Mekong NYC Arts & Music Vietnamese Folk Music    F O L K · A R T S · S T U D I E S A research project in the Vietnamese folk arts heritage Mekong NYC hosts a music class to teach students how to play the đàn tranh (Vietnamese zither). The class is infused with storytelling, especially Vietnamese folk tales and culture, community building through group playing and listening, and group theory, examining traditional Vietnamese and Cambodian songs and pop music.

Lesson: Bac-Kim-Thang_Melody
for Vietnamese 16-string zither
by Teacher Phan Gia Anh-Thư & Teacher Ngô Thanh Nhàn
Apr 02, 2025 20:45:21
m10_Bac-Kim-Thang

1 – Bac-Kim-Thang Bac-Kim-Thang • Melody • YWCM •

Tablature to Click and Print:

T H E   S T O R Y:Bắc Kim Thang, a children song of the south. It either means 'bắt kim than' [catch a black horse] or 'bắc kim thang' [build a pyramid plant scaffold] of the south west Vietnam. It contains elements of a south Vietnamese countryside farming region, where you have chú bán dầu [cooking oil peddler], chú bán ếch [frog peddler], cà [eggplant], lang [sweet potato], bí rợ [pumpkin], le le [wild duck], bìm bịp [coucal], trống [drum] and kèn [horn], kim thang [pyramid scaffold], cầu [monkey bridge]... This is a horror story of the wild duck and a coucal playing the drum and the horn in a funeral procession for the oil peddler who were pulled from a monkey bridge by ma da [drown ghost] and drowned in the river.