Vietnamese court music, Yale, was inscribed on the Representative List of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2003.
Vietnam was called Cochin in ancient times. Before the Tang Dynasty, it belonged to China and became independent during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. According to French-Vietnamese musician Tran Wenxi, Vietnamese music can be roughly divided into court music (court music, ancient bands, court dance, carols), entertainment music (Tao Niang music, Hue music, southern music), opera music (mockery, court drama) and folk music.
The origins of Vietnamese court music can be traced back to the 13th century, the later period of the Li Dynasty (1010-1225) of the Vietnamese Empire. In the 14th century, it was found in the historical book "Annan Zhilue". The Vietnamese Empire reached maturity during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945).
According to the research of Professor Zhao Weiping of the Department of Ethnomusicology of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the music types of Vietnamese court music are: elegant music, big music, small music, fine music (also known as silk bamboo fine music), female music and military music. Yale is the main type of court music. Yale is usually used for sacrificial ceremonies in the four seasons, suburban temples, as well as ceremonies such as court meetings, banquets, canonizations, military rituals, and funerals. According to the records of "Danan Huidian Case", among the court ritual music, elegant music appeared most frequently, exceeding 50%.
The musical instruments used by Yale vary slightly from period to period. During the Le and Nguyen Dynasties (1428-1883), the main musical instruments used in Yale music included chimes, chimes, qinse, xun, chi, xiaosheng, guanxi, pipe flute, big drum, pipe drum, pipa, fangxiang and konghou. Its performance form absorbs the form of Erbu Ji (that is, sitting in the hall and standing in the hall) since the Tang Dynasty in China. Yao dance includes literary dance and martial dance. Regarding the repertoire of Yale, according to the research of relevant experts, there have been Yale music such as Ping, Cheng, Feng, Hui, Wen, Qing, Shou, Fu, He, and Jubilee. For example, in the Royal Palace, Yuanshou, Zhenshou, Xianshou and other songs are played. When offering sacrifices to Confucius in the Confucian Temple, he played Jingwen, Zhaowen, Yiwen and other songs. At the Sheji altar, Yanfeng, Maofeng, Qingfeng music and so on are played.
Historical data on ethnic music shows that Chinese court music, especially the Ming Dynasty court music, had an important influence on the formation of Vietnamese court music.
Over the past two decades, Vietnamese musicians and historians, with the strong support of the government, have been actively engaged in the inheritance of elegant music and the restoration of the performance mechanism, sorting out and restoring the repertoire of traditional court music. In some shrine activities, tourists can often go to the shrine to visit the sacrificial activities and listen to the Vietnamese court music played by dozens of elders in traditional Vietnamese official uniforms. The scene is very solemn.
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