This composition belongs to the Sắp melody system of Chèo art. Sắp compositions are often short. If they are sung quickly, they create a boisterous and jubilant atmosphere. If they are sung slowly, they create slightly melancholy atmosphere.

This is a special melody of Chèo art only for the singer, playing the role of the character Xúy Vân, who pretended to be crazy, in the play “Kim Nham”. The role of Xúy Vân is called nữ pha; she deserved to be both complained about and pittied. Kim Nham, her husband, abandoned her when he passed an examination. When she felt lonely, she was seduced by Trần Phương. She pretended to be mad so she could divorce her husband and live with Trần Phương. Nevertheless, she was abandoned again. Falling into despair, she did became crazy. “Xúy Vân giả dại” is a famous excerpt of Chèo art, which is more popular than the whole play.

This is a sad tune about character Thị Kính when she was falsely accused of killing her husband in a famous Chèo play, called Quan Âm Thị Kính. This act is the anguished confidence of Thị Kính about her gloomy fate. Because of the false accusations, she had to disguise herself as a boy to be admitted as a monk in a pagoda.

The Alha is an oral epic from the Bundelkhand area in the state of Uttar Pradesh. However, it is popular and performed across much of Northwest India. It is a martial epic, and tells a single story. It’s the story of brothers Alha and Udal, who belong to the Banaphar family, loyal to the ruler Parmal of the Chandel dynasty. The story is told and sung over fifty-two episodes, each called a larai, which means “battle.” Some episodes are about births and weddings, but most culminate in a larai. The underlying theme is that of the Chandels fighting Prithviraj Chauhan, a legendary king of the Chauhan dynasty. Prithviraj Chauhan is a major figure in Indian folklore and there are many medieval epic poems dedicated to him. Most of the Alha larais are about the Chandels defending the kingdom of Mahoba from Prithviraj Chauhan. The Chandels are eventually defeated by Prithviraj Chauhan. However, Prithviraj Chauhan is weakened by the battles, thereby demonstrating how powerful the Chandels are. The Alha is thus not an epic of victorious heroes like many martial epics. The heroes are praisied for their loyalty and valor. The Alha is also an example of a local oral epic that is linked to the great Indian epics. Alha is often referred to as the Mahabharata of the Kaliyug, comparing the Banaphar brothers to the Pandavas. The Alha epic was translated and published as the The lay of Alha: A Saga of Rajput Chivalry as Sung by Minstrels of Northern India. It was partly translated into English ballad meter by William Waterfield in 1923. The singing of the Alha epic is based on the Alha-Khand, a body of episodes that is passed down from generation to generation. Though there are published pamphlets available in current times, most people learn from their gurus in the traditional system of oral transmission. Alha epic poets and singers belong to akharas, and singers perform only the compositions of the poets of their own akharas. The Alha epic is normally sung by a group, with one singer following another. Traditionally, Alha is performed in villages during the monsoon, when there is no work in the fields. Though there are fifty-one episodes, only one larai is performed at a time, which may last one hour or the whole night. It is performed by men for all-male audiences. In recent times, competitions or pratiyogitas have been organized by State departments and other cultural bodies. As these cannot give the same space to each group, the performances are necessarily truncated. This has also led to the use of costumes and props, and sometimes acting out of episodes. This track from the epic of Alha, is an excerpt from the beginning of an episode titled “Kiratsagar Ki Larai.” In this episode, women are carrying wheat shoots in baskets on their heads to the Kiratsagar lake in Mahoba on the full moon of the Indian month of Sawan, when Prithviraj Chauhan attacks Mahoba. The Kiratsagar ki larai is part of the collection of the Alha recorded and collected by Karine Schomer, who is known for her considerable research on the Alha.

This is the history of how native Yapese learned to use indigenous betel nuts (areca nuts). Native Yapese added pepper leaf and coral lime powder to betel nut and called it langad. Langad was not used by the native Yapese until it was introduced by a friendly ghost who was stranded on the main island of Yap several hundreds of years ago. The ghost, whose name was Llong, was left behind by his companion Luug. Llong then settled himself at the Ron’uw village in the northwestern part of the island. For some reason, Llong relocated himself to Gilyaboch village on the Gakaan peninsula on the western side of the island. There he lived and began making and setting fish traps along the water. Day after day, the natives saw him and wondered what he was doing in the water and who he was. The natives approached him and became friends with him. Llong taught them how to make fish traps and how to set them in the water to catch fish. When setting the traps, branchy corals were required to be placed on and around the traps to cover them. Collecting branchy corals almost every day for the traps, the natives asked Llong if those corals were edible, seeing that they were almost everywhere in the fishing ground. He replied that they were edible, but needed to be processed in advance. So they collected some of the branchy corals and brought them onto land. Thereafter, Llong taught and showed them how to make lime powder out of branchy corals. Llong explained that the powder shouldn’t be taken alone, but could only be taken with two more elements. Llong ordered the natives to bring betel nuts and pepper leaves. Native Yapese at that time used the trunks of betel nut trees only for building houses, but did not use the nuts. Llong gathered everything up and demonstrated how it use it. He added a little amount of powder in a split betel nut and wrapped a piece of pepper leaf around it, putting it in his mouth and chewing on it. After he chewed the mixture, he spat the bloody red liquid out of his mouth. It looked very interesting to the natives, so they tried it right away. Eventually, everyone had a chance to try the newly discovered products. They all felt high from using them and began singing, dancing, and enjoying the sensation until they all felt tired and wanted to take a nap. During their naps, Llong bestowed his blessings upon the langad ingredients so the natives would have the interest or the urge to use them again. When they woke up from the short nap, they were sober and all surprised to see the redness on their lips as well as the spit marks on the ground. They got worried and concerned that their chief in Lamear village might find out what they had done, so they kept it a secret from him. Later, they decided to pay the chief a visit and present him the langad. The chief tried it for the first time and was very impressed. He showed his great excitement, saying that he had never experienced such a euphoria. From then on, he proclaimed the tradition that the people should offer him the langad on a regular basis. This is the story of how native Yapese started using betel nuts. It began in Gilyaboch village, but quickly spread to their chief in Lamear village and to other allies on the island. This knowledge of chewing betel nut with coral lime powder spread throughout the island and became a tradition of the Yapese culture hundreds of years ago. Langad is now a part of daily lives in Yap. It is widely used for social gatherings, community meetings and events, funerals, and so much more.

