According to statistics data of 2009, Phù lá ethnic minority had over ten thousand people, mostly living in Lào Cai. Phù lá ethnic minority lives in different small hamlets, each of which usually has between ten and fifteen roofs. The Phù lá lives in a region with many other ethnic minorities, such as Hmông, Dao, and Tày. The village elders or chiefs and family heads have a significant role in managing most affairs in the hamlets. The Phù Lá still preserves their traditional culture with the important annual rituals, such as the Lunar New Year (Tết Nguyên Đán), Holly Forest Worship Ceremony (Cúng thần rừng), the July Festival (Tết tháng bảy), the new rice festival at the beginning of October (tết cơm mới đầu tháng 10), Naming ceremony for baby (đặt tên con), funerals (tang ma), etc. Forms of folk music in the lives of Phù Lá people has not been much collected so far. The musical piece “A happy tune” is a solo for a string instrument meant to entertain Phù lá people. This is one of the few Phù lá recordings. It was recorded by the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology in 1959.

This is one of the ten pieces of Thập Thủ Liên Hườn. According to Đờn ca tài tử researcher Nguyễn Tấn, these ten pieces came from the reign of King Quang Trung (the end of eighteenth century) when a diplomatic delegation to the capital of the Thanh dynasty (China) attended the longevity ceremony of Càn Long King. They explored many beautiful places in China and composed ten poems to praise the Chinese scenery after returning to Vietnam. King Quang Trung appointed musical mandarins to set these poems to music for his musical enjoyment. Later, the Đờn ca tài tử circle performed these musical pieces and called them Thập Thủ Liên Hườn. Kim tiền bản musical piece has twenty-six phrases of two bars each. It was played when the diplomatic delegation attended the king’s audience and was rewarded golden coins by the king.

This melody was in a Tuồng play called “Phụng Nghi Đình,” and it was performed by artist Nguyễn Nho Túy—the most famous and talented Tuồng artist in Quảng Nam. He followed the Tuồng theatral profession since he was a child, and he was granted with the phó ca certificate of the Huế court. He had great merit in conserving and developing Tuồng art in central Vietnam as well as training many generations of Tuồng performers in central and northern Vietnam.

Văn Thiên Tường is one variation on Oán pieces, which have three sections and forty-two phrases of eight bars each and are played with an Ai Oán nuance. This instrumental piece was composed by Trần Quang Thọ, a court musician of the Nguyễn dynasty of Huế who moved to Mỹ Tho province. It is to praise the national hero of Vietnam Thủ Khoa Huân in the resistance war against the French in the last decades of the twentieth century. After that, many new songs have been composed in accordance with the melody of Văn Thiên Tường. This item is performed by singer Tuyết Lan with two sections (1 and 3) with the combination of the bầu (monochord) and the kìm (lute).

Along with the piece “Điệu đàn vui” (A happy tune) (please reference to the track 1), “Bài hát vui xuân” (A happy song in spring) also bears the fun and entertained sonority of the Phù Lá people recorded by the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology in 1959.

Ly biệt has a plaintive nuance, which was performed in separation occasions. This act has a special style of Tuồng in the central Vietnam, and it was performed by the orchestra of Đào Tấn Tuồng Theatre in Bình Định, in which Tuồng had been developed to reach its peak.

According to the census data of 2009, the Nùng ethnic minority had a population of 968, 800 people and was the seventh most populous group in Vietnam, who mostly live in the provinces of Lạng Sơn and Cao Bằng. The Nùng people have a rich treasure of folk culture and folk songs imbue with their group. Bụt (the Goddess of Mercy) is one kind of religious rituals of the Nùng people. In everyday life, the Nùng people believe that men have thirty hồn (souls) and women have forty vía (vital spirits). Hồn vía are associated with body. When the Nùng deal with difficulties, the soul and vital spirits escape from the body, making the body ill. If the soul and vital spirits leave the body for a long time, the person will be severely ill or die. At the beginning of spring, the Nùng people often worship for vital spirits at home. This worship includes twelve phases with singing meaningful lyrics. The singing melodies have many pitches—low, high, deliberate, strong, enthusiastic, passionate tunes, etc.—bringing deep emotions to people’s hearts. The song “Bụt lằn” (Expressing spring scenes) with lyrics on plants, flowers, and animals, paints a natural scene that is fervid and harmonious with the thoughts and feelings of the people, evoking a sense of honesty, talent, and intelligence.

