and Temple Yards

%!IL 506 Doc 506 5lf~ an^
'The Roaf Song"
There are hu~
kknd~ of hats commonly u~ed on rivers in So~h Vietnam where I lived. One goe~
from one ciry ro annrherplace-that isthe currenrfl~wing boat-andon tlrt same body qfwarerpou
willfind another kind ~har ~ahs people from [his side to rlre other .ride of! hc river - that is e cros.cinp
hat. Many arc wry long and narrow in design to mkil eurier roflnw quickly along wi~h the cwrenr.
They arc srrerchcd out so !here is plenty qf room ro carry many rhings. This sans 1s Irktr many qf rhe
boat ,rOnRs, in I I ~ il I descrihm a kind of d~ralism: o man md a woman. this ~ p of e her and rhoi.
difirent ways of rowing ond dflercnr dr rections. But they sing ahor41 union, or un(tificnrian, nnd ask
m.I:v can'i their wixh of being united come me? In a way lr pre.wnu a gpnlle plea to look pasf
difrerences and see the wny we can he joined 1 nstend.
South of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), the Mekong River delta of South Vietnam
is washed by a system of rivets, hth large and small. The Mekong and numetousotherhivers
make for a fertile agriculrural region. River fishing and the cultivation of rice paddies ate
impant economic mainstays for the people of this region. People use small hats called d6
as their main mans ofwansportation in the region, for these rivers are their roads. Songs sung
on boats are composed or improvised by the peasants. and am based In large past on their folk
pwtry. These traditional poems contain riddles, comparison statements, and descriptions of
nature.
As the boatmen and batwomen row their boats dong with the curent, they sing to
each other, teasing, developing friendships, and singing songs that test the hater's knowledge.
Some of the son_gs fwus on the topic of making friends along the river, and ask the way
to a vil !age or a particular home. And as with workers accompanied by sea shan ties or African
or Arnesjcan Indian paddling chants, field hollers, chain gang cham ts or a drill cadences. or
the rhythmic rhymes of the coxswain on a crew team, the rowers may dso find their songs
help them work more efficiently and with less fatigue during a long hip. The words "'Khoan
hr'ri hb Moan "' sung at the endings of "D6 Dgc D6 Npmg"symboli ze the sound of the water
whirling abut the paddle,
Tranrporring g d s to market on the Ngoc Sk, riva where it parres m front of Phong Nguym's hause in Sourh
Y~cmam. The rivctboai is calIcd dfi.
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