We got both kinds of music country and traditional

In the world of Vietnamese traditional music there are musicians happy to have just one string to their bow. Phuong Lien brightens up over melancholy folk music.

There is a kind of traditional music called Xam, which was created in the 13th century. Tran Quoc Dinh, a son of King Tran Thanh Tong, is said to have invented the music after his brother, in a fit of jealousy over the more talented sibling, pierced Dinh’s eyes and rendered him blind.

Dinh loved to sing so to accompany his songs, he invented a simple musical instrument made from a chord made of rattan and other creepers, which gave out a deep and sorrowful sound.

The beauty of the xam music is expressed in the rhythm and tone. The music often tells us the fate or the unhappiness of the poor. But there are also funny songs with satirical implications, about subjects such as the condemnation of outdated customs, the crimes of rulers, and the deeds of heroes.

However, xam is a dying art in Vietnam. Xam singers are rarely seen today and their songs are gradually being forgotten. You might hear xam music at funerals or folk festivals, for example, and at a few other locations in Hanoi.

At the age of 87, xam singer Ha Thi Cau still has a strong voice and her hands play with great skill. She now lives in Ninh Binh province and is the third generation of a family from the Red river delta province of Nam Dinh who all played xam for a living.

These days the diminutive woman sits in front of her small house, constantly chewing betel and areca nuts and listening to the radio. Few can imagine she once travelled far and wide across the country to perform in festivals.

As a child, Cau used to follow her parents around the country to sing xam. This is how she came to understand the subtleties of the music and singing. By the age of 10, she had learnt enough to earn money performing in front of passers-by.

Cau got married at 16, to the main singer of a xam band in Yen Mo, the northern province of Ninh Binh. They had three children, but none of them pursued xam singing.

Cau said some singers of the folk genre recently came to her to learn, but none of them were interested in it as a career.

Xam has been compared to ca tru, folk music performed by female singers in Vietnam. It is supposed that ca tru was for scholars, intellectuals and people of a higher-class, while xam was more for poor people. It conjures up images of gypsies or blind people dressed in rags wandering around the country, singing for money. In Hanoi, once upon a time, they would clamber up onto tramcars to perform.

The conception of xam tau dien (Tau dien means tramcar) was born with fast and exciting rhythms and joyful words attracting people in crowded and noisy places. Xam tau dien is far different from the slow, melancholy pace of traditional xam.

You can find xam music sung by Cau on sale in Vietnam. Xam Cho (Xam singing at market), published by Saigon Audio, and Hat Xam (Xam Singing), published by the Music Institute, both available on CD.

And yes, xam songs still sing about the misery of the poor, and the hard lives of the xam singers themselves, but others are humorous stories about vices in life, or moving tales about good deeds.

Two musicians who have tried to recover xam music are Thao Giang and Minh Ty who recorded xam music during the 1980’s from some old xam singers onto a cassette tape, ignoring other people’s advice that it was a fruitless task.

However, the tape became a valuable possession in the 90’s, when the government started to pay more attention to recovering the traditional music forms of Vietnam.

As a deputy director of Vietnam Centre for Music and Art Development at the time, Giang started to gather artists with a passion for traditional music, including xam music.

Information about xam collected from traditional music experts Hoang Kieu, Tran Viet Ngu, helped add to the melodies already recorded on tape.

The result was Xam Ha Noi released on CD three months ago by Vietnam Centre for Art and Music Development. The CD is a dream come true after their 20 years of research, exploration and collecting.

Xam Hanoi includes many typical melodies of xam, which are performed by singers Xuan Hoach, Van Ty, Thanh Ngoan, Doan Thanh Binh, Mai Tuyet Hoa and musicians Hanh Nhan, Hong Thai, Le Cuong and Tu Cuong. The lyrics come from the poetry of A Nam Tran Tuan Khai, Nguyen Khuyen and Nguyen Binh.

Singer Thanh Ngoan, also an artist of Vietnam Theatre of cheo, claims xam would not exist if it weren’t for this recovery. There is no permanent stage for xam performance in the country. The artists have to rely on invitations.

Only Thang Long Club at Vietnam Friendship Palace hold xam performances regularly, but only once a month. And also once a week in the Old Quarter as part of the weekend market, but the location changes on a weekly basis.

“I hope xam will have its own stage, so that the audiences will have more opportunity to understand that it is no longer an ordinary art that serves ordinary people, but is an elegant and unique folk music that is rich in Vietnamese traditional culture,” says Ngoan.