Ca trù

What it is

Ca trù is a Vietnamese art of musical storytelling in which poems are sung rather than spoken. A woman leads, and her voice is what defines the genre: newcomers often find the sound startling, yet the singing is the heart of it. The melodies number 56, and singers call them thể cách. The best-known form uses three people. The woman sings and beats the phách, two small wooden sticks struck against a bamboo bar. A man plays the đàn đáy, a three-stringed lute with a long neck that is used almost nowhere else. A guest strikes the trống chầu, a praise drum. Sometimes there is dancing too.

Origins and stories

The beginnings of ca trù are told in more than one way, and no single account settles the question. One story points to a woman named Đào Thị, a musician the Lý court held dear. From her, the tale says, came the name Đào nương for women who sang professionally, a term still remembered though rarely spoken today. Beyond the stories, the art began, like other Vietnamese arts, as entertainment for the royal court. Singers date their trade to the Later Lê dynasty, when musicians known as hát khuôn played only at religious ceremonies held at court. Only afterwards did the music move into small guest houses.

Tally cards and inns

Ca trù is usually translated as 'tally card songs'. In the past the music was heard most often at inns, where men bought bamboo cards. After a performance a man handed his cards to the woman he had chosen, and her pay was counted from how many she held. Guests were scholars, officials and other well-off people, and they expected more than singing: a young woman was also meant to talk wittily about poetry and the arts, and to serve food and drink. Caste rank did not apply to these singers, which meant the most powerful patrons could engage them. They were also hired for family occasions, such as a son's birth, or to mark a signed contract.

Decline and revival

The years after the 1940s were hard. Under the new government, and through the war that followed, ca trù was discouraged and at times suppressed. It was linked in official thinking to superstition, to prostitution, to colonial habits and to an old-fashioned kind of romance, and it came close to vanishing. By 1976 only two practitioners remained, Quách Thị Hồ and Nguyễn Xuân Khoát, and both later helped the art return. In 2009 UNESCO put ca trù singing on its list for urgent safeguarding. By 2011, 140 songs had been gathered from 23 clubs. Clubs still struggle: one director, Nguyễn Vân Mai, says young would-be singers are scarce and good teachers hard to find.

In song and film

Ca trù has also found a place in recent Vietnamese popular culture. It shapes award-winning films such as Mê thảo: thời vang bóng and turns up in 'Trò đời', 'Trăng tỏ thềm lan' and 'Thương nhớ ở ai'. Songwriters have borrowed its colour, among them Nguyễn Cường, Phó Đức Phương and Phú Quang; Mỹ Linh's 1997 release of 'Trên đỉnh Phù Vân' was a bold choice early in her career. Google marked the Founder Commemoration Day with a doodle on 23 February 2020. Live gatherings continue: the club Bích Câu Đạo Quán has 90 members, and 30 or 40 of them meet on a Saturday evening, the oldest artist being 88.

How Ca trù is kept

A performance usually brings three people together. The woman singer leads, keeping the beat on her phách, two wooden sticks struck on a bamboo bar. The lutenist answers her on the đàn đáy, a long-necked lute with three strings. The third person is a guest, often a scholar or a connoisseur, who strikes the trống chầu, the praise drum, at each passage of the song. His drumming carries a judgement: it can show that he likes what he hears or that he does not, though he always follows the beat the singer's sticks have set. Dance sometimes accompanies the singing, and clubs gather for group singing and teaching.

When and where

Ca trù has no single season. It is sung whenever people gather, at club meetings, festivals and events, and some clubs hold their evenings on a Saturday. The Founder Commemoration Day is marked on 23 February; in 2020 Google marked it with a doodle.

Ca trù belongs to Vietnam and grew up in the north of the country, where it was first heard at court and then in inns, communal houses and private homes. Today it is kept by clubs and performers across the country and shown at festivals and events that present several types of the music.

What Ca trù means

What the art means is bound up with listening. The praise drum makes each performance a judgement as well as a song: a guest's strokes tell the singer whether she is admired, so the music asks for attention rather than mere presence. The voice, above all, is said to be the thing that makes ca trù what it is. For those who keep it, the 56 melodies and the name Đào nương carry a memory of a courtly past, and the urgent-safeguarding listing marks them as worth passing on.

Questions people ask about Ca trù

See also

Nhã nhạcVietnam's royal court music, played for palace rites from the Trần dynasty onwardBon Om ToukA three-day Cambodian festival of dragon boat races, floating lanterns and moon offeringsKaryendaA sacred drum of Burundi that symbolized the monarchy and announced royal events.GriotWest Africa's hereditary keepers of spoken history, praise and music

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle
• Ca trù singingUNESCO, Heritage listing
• Ca trù singingUNESCO, Article

• Ca trù on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.