Maison des Arts – Ca tru performance

– 30 May – Maison des Arts

Ca tru is an ancient genre of chamber music featuring female vocalists, with origins in northern Vietnam. For much of its history, it was associated with a geisha-like form of entertainment. Ca tru, like many ancient and highly developed arts, has many forms. However, the most widely known and widely performed type of ca tru involves only three performers: the female vocalist, lute player and a spectator (who also takes part in the performance).

Maison des Arts

Friday 30 May, 7 pm
booking compulsory

Ca tru is an ancient genre of chamber music featuring female vocalists, with origins in northern Vietnam. For much of its history, it was associated with a geisha-like form of entertainment. Ca tru, like many ancient and highly developed arts, has many forms. However, the most widely known and widely performed type of ca tru involves only three performers: the female vocalist, lute player and a spectator (who also takes part in the performance).
The female singer provides the vocals whilst playing her phach (small wooden sticks beaten on a small bamboo platform to serve as percussion). She is accompanied by a man who plays the dan day, a long-necked, 3-string lute used almost exclusively for the ca tru genre. Last is the spectator (often a scholar or connoisseur of the art) who strikes a trong chau (praise drum) in praise (or disapproval) of the singer’s performance, usually with every passage of the song. The way in which he strikes the drum shows whether he likes or dislikes the performance, but he always does it according to the beat provided by the vocalists’ phach percussion.
Ca tru literally translates as “tally card songs.” This refers to the bamboo cards men bought when they visited ca tru inns, where this music was most often performed in the past. Men would give the bamboo cards they purchased to the woman of choice after her performance, and she would collect money based upon how many cards she was given.

Program

Ca tru, Chamber music_
Singer Kim Ngoc

Folk songs_
Northern Vietnam folk songs
Quanho Bacninh
Chau van
Singer Anh Tuyet

Vietnamese traditional and Royal piece of music_
Concert strings instrument
Solo string instrument
Tranh string instrumentalist Kim Thu
Tiba string instrumentalist Mai Phuong