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 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.