Ca trù singing has other names such as hát ả đào, hát cửa đình, hát nhà tơ, hát nhà trò, or hát cô đầu. According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (The Complete Book on the History of Đại Việt), Ca trù appeared in the Lý dynasty (1010-1025) under the name Ả đào singing. Many Ả đào singing contests were held in the village communal houses. In that time, village notables often played the praised drum while enjoying the performers singing and threw reward cards to the singers who performed well. That card was call “trù”. Gradually, the way of rewarding the singers with cards became known as Ca trù. This name is found in the poem namely “Nghĩ hộ tám giáp làm giải thưởng cho cô đào hát” (“On Behalf of People from Eight Hamlets to Write the Rewarding Rule for Awarded Singers”) of Lê Đức Mao in 1500. Ca trù is a popular genre of traditional singing and dancing of the Kinh people in the northern and the central Vietnam. The key members of a Ca trù band include one đàn đáy (three-stringed lute instrumentalist) (the đàn đáy is the only musical instrument for accompanying Ca trù), one singer who both sings and plays the phách clappers, and one praise drummer (known as quan viên cầm chầu) player.
Ca trù can be performed in a wide variety of places. Ca trù was born to serve as worship singing. From serving as worship at the village communal houses and ancestor worship, Ca trù has changed into singing for entertainment at private houses, restaurants, or cabarets. In addition to these main performance environments, Ca trù was performed at the royal palace and the palaces of mandarins. At present, Ca trù is sung as traditional music. In each performance environment, Ca trù has some changes in terms of the repertoire, musical nature, or performance styles. The CD Ca trù singing (Hát Ca trù) introduces some songs that which were performed for worship and for entertainment. They were recorded in 1970 (tracks 5, 6, and 7), in 1982 (tracks 1 and 4), and in 1997 (tracks 2 and 3) and performed by the three most famous Ca trù folk artists.