Đàn bầu

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Musicians of the water puppet theater in Hanoi with a đàn bầu

Đàn bầu ( Hán Nôm : 彈 匏), also đàn độc huyền (彈 獨 弦), is a single-stringed Vietnamese box zither . By gently pressing the string, flageolet tones are generated, at the same time the string tension can be changed by moving an elastic rod, which results in a bright, clear glissando sound. The đàn bầu is particularly popular in Vietnamese folk music and is considered the most important national musical instrument.

The steel string is usually torn with the right hand with a plectrum - a piece of hardwood about the size of a matchstick that is cut from a block. The heel of the hand of the same hand picks up the notes directly on the string using the flageolet technique. The other hand operates the conical swell, with which the audio frequency can be changed. The sound of a tone of the ämpfenàn bầu can be greatly changed with variations in the approach technique, with muffling the tone with the ball of the hand or letting go of the string with the flageolet technique.

The body of the đàn bầu is similar to that of the vaulted board zither đàn tranh . The overall shape of the instrument is almost identical to the Chinese duxianqin stave zither . In the past, a simple bamboo stick was used instead of the wooden body, half a coconut shell served as a resonance body, which was attached to one part of the stick like a musical bow . A similar old instrument is the Thai phin nam tao , in which the opening of the resonance bowl is pressed against the chest to modulate the sound.

The đàn bầu has an extremely beautiful, characteristic sound, which is characterized above all by its formant shifts and overtone variations. The string is tuned to the key C, in connection with modern instruments it can also be tuned to A.

Occasional western pop music is also played on the đàn bầu .

The đàn bầu player of the TonArt ensemble, Michael E. Haase, uses the đàn bầu in contemporary compositions and improvised music. In addition to traditional playing techniques, the instrument is also bowed in this case.

Web links

Commons : Đàn bầu  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Ingrid Bertleff: Can Musical Instruments be National? The Symbolic Use of Musical Instruments in Vietnamese National Representation. ( Studia Instrumentorum Musicae Popularis XVI ) ICTM Study Group on Folk Musical Instruments. Proceedings from the 16th International Meeting, 2006, pp. 66-75, here p. 67
  2. Độc tấu đàn bầu hotel california - Duy Thịnh. Youtube Video (Duy Thịnh plays Hotel California of the Eagles )
  3. SonicIntermedia: TonArt-Ensemble with Andreas Weixler at the Streaming Media Congress 2016 on Kampnagel. Tide TV, September 6, 2016, accessed March 29, 2017 .