To Tu La Village, Where the Vang Vut Zither Sounds Like the Forest

In Tu La village, the sound of a distinctive bamboo instrument rises through the mountains of Sơn Tây Thượng in Quang Ngai, echoing what the Ca Dong people describe as the voice of the forest.

The village sits beside the East Truong Son road, surrounded by deep green mountains, terraced rice fields and clear streams running between rocks. Stilt houses nestle among the fields. In one of them, distinguished artisan Đinh Văn Khoăng, 65, and his wife, Đinh Thị Đâm, 50, continue to work with bamboo and rattan instruments whenever they have time away from their fields and forest work.

Khoăng can make and play several Ca Dong instruments, including the brok krâu, a khung, drums, gongs and bronze percussion instruments. But he says he still has not mastered the vang vut. His wife, sitting beside the window of their stilt house, is the stronger player of the unusual instrument.

Khoăng's home contains little that is expensive, but its wooden walls hold a collection of cultural treasures: bamboo instruments, woven forest-rattan baskets and objects used in traditional ceremonies. He says his fascination with gongs and drums began in childhood. In those days, paths into the villages crossed hills and streams. Whenever he heard the instruments from a distant house or field, he would abandon whatever he was doing and follow the sound.

"When I heard the gongs, I had to go and find them. I watched people play, then went home and copied them," he recalled. The Ca Dong do not traditionally teach instruments in schools. Those who are drawn to the music seek out skilled players, watch closely and learn through talent and persistence.

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When I heard the gongs, I had to go and find them. I watched people play, then went home and copied them.