ALL
listener
ICH Elements 2
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Thuen-pa pun-zhi: The Four Noble Friends
Thuen-pa pun-zhi (The Four Noble Friends) is a spiritual tale originating from the Jakarta Tales of Lord Buddha. It is one of the most popular tales, both spoken and depicted in pictures on the walls of dzongs (fortresses), monasteries, temples and individual homes to promote harmony, cohesion, unity and a life of integrity. The fable is narrated as follows: In a dense forest in the country of Kashi once lived a Partridge, a Rabbit, a Monkey and an Elephant, who despite their different sizes and species became incredible friends. The reason is that they have the same feeling of love and kindness for each other. Every day they helped each other find food and wholeheartedly shared everything they found. One day they spoke to each other, "Although we have been friends for so long, we don't know who is the oldest and who is the youngest among us. We should begin to respect our elders and treat our younger friends with kindness, so we must examine ourselves." Amazingly, all the friends agreed to their joint proposal. The next day, everyone gathered near a giant Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis). For the test, the partridge allowed prompted his friends, "Look at this tree." And asked, "Which of us saw the tree first?" First the elephant answered, "When I was small and lived with my mother's herd, I saw the tree, and it was just as big as I am." The monkey followed his giant friend and said, "I also saw the tree, and it was as big as my body." And the rabbit said, "I saw the tree as a sapling with only two tender leaves, and I licked the dew drops off those freshly grown leaves." After hearing these coincidences, the other friends except the partridge acknowledged the hierarchy of age. But surprisingly, the partridge, though the smallest, said, "I am the one who nibbled the juicy banyan fruit, and it is the tree that grew from the seed I left on the ground." Knowing who was the eldest among them, the elephant paid respect to his three other friends, and similarly the monkey honored the rabbit and the partridge; and the rabbit honored the partridge because he was the oldest and most senior friend. After that, the eldest got the first part of the food they got, and then they maintained the hierarchy. When they went on threatening journeys, the youngest carried the elder, the monkey carried the rabbit, and finally the partridge enjoyed the privilege of reserving the highest seat. On another occasion, the members again discussed why we should not try, besides respecting ourselves, to do at least some virtuous deeds. Partridge voluntarily stood up and suggested, "Until now, we have intentionally or unintentionally fed on the lives of other animals. Being a predator is an unvirtuous act, so let's cultivate being herbivores." Immediately others spoke up, "Although we can avoid taking life, we sometimes feed on what is not really ours. This is an act of possession that is not granted or by permission, so from now on we will not commit ourselves to having anything that is not given or offered." They then agreed not to be possessed of food, sexual misconduct and, untruthfulness, and finally to renounce the consumption of intoxicants, especially alcohol. The four friends committed themselves to the Basic Five Virtuous Law they imposed on each other. One day, the oldest friend, the partridge, asked the rest of his friends, "Let's make other mates besides ourselves abide by our rules, who among us can bring your friends into the Law?" The monkey replied, "I can make all my fellows to abide." Similarly, the rabbit and the elephant also assured their friends to follow the rules. Gradually, all the animals obeyed the fundamental law, which led to the occurrence of favorable weather that not only brought abundant fruits and harvests to the animal world, but also enabled mankind to live in harmony. The king, fascinated by the unusual auspicious signs, called his queens, ministers, young men and merchants to inquire about the cause of this good luck, but unfortunately no one could give an answer. One day the king met a Hermit who lived in the seclusion of the forest and could predict everything, and asked him the same question. The hermit said, "All these auspicious signs are due to the virtuous behavior of the animals that live in your forest." Although the king was surprised by this news and wanted to see the animals, the Hermit urged the king to make his countrymen obey the law of animals; not to kill, not to steal, not to commit misconduct, not to be dishonest, and not to engage in the consumption of intoxicants. As advised, the King got all his citizens to obey the law, which had actually been established by the Four Noble Animal Friends. Finally, the king, the people and the animals experienced an unattainable peace, tranquility and blissful life in the present and enjoyed it even after their deaths as heavenly beings
Bhutan -
Ca trù singing
Ca Trù singing has other names such as: A Dao singing, Dao nuong ca, Co Tou singing, Nha tro singing, communal house singing, Nha To singing..., derived from folk songs, folk music plus a number of performances and games. folk dance. From the way of worshiping at the communal house door, singing the congee, singing the crowd... Ca trù has gradually been professionalized. Belonging to a folk performance art form, the uniqueness of Ca Trù is that it is an art that combines poetry, music and sometimes dance and performance. The performance space of Ca Trù is diverse, each with its own singing style and performance method. Ca Trù singing has 5 main performance spaces: hát cửa đình (hát thờ), hát cửa quyền (hat cung đình hay hát chúc hỗ), singing at home (hát nhà tơ), singing Thi, and singing ca quan (hát chơi). The performance form of ca trù is a chanting consisting of three main components: a female vocalist (called "dao" or "ca Nuong") using a percussion set to take the beat; a male musician (referred to as "kép") plays the bass lute to accompany the singing, sometimes singing and dancing in both hat su and hat giai singing styles; people who enjoy ca trù (called "quan vien", connoisseurs of sound law, vocal music, and dance) beat drums to punctuate sentences and express their satisfaction with drum sounds. Both the singer, the man, the listener participate in the singing. Ca Trù's greatest contribution to Vietnamese culture is the birth of spoken poetry. In terms of music, the characteristic of Ca Trù is that there are three types of musical instruments: bottom lute, beat and drum, which have contributed to making Ca Trù become a special musical genre of Vietnam.
Viet Nam 2009
ICH Materials 25
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Đò đưa (on boat)
Đò đưa is one of a few folk songs that was influenced by Ca trù and then became a Ca trù song for entertainment. A late Ca trù folk artist, Đinh Thị Bản, said: “This is a favourite song, sung when mandarins were on a boat on Hồ Tây Lake in Hanoi in the past”.
Viet Nam 1982 -
Gửi thư (Sending a letter)
This is one of the most lyrical songs with the lyrics sending moving messages. Its lyrics are often poetic sentences with seven or eight words. They are sometimes the six-eight-word verses with the plaintive content. Its tune is clear and calm.
Viet Nam 1997