Pobreza de vocabulario

adopted from the repertoire played prior to len dong during hat the# and are n ot typical PhO m elodies (e.g. they both use the two-beat rhythm instead o f the three-beat rhythm ). Also, Cdn Hue is perform ed during possession by the Tenth Prince, but this is because o f its associations with the m usical style o f the city o f Hue.

in clu d e th e Ho Hue a n d Ccfn Hu§' m elodies - w hich draw on th e regional m usical style o f c en tral V ietnam - in o rd e r to m usically c o n stru ct th e T en th Prince's hom e province, Nghe An.

Table 5.2: Classification of chau van songs according to the gender, place a n d eth n ic ity o f sp irits

Song(s) S p irit(s) A ssociations a n d

ch a ra c te r of songs Xa m elodies Female m o u n tain

spirits (some of w hich are 'eth n ic m in o rity ' s p irits) M o u n ta in s /e th n ic m in o rities, lively, h a p p y Cc?n m elodies (+ Van an d Ham)

Female low land spirits Fem inine, lyrical, sm ooth

Phu m elodies (+ Kieu Duong)

A dult m ale spirits (especially th e high- statu s m a n d arin sp irits)

M asculine, serious, s tric t

Ho Hue a n d Cbn Hue T e n th Prince C entral V ietnam (the city of Hue)

Cheo Do _{T hird Lady W ater Palace}

Let us now exam ine th e m usical features of ch&u van songs th a t au rally co n stru ct the gender, eth n icity a n d place of spirits.

'M ountain1 songs

For those p articip atin g in len dong rituals, the Xa m elodies evoke a sense o f th e m o u n tain s a n d o f th e eth n ic m inority groups w hich are asso ciated w ith the m o u n tain o u s regions in Vietnam . A ccording to ch&u van m usicians, this was achieved m usically th ro u g h the Xa m elodies being in flu en ced by e th n ic m in o rity m usics.

The m ain influence o f ethnic m in o rity musics on th e Xa m elodies

according to m usicians is th e use of specific percussion. For th e X£ m elodies a sm all gong (thanh la) is placed on the face of a small, tw o-headed drum . Keys are usually placed on top o f the gong so th a t w hen th e gong is stru ck th ere is a m etallic rattle. For o th e r m elodies a gong is rarely u sed a n d is n ev er placed on th e d ru m itself; in stead a small cym bal (canh) is placed on th e floor. Some m usicians said th a t the use of the small gong was in tro d u ce d by a chau van m usician a b o u t 60 or 70 years ago after h e m ade visits to the

m o u n tain o u s regions, a n d th a t th e use of th e gong was due to th e influence of th e gong-chim e ensem bles played by some ethnic m in o rity g ro u ps in V ietnam {e.g. th e MUcfng a n d Jarai). W hether the use o f the gong fo r th e Xa m elodies is due to co n tact w ith specific ethnic m inority groups o r not, it is im p o rta n t to note th a t the gong is used for all X£ melodies, so its use is n o t re stric te d to sp irits d esig n ated as belonging to those ethnic m in o rity

groups th a t play gong-chim e ensem bles. The use of th e gong h as th erefo re been a d o p te d by b ands as indicative of a pan-ethnic m in o rity id en tity .

D uring som e o f th e len dong rituals th a t I attended, th e flau tist Le Tu Cudng p lay ed a Hmong flute (sao Hmong) during some of th e Xa m elodies. The use o f the Hmong flute w ould seem to be an obvious a n d d irect

referen ce to Hmong m usic. However, Le Tu Cifdng le a rn t to play th e Hmong flute th ro u g h stu d y in g n e o tra d itio n a l music a t the Hanoi co n se rv a to ire .20 So even th o u g h Cudng plays th e Hmong flute th ere is no d ire c t use o f Hmong m elodies o r playing techniques. It is also im p o rtan t to n o te th a t Cucfng plays th e Hmong flute for ethnic m inority spirits th a t are n o t o f th e Hmong ethnicity, for instance the Holy Lady Thac Bd who is a Mudng spirit. This illu strates once m ore th a t w hen m usicians play the Xa m elodies they are im agining a p an -eth n ic m in o rity id en tity.

The inclusion o f th e gong an d th e use, by some flautists, o f th e Hmong flute are exam ples o f th e ad o p tio n of certain instru m en ts w hich are

associated w ith eth n ic m inorities. However, th e Xa m elodies do n o t have any o u tsta n d in g m usical fe atu res w hich m ig h t suggest th e in flu en ce o f eth n ic m in o rity m usical system s.

The only Xa m elody w hich m usicians claim ed did have links to a specific non-K inh m usical system was Xa Quang, also know n as Xa Bac (N orth Xa). It was claim ed th a t Xa Quang sounded Chinese because it was in flu en ced by Chinese folk songs from th e S ou th ern Chinese province of G uangdong, know n in V ietnam ese as Quang Dong, y e t even in this case m usicians w ere u n ab le to specify m usical featu res as evidence of m usical syncretism . The term Quang e n te re d the V ietnam ese m usical lexicon in the 1920s w hen it was u sed to refer to a body o f C antonese pieces th a t were in c o rp o ra te d in to the cai luung (reform ed th eatre) rep erto ire (Pham Duy 1975:141-43). Any influence o f Chinese m elodies on Xa Quang is probably via th e Quang m elodies o f cai Itrcfng. Xa Quang is usually used for the Little Holy Lady; it is

20 N eotraditional m usic will be d iscussed briefly in Chapter 7. For d etailed studies o f