According to the census data in 2009, the Tày ethnic minority in Vietnam had a population of over 1.6 million, making it the second most populous group in Vietnam, mostly residing in the provinces of Lạng Sơn and Cao Bằng. the Tày people have a rich treasure of folk culture and folk songs that are performed in rituals and daily activities. Mở cửa dâng hoa (Opening the door to offer flowers) is a song sung during the wedding ceremonies. The song’s content is to remind the couple to live well and desire a life of peace and happiness.

According to the census data of 2009, the Thái ethnic minority in Vietnam had a population of about 1.5 million people, making them the third populous group in Vietnam, mostly residing in Sơn La and Điện Biên provinces. Thái people have a rich treasure of folk culture such as myths, poems, hát khắp folk songs, xòe dance, and bamboo pole dance. The tính tẩu is a typical musical instrument of Thái people. The tính tẩu is used to accompany the ritual singing, especially in the Then ceremony of the ethnic minorities like the Thái, Tày, and Nùng. In addition, the tính tẩu is also used to accompany love-exchange songs and the xòe dance of Thái people. The tính tẩu is a plucked stringed instrument made up of a head, neck, resonator, surface, bridge, and strings. The neck and the head are made of a piece of wood with a total length of about eighty to ninety centimeters. There are two tuning pegs. The round and thick resonator is made from the cover of an old gourd. The instrument surface is covered with bamboo. The bridge is a piece of bamboo with grooves for the strings to fall into. The tính tẩu has between two and three strings depending on each region and on musical functions.

The t’rưng is a popular instrument of ethnic minorities living in the Central Highlands. It is made of hornless bamboo sections of various lengths (between five and sixteen sections). One end includes the node, and the other end is slantingly cut. The slantingly cut end of each section is not only for decorating but also for adjusting the pitch to the principle, of which the big sections give a bass sound and the small sections give a high sound. The sections are linked to each other with rattan or parachute cord at a set distance so that the bamboo sections do not touch each other. These bamboo sections are hung upside down on a triangular frame. In performance, the instrumentalist stands and knocks the instrument by using two short sticks or plays upward or downward. The ambitus of the t’rưng is quite wide, up to three octaves, depending the number of bamboo sections. Its sound is joyful and clear.

Vietnamese house owners treat guests to the cups of tea. A good cup of tea expresses the feeling and hospitality of house owners.

According to statistics data in 2009, the Hmông people in Vietnam had a population of over one million people, making them one of the larger ethnic minorities in northern Vietnam. The Hmông reside mostly in the provinces of Hà Giang and Lào Cai. They have diverse folk music and folksongs. The khèn (or also known as kềnh) is an aerophonic instrument made up of six bamboo tubes of different lengths. These tubes are put through a wooden resonator. The upper part of resonator is small, connecting to another bamboo section that forms a blowing pipe. A small bronze reed is attached at the part put through the wooden resonator on each horizontal bamboo tube. The shortest and the longest bamboo tubes have two parallel reeds, producing unison sound. Pressing holes are outside the resonator. The player covers the pressing hole of the section and then blows air into it to make the reed vibrate and produce sound. Each tube creates a different sound depending on the length and size. The Hmông playing and pressing techniques include clapping, tremolo, and staccato as well as simultaneity, chord, and harmony. Kềnh of the Hmông people is a polyphony instrument with a bit cracked sound. The register of Kềnh is about an octave. The Hmông people blow the Kềnh during entertainment activities, at funerals, or on the way to the market. Traditionally, the instrument is only for men to accompany singing.