Keep the soul empty

“The whole year has the Full Moon of July, the whole year has the Full Moon of January” - following the land of Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Do Luong, Yen Thanh… on this occasion, the scent of the countryside and the love of the countryside lingers in the lingering incense smoke, the thumping sound of drums, and the image of the village road faintly showing people carrying trays of sticky rice and chicken to worship their ancestors.

In Xuan Thanh commune (Yen Thanh district), I met Mr. Le Khac Dinh - a man considered to be one of the most experienced and knowledgeable in the “art” of sacrificial drums in the rice district. At the age of fifty, this man said that his “drumming age” was about the same, because every child here has heard the sound of drums since they were in their mother’s womb, and their first toy in life is also a drum! Mr. Dinh had just finished a trip to teach sacrificial drums to clans in Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, and now he was back and hurriedly preparing his clothes to play the role of the main drum keeper in the clan’s sacrificial drum team.

Mr. Le Khac Dinh beats the big drum on the ceremony day. Photo: Thai Duong

“Xuan Thanh commune has about 12 clans, each clan has its own drum team. Almost all the clans in this commune, regardless of age, gender, are good at drumming!” - Mr. Le Khac Dinh said firmly, pride in his hometown’s traditions shining in his eyes.

The sound of the sacrificial drum is an important and mandatory sound in the ceremony at the family temple, but like many other traditional rituals, there is almost no official record of how to play it. The only way to pass the sound of the drum down from generation to generation is the sense of duty and responsibility of the descendants to the family line, following the tradition of their ancestors, on the day of the ceremony, they just look, just listen, just hold the drumsticks and practice directly. However, the drum team still has 1 big drum, 2 small drums, 2 Xuong Xuong, 1 Bat, 1 Bu Ru, also keeping the rhythm of 1234567, but each family line, each countryside has a different sound.

“The main difference comes from the way the drumsticks are placed on the drumhead and drum body; the harmonious way the instruments are played; the understanding of the team members… The big drum is the drum that keeps the rhythm, all the instruments in the team must follow the rhythm of the big drum and vice versa, the sounds of the small drum, the cymbals, the drums, and the cymbals harmonize, honoring the beauty of the big drum.” - Mr. Dinh shared.

Drum team of Xuan Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Thai Duong

The man considered a master of sacrificial drums in Xuan Thanh could not contain his excitement when talking about the “art” that he has been passionate about all his life. He explained: Even though there are tens of thousands of people playing the big drum, it is difficult for anyone to be the same, because the magical uniqueness of the big drum’s sound lies in the way the player creates the sound combining the drum body and the drum surface.

A person with average skills will create the tones by placing the weight of the drumstick on the drumhead with equal intervals of beats; but a good player will understand the sound levels on the drumhead: the middle of the drumhead has a deeper, duller sound, the further out towards the drumhead the sound is thinner and clearer, creating an attractive high and low tone. In addition, sometimes when the drumstick hits the drumhead, the sound is like a galloping horse, resonating with the deep, majestic sound from the drumhead, evoking the image of a general leading his army into battle, sometimes heroic, sometimes tragic...

The difficulty of drumming is how to beat it to express the true spirit of the ceremony. The drum is beaten from the announcement ceremony, implying the request to the Heavenly God, the Earth God, the local tutelary god, and the river god to allow the ancestors to return and to notify the ancestors to ask for permission to organize the event the next day. Next, at the main ceremony, descendants from near and far in the family gather at the family temple to perform the ceremony to pay homage to the ancestors.

The drum beats are sometimes majestic, solemn, majestic, and heroic, sometimes urgent, inviting, and passionate, expressing a myriad of different emotions, depending on each part of the ceremony. A large drum beat has 3 small beats, lasting about 9-12 minutes. Each session has hundreds of beats that sound continuously, lasting until the end of the ceremony.

Mr. Le Khac Dinh enthusiastically talks about the art of playing sacrificial drums. Photo: Phuoc Anh

According to Mr. Le Khac Dinh, the special thing about the ceremonies is that the drum team usually arrives about 1 hour early to practically teach the next generation. In Xuan Thanh commune in particular, Yen Thanh district in general, it seems that every family has successive generations keeping the soul of the sacrificial drum. 8-year-old and 10-year-old children can hold the drumsticks firmly, 13-15-year-old teenagers can play skillfully, and young people in their 18-20s can play the drums smoothly and attractively.

The sacrificial drums in the rice district are not worried about being lost because the virtue of their descendants is passed down from generation to generation. Young people in Xuan Thanh today still mention the names of the late Trap, the late Long, the late Kha Ha, the late Ngu... - the veteran masters in the "art" of sacrificial drums, devoted to the sacred sound of the drum. Of that generation, some have passed away, some still live passionately with the sacrificial drums - like the late Ngu, who is nearly a hundred years old, but every time the sacrificial day comes, he still holds the drumstick firmly, still beats out the majestic and resounding sounds, making the listeners feel intoxicated, fascinated, and immersed in the myriad of emotions from the majestic sound of the drum.

Mr. Ngu - a famous drum master in Xuan Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Thai Duong

The people of the countryside consider the sacrificial drum as a special art form, in which everyone is an artist. Without anyone telling anyone, everyone understands that every time the sacrificial day comes, the drum will be beaten. The father passes it from father to son, son to grandson... and so on, in a sacrificial ceremony there are hundreds of drum beats played by many people, regardless of age, each person conveying a unique style. More particularly, if in the past, it was believed that women were not allowed to enter the ancestral temple, now, with the changes of society, the awareness of gender equality has improved a lot, even women are allowed to join the sacrificial drum team. There are villages with female drum teams, the sound of the big drum is just as majestic as that of men.

The sound of the sacrificial drum is so wonderful, it seems to be a magical, sacred sound connecting the past, present and future; it is the glue that binds the village consciousness, the consciousness of the origin, the consciousness of the clan, so that when children near and far return, they always feel filled with the warm love of their homeland.