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.

Phú nói in hát văn is influenced by hát nói (recitative) of ca trù, a popular traditional musical type of Việt people. Phú nói has to be performed with a mature and slow style, in which each word is sung clearly and slowly. Performers have to gather air in their necks and release it slowly with singing expletives and without opening their mouths widely. The ư hư expletive, which is typical in hát nói of ca trù, is applied to the Phú nói melody of hát văn. Nevertheless, instead of using the ư hư expletive all the time, performers can sing the i i expletive, which is a typical characteristic of hát văn. The nguyệt (moon-shaped lute) also simulates the sounds of the đáy lute, which is a typical instrument of the ca trù art. The lyrics of Phú nói are a poem with a seven-seven-six-eight metre. Each musical phrase is corresponding to one verse sentence. This style can express the lyrics coherently; thus, it is preferred by the cung văn. Phú nói is performed in triple time at a slow tempo, and strings tuned to dây bằng. In hát văn thờ, Phú nói usually appears after Phú bình and Phú chênh.

According to statistics data in 2009, the Cao Lan people (known as Sán Chay) in Vietnam had a population of 169,410 people, residing mostly in Tuyên Quang province. The Cao Lan ethnic minority has a treasure of poetry, folk music, and dance such as sình ca (unique folk singing), múa trống (drum dancing), múa xúc tép (small shrimp catching dancing), múa chim gâu (cuckoo bird dancing), etc. The musical instruments of Cao Lan people are various, including thanh la (small knobless gong), não bạt (small cymbals), drums, bells, and wind instruments. Kèn is a wind instrument performed in festivals and ritual forms. Kèn consists of four parts: the body, the bell, reed stake, and the reed. The body is a cylindrical hollow tube made of hard wood about thirty centimeters in length. On the body, there are seven pressing holes on the front and one hole on back near the stake. The instrument bell is made of a frustum-shaped thin wooden piece. The smaller of the bell is attached to the big end of the tube. The stake is attached to the small end of the tube. The reed is made of a reed pipe or worn nest attached to the stake. Its sound is strong, a little discordant at high pitches and a little cracked at the low end. The register of the instrument is two octaves. Kèn is played by men only. This track is a medley of extractions that are often played in the rituals, such as hành quân (army operation), kèn Khắp, and đưa Phật (Buddha greeting).

Lưu thủy trường is one of the series of six Bắc pieces belonging to the twenty principal musical pieces of Đờn ca tài tử art. It consists of thirty-two eight-bar phrases. Among the six Bắc pieces, Lưu thủy trường is considered the typical one played for opening Đờn ca tài tử performances. The tempo is moderate and musical characteristics are joyful and strong. This is a solo performance of the tranh (sixteen-string zither) performed by master musician Vĩnh Bảo—a famous teacher of Đờn ca tài tử in Ho Chi Minh City. The tranh is a plucked string instrument without a neck. It is made of wood and has rectangle-shaped resonator. On the surface, the bridge is put at one end and the pegs at the other end. The sixteen strings are typically tuned to a pentatonic scale and suspended over bridges and secured through a gauge, which is located in the middle. The gauge is not fixed and is adjusted to modify the sound and change the musical scale according to the piece. The players use the left hand to press the strings and the right hand to pluck the strings. It can be plucked by using fingernails or artificial nails made of metal, plastic, or tortoiseshell.

This song includes two melodies Nam xuân (twenty phrases) and Nam ai (twenty-eight phrases). Nam xuân, Nam ai are two out of three Nam pieces belonging to the twenty principle pieces. The piece takes on melancholic and deliberate characteristics. This musical piece is played by the bầu (monochord), the kìm (moon-shaped lute), and the violin. The bầu, a plucked string instrument made of wood, has a long rectangular resonator. A small arm made of bamboo or plastic is put through a gourd cover and attached to the resonator. At the end of the resonator, a metal or wooden peg is attached. The instrument has a metal string and has no frets. When playing the monochord, the musician creates overtones by lightly pressing the nodal points along the metal string. The violin is a western instrument that has some modifications to its strings when being used in Tài tử orchestra. For information about the kìm, please refer to the description for track 2.

Cing kram means bamboo gong. It is an idiophonic instrument, striking branch. Cing kram consists of two parts: a bamboo section and a resonator made of a large bamboo piece. Each Cing kram produces a pitch that corresponds to that of a gong in a bronze gong set of the Ê đê people. The five-tone musical scale of Cing kram set is equivalent to that of the bronze gong set, arranged from low to high under the names of grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, and children. The instrument has a clear sound and can be played at a quick tempo, creating a joyful and bustling atmosphere. When played in an ensemble, many Cing kram are used together, with each player in charge of playing one section. The repertoire of the Cing kram set is the same as that of the bronze gong set. T he player sits in column on the Kpa couch in the communal house. The bamboo section is put on the left hand’s palm. Under each bamboo section is one resonator, which is put upright between the player’s thighs so that one head of the resonator is in close contact with the bamboo section. The right hand of the player holds a stick to strike the bamboo section. When playing, the player’s lefthand thumb is used to keep the instrument section steady and can cover or open the head of the bamboo section to adjust the vibrato

This solemn piece belongs to the series of seven Nhạc pieces. The complete version consists of thirty-eight four-bar phrases. The lyrics are about parents’ inmost feelings and their reminders to the daughter. This musical piece is played by the cò (two string fiddle) and the kìm (moon-shaped lute). The kìm, a plucked string instrument, has two strings. It is made of wood and has a flat and round resonator. On the surface, the gauges are attached. It has a long neck with nine frets. The rest three frets are on the surface. The two silk or nylon strings are tuned at a perfect fifth interval. The players use the left hand to press the frets and the right hand to pluck the strings. The instrument can be plucked using a fingernail or a bamboo or plastic plectrum. The cò is a bow stringed instrument with two iron strings tuned to a fourth or a perfect fifth interval. The body of the instrument is cylindrical and the top surface is covered with snake skin. The neck is made of wood and does not have frets. The bow is strung with horsetail. The players use the left hand to press onto the neck to create pitch and the right hand to bow.

The kèn lá (leaf-horn) is the simplest musical instrument. With just a leaf at a street side, Hmông people can turn a leaf into an instrument with a clear and strong sound. The leaf-horn is a means for young people to exchange sentiments.

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.