UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Vietnamese Đàn Bầu: A Cultural History of an Instrument in Diaspora Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/57b4n6wp Author Beebe, Lisa Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ THE VIETNAMESE ĐÀN BẦU: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF AN INSTRUMENT IN DIASPORA A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in MUSIC by LISA BEEBE June 2017 The dissertation of Lisa Beebe is approved: _________________________________________________ Professor Tanya Merchant, Chair _________________________________________________ Professor Dard Neuman _________________________________________________ Jason Gibbs, PhD _____________________________________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Table of Contents List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. v Chapter One. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Geography: Vietnam ............................................................................................................................. 6 Historical and Political Context .................................................................................................... 10 Literature Review .............................................................................................................................. 17 Vietnamese Scholarship .............................................................................................................. 17 English Language Literature on Vietnamese Music ........................................................ 21 Ethnomusicological Literature on Musical Instruments and Nationalism ........... 24 My Contribution ............................................................................................................................. 27 Theoretical Perspectives ................................................................................................................. 28 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 30 Orthographic Considerations ................................................................................................... 34 Chapter Summaries ........................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter TWo. From the Streets to the Concert Stage: A History of the Đàn Bầu Monochord in Vietnam to 1945 ........................................................................................................ 38 The đàn bầu xẩm .................................................................................................................................................................... 40 Twentieth Century Technologies and the Đàn Bầu ............................................................. 44 Recording Technology ................................................................................................................. 44 Amplification ................................................................................................................................... 46 Music During the French Colonial Era (1860-1954) .......................................................... 47 Chapter Three. “Remember to Call Me Home”: Music, Memory, and War in Vietnam, 1946-1975 ................................................................................................................................................. 51 Setting the Stage for Independence: The Anti-French Resistance War, 1946-1954 .................................................................................................................................................................... 52 Music, Sacrifice, and Patriotism During the First Indochina War ................................. 54 The Geneva Accords of 1954 and the “American War” ..................................................... 58 “Let Our Songs DroWn the Bomb Explosions”: Music Making in Wartime Vietnam .................................................................................................................................................................... 61 Music Institutions in Wartime Vietnam ................................................................................... 64 Neotraditional Music (Nhạc Dân Tộc Hiện Đại) .................................................................... 67 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 72 Chapter Four. The Đàn Bầu in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 1975-Present ....... 74 The Cultural Politics of Music in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ............................. 76 iii Neotraditional Music ........................................................................................................................ 78 Pedagogy and Neotraditional Music in Post-1975 Vietnam ....................................... 80 Vietnamese Musicians Abroad ..................................................................................................... 86 Đổi Mới (Renovation) ....................................................................................................................... 89 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 93 Chapter Five. Economies of the Past: Đàn Bầu and the Strategic Nostalgias of Musical Tourism in Contemporary Vietnam ............................................................................... 95 Developing a “Travel Marketplace”: The History of Tourism in Vietnam ................. 99 UNESCO and International Cultural Politics ......................................................................... 105 Hội An Ancient ToWn ...................................................................................................................... 110 Thăng Long Water Puppet Theater (Nhà hát múa rối Thăng Long) .......................... 120 21st Century Entrepreneurship: A Private Musical Tour ................................................ 127 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 130 Chapter Six. Adaptability, Experimentation, and Change: The Đàn Bầu Monochord in the Diaspora ............................................................................................................................................ 133 Australia ............................................................................................................................................... 138 The Festival of Vietnamese Music in Australia ............................................................... 138 New Music for Đàn Bầu: Ðặng Kim Hiền ........................................................................... 146 Canada ................................................................................................................................................... 150 Community Celebrations and National Symbols ........................................................... 150 Vietnamese Music in Canadian Schools: Khac Chi Bamboo Music ......................... 155 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 166 Chapter Seven. “The Vivid Life of the Left Hand”: Đàn bầu Performance in the San Francisco Bay Area ............................................................................................................................... 169 The 2016 Mid-Autumn Harvest Festival ................................................................................ 174 “42 Years” Commemoration ........................................................................................................ 182 Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ ....................................................................................................................... 189 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 198 Chapter Eight. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 200 Glossary of Terms ................................................................................................................................. 215 Appendix A: List of Major Vietnamese Musical Institutions .............................................. 218 References Cited .................................................................................................................................... 219 Audio and Visual References ........................................................................................................... 237 iv List of Figures Figure 1.1: A đàn bầu monochord. ..................................................................................................... 3 Figure 1.2: Political Map