Theatre

The tricky part (and interesting too) in writing about the theatre forms of Vietnam is that the different sources give different accounts on for example the order of performance. They also use different names for instruments and different meaning to some of the names.

For example, in the description of Tuong, Miller instead of using the word dan (instrument) as a prefix of the instruments use the word don. The lower two string fiddle (dan ho as I understand it) is referred to as co or don co by both Miller and Nguyen, Six essays on Vietnamese Music. However a google search for the word don doan (one of the lutes used in Tuong) renders no matches related to music, You may instead watch a video of a child learning to say I love you as the top hit. A search for dan doan however gives you a music related results (as the fifth hit: Dan doan, Dan Nguyet Family, Traditional Vietnamese String Instruments. Provided by the webpage www.saigonstrings.com). there is also a couple of variations on the ken (sona, ken bao, ken bap, ken thau) in the books mentioned above and below.

Another thing is the performance order of Chèo, which according to the book Theater of Vietnam starts with thi nhip (explained as the start of Chèo). Nguyen explaines thi nhip as a "rhythmic competition song" and states that Chèo starts with the he moi where two of the he (clowns) enter the stage waving torches (moi = torch) to clear the performance area.

Something that I have trouble understanding is the dieu or lan dieu. I don't have a good translation for it yet. It seems to mean a lot of things at the same time. Nguyen uses it as "modes" or "song styles". Garland encyclopedia of world music (south east asia) explained it a little bit more.

Diêu (diêu thuc or thuc diêu) is used in art and literature. Diêu admits to variant meanings: fashion, way, manner, melody, song, piece and rhythm. It would not be wrong to say there are 46 diêu in Ca tru, 20 in Ca hue and 80 in Nhac tai tu (chamber musics of north central and south).Each diêu has distinctive modal expression, understood as a mode or a type of song with endless variations. 

Lan diêu, refers to aria, type of melody or style of song and contain most features of a mode. (used in Chèo and hat quan ho, northern Vietnam)

Diêu is somewhat equivalent to mode in the central and south, but it has generalized meaning. Hoi meaning breath, air or nuance is more specific and preferred to be used according to Garland encyclopedia. It describes either the meaning of a mode or a specific nuance distinguishing one mode from another (by specific ornamentation) If you play the wrong ornament you destroy the mode.

The combined hoi-diêu is used for clarity.

I am still not entirely sure I understand it though.

As a final note I have to mention the famous chinese soldier, Ly Nguyen Cat, who was supposed to have taught Tuong theatre to the children of aristocratic familys under the Ly-Tran dynasties. This statement of course is impossible to verify. I will probably keep it in the paper though, becuase he is always mentioned in the different texts on theatre that I have come across.