vietnam unesco world heritage sites

1. Indochina Treks Travel Co.,Ltd
Add: 24 Au Trieu Str, Hoan Kiem Dis, Hanoi
Tel: (84) 4 66821230; Fax (84) 4 33769113
Website: www.indochinatreks.com
Email: info@indochinatreks.com
Ca Tru Singing - Intangible Cultural Heritage
Fortunately, ca tru is now being restored and is more liked by the younger generation.
Research scholars have traced the origins of ca tru to areas of high culture, such as the
ancient imperial capital of Thang Long (present-day Hanoi), Ha Tay, etc. Artists of great
talent have practiced the art, including Quach Thi Ho, Thuong Huyen, Kim Dzung, etc. Some
of them are now in their seventies, but a successor generation has blossomed and holds
great promise.
Ca tru is where poetry and music meet. People familiar with such ancient verse as luc bat
(the six eight-syllable distich) and hat doi (singing tossed back and forth between groups of
young men and women), and who are capable of sympathizing with the sentiments
expressed in the sound of a small drum or a two-string viol, are more likely to fully enjoy a
recital of ca tru.
Many famous poets of past centuries were great amateurs of ca tru who wrote beautiful
lines to go with its melodies. One well known instance is the poem singing the enchantment
of a pilgrimage to Chua Huong (Perfume Pagoda) by Chu Manh Trinh. Coming from the lips
of a ca tru singer, it has bewitched successive generations of pilgrims visiting the hills and
streams of the famous pagoda complex in Ha Tay Province.
Ca tru music is most enjoyable when there is complete harmony between the words being
sung, the rhythm marked by a pair of small bamboo sticks held by the singer who strikes a

2. small block of wood or bamboo called phach, and, last but not least, the appreciation shown
by a man among the audience beating a small drum at the appropriate moments.
In short, ca tru is a refined form of art which is paradoxically appreciated and loved by
audiences of all compositions. There are those who sit in small numbers in an urban
auditorium to enjoy a recital. A Ca Tru Club has been founded in Hanoi where amateurs of
this musical genre, young and old, local and foreign, regularly meet to enjoy its charming
melodies.
Ca tru singing is inscribed on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of Urgent
Safeguarding on 1st October 2009.