and Temple Yards

VIII. Ly ltnh lang
"Song with 'Tlnh Tang' Endings"
I remember being in a certain friend's house in Saigon when I heard this on the radio. It is central
Vietnamese, very hard to sing correctly ifyou were not born in the region, becawe of the Hue dialect,
which is very particular. Certain gliding tones are very hard to imitate and central Vietnamese songs
in general are hard to sing. The person on the tape is from central Vietnam. We sing the same words
in the south, but with adrerent melody and scale. The chorusismade upof the names of musicdnotes.
To many people these are nonsense syllables, but when you sing there is something very intimate that
is felt, because they did originate in the folk traclition. In folksongs all throughout Vietnam you will
find these word+-they are very old. Nobody really knows where they came from originally.
"Li T& Tang" is an example of a song style of the Hue area of Central Vietnam.
There are different texts possible for the t h tang style. In fact, any poem of six to eight
syllables can be sung in this style, using the t h tang refrain. The poem used in this recording,
"Lj; Con Sio" ("Song of the Blackbird") is probably the original poem first sung in this genre.
Just as there are many poems that have been set in t h fang style, there are also many
Vietnamese poems that have the same title, "Ly' Con Sio " ("Song of the Blackbird"), but
which may use a different melody and style of singing. All of this may seem confusing, but
the exchange of poems, melodies and singing styles typical of Vietnamese traditional music
is illustrated through the origin and development of this song.
"Ly' ~i;rh Tang'" was a folk song composed by peasants, simple and straightfoward
in its melodic patterns and at one time very quick in tempo. It gradually metamorphosed into
art music performed by chamber ensembles of Hue. The listening tape presents the "Song
of the Blackbird" as an example of the highly-evolved art song of Vietnam.
Three instruments and a women's chorus accompany this song: the din tmh zither,
the dh biu monochord and thesong lang or wood clapper. The sound of the monochord with
its harmonics is blended into the music, offering a contrasting tone color to the metallic
quality of the zither. It is the monochord which makes possible the delicate gliding tones of
the accompaniment. Those not of the tradition who wish to perform this song authentically
should attempt the difficult task of adjusting their voices slightly lower than the second and
sixth degrees of the scale (i.e. about 20-30 Ellis cents lower than B and F#). Based on a
common Vietnamese pentatonic scale, the flattening of notes produces for the informed
listener a sweeter melody which consequently inspires arelaxed mood. Gliding tones of the
song add to this effect.
Tramhtion:
Who brought the blackbird to the other side of the river?
She will fly away when given the chance.
The mountain is high-who
The ocean is so deep-who
made it that high?
made it so deep?