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.

While the Phú melodies are performed in triple time, Dọc melodies are sung in duple time. Duple time means that two out of four beats are played by the cảnh cymbals. nhị cú means each section includes a pair of six-eight metre and a pair of seven-seven-six-eight metre. Other special characteristic of Dọc is that the first verse with six words is sung in the style of vay trả or gối hạc. The cung văn will sing four ending words of the sentence with six words in advance, and then sing the sentences with four words and then six words. Luyện means that its lyrics are sung repeatedly. In the past, only hát văn included the Cờn Luyện melody, in which two Cờn sentences and one Luyện sentence are sung. Gradually, the cung văn applied the Luyện style to the Dọc melody; thus, it is called Dọc Luyện. Two first sentences are sung with the Dọc style and the third and last sentences with seven words are sung with the Luyện style. The third sentence with seven words, performed with the Luyện style, is sung with the principle of singing the first word once, two next words twice, and the remaining four words twice.

Dồn is the last melody in hát văn thờ. Dồn means that lyrics are sung increasingly more quickly to the end of a song. The hát văn thờ consists of Dồn trầm ngâm and Dồn đại thạch. Dồn trầm ngâm has a stable rhythm while the rhythm is high and slow in Dồn đại thạch. This Dồn melody is performed in accordance with the Dồn trầm ngâm style. Similar to Phú bình, Phú chênh, and Phú nói, the Dồn melody is sung in triple time and tuned at dây bằng. Each Dồn phrase includes a pair of seven-seven-six-eight metre and a pair of six-eight metre and the four ending words of the first verse of the following phrase. This singing style is called hạ tứ tự, one of the specific characteristics of the Dồn melody. ‘

Lapar performing arts, as an ancient folklore genre of people’s creation, has a rich history. Lapar songs are performed by famous artists during holidays, public festivities, and wedding parties as well as in a bride’s house in the evening during ‘Girls’ Evening’, ‘Girls’ Party’, and ‘Lapar Night’. Girls and boys perform lapar songs composed of four-lined ghazals in two groups. Through lapar songs, girls and boys express their love to each other, make decisions, and take oaths. They sing their heart’s grief with a certain melody but without any music. If both the girl and the boy who are singing lapar fall in love with each other, they present gifts to one another. If the boys present flowers to girls, the girls present a kerchief, belt-kerchief, handkerchief, perfume, or some other gift.

Lapar performing arts, as an ancient folklore genre of people’s creation, has a rich history. Lapar songs are performed by famous artists during holidays, public festivities, and wedding parties as well as in a bride’s house in the evening during ‘Girls’ Evening’, ‘Girls’ Party’, and ‘Lapar Night’. Girls and boys perform lapar songs composed of four-lined ghazals in two groups. Through lapar songs, girls and boys express their love to each other, make decisions, and take oaths. They sing their heart’s grief with a certain melody but without any music. If both the girl and the boy who are singing lapar fall in love with each other, they present gifts to one another. If the boys present flowers to girls, the girls present a kerchief, belt-kerchief, handkerchief, perfume, or some other gift.

Lapar performing arts, as an ancient folklore genre of people’s creation, has a rich history. Lapar songs are performed by famous artists during holidays, public festivities, and wedding parties as well as in a bride’s house in the evening during ‘Girls’ Evening’, ‘Girls’ Party’, and ‘Lapar Night’. Girls and boys perform lapar songs composed of four-lined ghazals in two groups. Through lapar songs, girls and boys express their love to each other, make decisions, and take oaths. They sing their heart’s grief with a certain melody but without any music. If both the girl and the boy who are singing lapar fall in love with each other, they present gifts to one another. If the boys present flowers to girls, the girls present a kerchief, belt-kerchief, handkerchief, perfume, or some other gift.

Lapar performing arts, as an ancient folklore genre of people’s creation, has a rich history. Lapar songs are performed by famous artists during holidays, public festivities, and wedding parties as well as in a bride’s house in the evening during ‘Girls’ Evening’, ‘Girls’ Party’, and ‘Lapar Night’. Girls and boys perform lapar songs composed of four-lined ghazals in two groups. Through lapar songs, girls and boys express their love to each other, make decisions, and take oaths. They sing their heart’s grief with a certain melody but without any music. If both the girl and the boy who are singing lapar fall in love with each other, they present gifts to one another. If the boys present flowers to girls, the girls present a kerchief, belt-kerchief, handkerchief, perfume, or some other gift.