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Uniqueness Re-Examined: The Vietnamese Lute Đàn Đáy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Gisa Jährlichen
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Extract

In October 2009, the genre ca trù of the Việt people was listed as a part of the World's Intangible Heritage in need of urgent safeguarding due to its uniqueness, its importance to the cultural identity of its bearers, and its alarming degree of disappearance. In the relevant proposal submitted to the UNESCO Secretariat, the genre was officially called “ca trù singing,” due to the proposer's emphasis on its vocal qualities. Since the syllable ca already means “singing” or “chanting,” I forgo “singing” as being redundant. Furthermore, it is a complex genre that includes interaction with a lutenist and with a drummer, not to mention that the singer herself plays a compulsory bamboo slab. Thus, “ca trù singing” does not reflect the intended content. It is not the “singing” alone that is highly endangered. And it is not the singing alone that needs to be safeguarded for its uniqueness. Playing the đàn đáy lute is not only an essential constituent but an indivisible part of ca trù, and it is indeed forced to experience the same fate as the singing due to the fact that this long-necked lute is almost exclusively used for only one traditionally distinct genre. Whenever ca trù is mentioned, the đàn đáy as an object will become a symbol for this cultural treasure of the Việt people as depicted in journals and newspapers. The automatic association of the đàn đáy with ca trù indicates an ambiguity in the Vietnamese public's assumptions about ca trù: on the one hand, it is taken to be a traditional vocal practice; on the other, it is acknowledged to be an ensemble of which the đàn đáy is an essential component.

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 43 , 2011 , pp. 147 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by the International Council for Traditional Music

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