole of B is equivalent to three circumferences of the flute’s pipe. Distances from hole B to hole C, from hole C to hole D, and from hole D to hole E are the same and equivalent to half of the circumference. Distances from hole E to hole F and from hole F to hole G are the same and equivalent to one circumference. Distance from hole G to the end H: is same to the distance from the reed to hole B – or 3 circumferences.
Pí pở is different from khèn bè to the extent that pí pở gives sound only when air is blown into it while khèn bè does when air is blown in or out. In order to make the music of pí pở smoothly constant without interruptions, folk artists must apply the technique to get air through nose. To practise this technique, the folk artist holds one end of a blade of rice in his mouth. The other end of the rice blade is dipped in a water bowl. Then they start blowing gently while breathing in from the nose. This is done in a way that air is created without any interruptions. Once practising this fluently, folk artists start with pí pở.
Pí pở is played when men want to flirt with girls and wake them up for talks. It can also be played in ensembles or accompany the singing. However, the pí pở is not played to accompany the dances.
CONCLUSION
Basing on the folk music survey of three ethnic groups in Sơn La province, we recognize that their folk music is in threat of being loss. For example, nobody among Kháng people knows to make or play biếng tóng (the mouth harp), a unique musical instrument of their ethnic group. Or, only Mr. Điêu Chính Pánh knows to make and play the double pí pặp of Quỳnh Nhai district. Folk song is also in the same situation, Most Kháng people sing tunes of Thái people, and only one or two La ha people know to sing their folk songs. Those who can sing are old and middle-aged people. Very few young people could sing despite the fact that the old folk artists have exerted to teach folk music to young generations. For instance, folk artist Lừ Hồng Xưa taught the way to make and play the tính tẩu to young generations in his village; folk artist Lò Thị Phấu has organized by herself a teenage group to practise the folk music of Kháng people. Those works are highly significant for the folk music preservation, however, they are not able to propagate extensively or maintain frequently due to the economy.
In face of that situation, the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology realized two works. Firstly, they sponsored to invite some good folk artists and organize classes for the purpose of teaching folk music of three above ethnic groups to the young generations. Secondly, the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology recorded and filmed some folk musical forms of three above ethnic groups that are still handed down until today. Those are valuable documentations for the preservation and propagation, and are the bases to restore the folk music sources that lost in oblivion.
1. Đán Đăm 2 village was rebuilt in December 2006. The village was formerly situated along the banks of Đà river. The relocation was realized because of the construction of Sơn La hydroelectric plant, and the new village was built here.
2. Như chân kìm: The love is as close as the tightening of pincers’ jaw
3. Mr. Điêu Chính Pánh spoke of a joke about these two flutes that “Men say little while women love talking”.