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.

This is a story about the roles and responsibilities of newly married Yapese couples and their families. It was told by Alukan, Mu’ut, Flan’med, Bapilung, and Fithingmew from the Old Age Program in Yap back in the 1970s. As a part of Yapese customs and traditions, married couples settled and resided at the husbands’ homes. A wife was asked to respect her in-laws with the utmost regard and to help her mother-in-law collaboratively with daily house chores like cooking, cleaning, and other women’s roles in the family. She sought advice from her mother-in-law every morning for preparing for the day. In return, the mother-in-law would lend a part of the land for gardening taro patches. Two taro patches were considered enough for the wife. One was for herself, and the other was for her husband and her mother-in-law. She was responsible for cleaning and planting taro patches and the garden given to her as well as for harvesting from them. After giving her the taro patches and garden, no other family members, including the mother-in-law herself, were allowed to take or harvest anything from there anymore. The wife would harvest for herself as well as for her husband and her mother-in-law, but would not harvest for her father-in-law until she reached a certain age. Once a wife moved in with her husband and his family, she was not supposed to go back to her home for receiving or harvesting. It was considered offensive to her husband and his family. On the other hand, the husband had to visit his inlaws often to learn their needs and provide them with what they needed. During his visits, he would bring betel nuts and coconuts for his in-laws. Every time he came back from fishing, a string of fish would be put aside for his in-laws as well.

Marriage to the Nùng ethnic minority is not merely that of a couple but has a greater meaning that is the ritual of community cohesion, keeping the ethnic group’s cultural identity. A wedding ceremony takes place in accordance with certain traditions and customs, such as bride and groom welcoming, ancestor worshiping, groom receiving; asking for a bride welcoming, etc. In the celebration to ask for the bride, the heads of the groom’s family will play music or sing to ask for the bride, and the bride’s family also plays music or sings in response. The instrumental music in Nùng weddings is mainly performed by men. Musical instruments may include the nhị (two-string fiddle), wind instruments, and cymbals.

The goong is a plucked stringed instrumentmade of a bamboo section. Its two ends have nodes. Its length is eighty centimeters and its diameter is five to eight centimeters. In some places, people tie a dry gourd to this instrument to increase resonance. The goong can have from eight to eighteen strings, but nine to twelve strings is the most popular. Each string produces one sound. To play this instrument, the instrumentalist puts the bottom of this instrument against his stomach and puts the head of this instrument in front of him to create a 45˚ angle. Two little fingers support the instrument and the rest pluck it. The goong instrument is only for men. It imitates the sound of the gong set. While gongs are allowed to be played only in some special occasions, the goong instruments can be played in anywhere in the Central Highlands.

This is song tells part of the Ramayana story when Sita is exiled to the forest. It is accompanied by chikara, a three- string fiddle played in many parts of North India. The chikara is usually used as an accompaniment to singing.

The bana is a three-string fiddle played by the Pardhans in this area of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for their Gond patrons, to accompany their singing. According to Roderic Knight, this instrument is virtually unknown outside this region.

The chaudike is a string instrument. Chaudike songs are most popular in the northern part of Karnataka, especially near Dharwad, where goddess Yellamma is worshipped by millions of people. The songs are built around the story of Jamadagni and his wife Renuka. In Saundatti (Dharwad, Karnataka), Renuka is known as Yellamma. The rise of Renuka as a mother goddess was perhaps the result of a complex merging of numerous personalities and myths. Renuka is most popular among the lower castes, such as the Pariahs, who are the performers in this recording. The community of Devadasis performs rituals that include Chaudike songs at Renuka shrines. These songs tell the story of Jamadagni, Renuka, and their son Parashurama.

Bỉ is the opening melody of a văn thờ song. Bỉ is one of three main melodies, called Bỉ-Mưỡu-Thổng, which are only performed in hát văn thờ, not hát văn hầu. The bỉ melody is used to sing eight-sentence poems with seven words in each sentence. The bỉ melody is sung in dồn phách time, which is not periodic. When the singing stops or there is an interlude, cung văn rolls the stick on the phách clappers. The instruments for the bỉ melody include the nguyệt (two-string lute), the nhị (two-string fiddle), clappers, cảnh (small cymbal), and a small drum.

Bình sa lạc nhạn consists of three sections, thirty-seven eight-bar phrases and is one of the four popular Oán Ngoại pieces of Đờn ca tài tử music. This musical piece was written based on the story about Ms. Chiêu Quân, who was brought to the Hồ country as a tribute. To express the feeling of missing her husband and country, she played this musical piece. This musical piece is played as ensemble by the tranh (sixteen-string zither), the kìm (moon-shaped lute) and the cò (two string fiddle) For information about these instruments, please refer to the descriptions for tracks 1, 2, and 3.

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.