Viet Nam has 54 tribal in around the country. There are many kinds of traditional music instruments from those tribes. There are “ Dan Nhi” , “ Dan Nguyet”, “ Dan Co” …in the South. Specially, in the Mekong Delta as they go with the Southern traditional song such as “ Ca Co”, “ Cai Luong”..( the old style of song). This text introduces just a part of them but the special one and most of them are the instruments of people in the hill tribes.

The Dan Tranh		The Klong Put		Festival cong chieng		Banh Tet

1. Dan Tranh:

The Dan Tranh is also known as Dan Thap Luc or sixteen-stringed zither. Its shape resembles a bamboo tube that has been sliced vertically in half. The Dan Tranh has mostly been seen performed by female musicians in Vietnamese traditional dress (Ao Dai). When played, theinstrument is placed in front of the musician, who uses her right hand to regulate the pitch and vibrate, while plucking the strings with her left hand. The 16-string zither has a rectangular sounding box, about 110 centimeters long that tapers about 13 cm toward an end, with a warpedsound board made of unvarnished light wood. The sides are made of hard wood decorated with various designs, either lacquered or inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The bottom is made of light wood with sound holes. The broader end of the sound box is pierced with 16 holes and reinforced with a metal band. Toward the middle of the sound board there are 16 bridges made of wood or bone tipped with copper that can be moved to vary the tension of the strings, thus creating various notes. At the narrower end of the box are sixteen pegs for tuning. The strings are metal and tuned to the pentatonic scale. The Dan Tranh sits flat like an autoharp and is plucked using all fingers. Players will usually wear picks made of plastic or tortoise shell on their fingers to facilitate plucking. The sound reverberates through the hollow wooden box below the strings. Sounds can be altered through cupping, pressing or stroking the strings instead of simply plucking. The Dan Tranh originates from the ancient capital city of Hue, where women once played it for royalty, and the instrument is still considered a symbol of the city. The dan tranh is normally played unaccompanied, but it can also be used to accompany a singer or as part of an orchestra.

2. Cong Chieng :

The Cong Chieng is a kind of musical instrument casted from mixed copper and belongs to the idiophonic family. In Vietnamese language, the word "Cong" points to a musical instrument with a bossed part in center (bossed gong) and "Chieng" without it (flat gong). The Cong Chieng can be struck with wooden sticks, mallets, or even bare hands. There are various techniques that can be used to shut off sounds and to produce melodies. The Cong Chieng may be played one at a time or in groups of 2 to 20 units. They are mainly used in offerings, rituals, funerals, wedding ceremonies, New Year’s festivities, agricultural rites, victory celebrations, etc. In some ethnic minority groups, the Cong Chieng is only intended for men to play. However, the sac bua gongs of the Muong group are played by women. In other ethnic groups, both men and women may play the instrument. In general, taboos regarding cong-chieng customs differ from ethnicity to ethnicity. The Cong Chieng bears great significance and value for many ethnic groups in Tay Nguyen where almost every family has at least one set of the Cong Chieng. Tourist can learn experiences about Cong Chieng in the highlands such as Kontum , Buon Ma Thuot, Da Lat...

3. The Klong Put:

The Klong put is the Xe Dang language name ofa musical instrument of the wind family, air driving-in branch. It is played by ethnic groups in Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) such as the Xe Dang, Bahnar, Gia Rai, Hre, etc. A traditional Klong put consists of many large empty hornless bamboo sections. The length of each section ranges from 60 to 200 cm and a diameter ranging from 5 to 8 cm. This woodwind instrument is intended for women. When played, the tubes are laid horizontally and the player must either stand with her back bent or kneel while clapping her hands at a distance of about 10cm to push air into the tubes to produce sounds. Generally, each tube produces only one tone. However, some ethnic groups use the hand to block one end of the tube to produce some different pitches. With this technique, a two-tube Klong put can produce four or five pitches. The Klong put can also be played by two girls at a time. Ethnic minority people often play the Kong put on the milpa land during the rice plantingtime and on the day of closing doors of rice storage. It is believed that hornless bamboo or ordinary bamboo sections of the Klong put are related to those used for containing breed seeds. This belief seems somewhat reasonable because they both give the same sounds when being blown with air. In the breed seeds is existing the spirit of "Mother Rice". Therefore, if the Klong put is played on the milpa land during the planting time, "Mother Rice" will come and help rice grow rapidly. If one plays the Klong put on the day of closing doors of the rice storage, "Mother Rice" will come along and sleep all winter in the storage, then when the next planting season comes, she will come together with seeds to the milpa land.

4. The Lithophone:

The Dan da (lithophone) is a set of stone slabs of different sizes and shapes fabricated through an elementary technique. Lithophone is composed of a set of eleven resonant stones. The examination of the stone slabs found at Binh Da archaeological site in the southern Dong Nai province has revealed that this kind ofinstrument may have existed for over 3,000 years. For some ethnic groups in Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands), the stone slabs are sacred and preserved as family treasures played during grand ceremonies for the gods. For others, the stone slabs are used for setting up crop-protection devices.

5. The Gong Zither:

The gong zither is a stringed musical instrumentof flipping branch. It is popular among some ethnicities in the North of the Central Highlands such as Bana, Gia Rai, Xe Dang, Ro Ngao, Je Trieng. The special instrument often accompanies its player to the field, to festivals held at the communal long-house, or to ameeting place where the player reveals his feelings to his lover. The body of the gong zither is made of a hollow bamboo pipe which is closed by its natural nodes. Attached at one end of the tube is a sound box made of a dried gourd; pinned to the other end are bamboo bolts used to hang the 10 to 18 strings. The gong zither is a musical instrument for men. The player skillfully puts the bottom of it onto his bell and and direct the neck of the gong forward. He snaps his fingers on the strings to create vibrations full of resonance. The gong zither can produce a variety of sounds, so it can be played instead of a small music band.