Ca Trù Music
For our last music blog, I wanted to learn about a music culture I wasn't familiar with. After some research, I became interested in Vietnamese music and narrowed my options down to ca trù music. Ca trù (literally translated as "tally card songs") is described as a genre of traditional musical storytelling or sung poetry. Originating in northern Vietnam, Ca trù dates back to the 11th century and is known to have flourished in the 15th century; however, no one knows exactly when it was founded. There are different myths and theories but o ne of the more popular ones associates c a trù's origins with a female musician named Đào Thị, who was very talented and a favorite of the Lý Dynasty imperial court. A ca trù band typically consists of three performers: a female vocalist and two male instrumentalists. Commonly, the female singer plays a phách, one of the instrumentalists plays a đàn đáy, and the other instrumentalist plays a...