Hat van, or hat chau van, is a traditional folk art which combines trance singing and

dancing, a religious form of art used for extolling the merits of beneficent deities or
deified national heroes.

Its music and poetry are mingled with a variety of rhythms, pauses, tempos, stresses
and pitches. It is in essence a cantillation where the tunes and rhythm depend on the
contents of the sung text and may be linked together into a suite, used in relation to
a mythical happening, with hints at some features of modern life.

The art of hat van originated in the Red River delta and dates back to the 16th
century, spreading later to the whole of the country. During its development course,
hat van has taken in the essential beauty of folk songs from regions in the north, the
center and the south.

There are two kinds of hat van: hat tho and hat len dong.

Hat tho (worship singing) is the chanting accompanying an act of worship. Hat tho is
slow, grave, and dignified. Variations in the music are few and contain little
contrasting pitch and stress.

Hat len dong is the cantillation accompanying psychic dancing claiming to respond to
occult powers and expressing the will and orders of some super-natural being. It may
contain many variations depending on the number of verses sung, often coming to a
climax or slowing down to the tempo of a meditation.

Hau Dong is the ritual of the Holy Spirit of VietNamese. In that ceremony, the singing service
for the canonization process. After dancing, the saints used to sit and listen to the chorus,
telling the story of the saints. With of Ong Hoang Muoi, the text soaked ancient poetry.
Saint expresses satisfaction with lucky money. It is also the time for the saints to use things
like wine, cigarettes, water, etc. The sacred things used to be the rite of cleansing for purity.
The instrumental music accompanying hat van plays a very important role, either in
emphasizing important passages or creating contrasting effects, in any event
enriching the content of the chant.

The main instrument used in hat van performance is the dan nguyet or moon-shaped
lute, accompanied by the striking of the phach (a piece of wood or bamboo) marking
the rhythm, xeng (clappers), trong chau (drum) and chieng (gong). The 16-stringed
zither (dan thap luc and flute (sao) are also used in the recitation of certain poetry
and sometimes the eight-sound band (dan bat am) is also used in certain
ceremonies.

Hat van has acquired over centuries both learned and folksy characteristics and has
proven to be a strong attraction to musicologists at home and abroad.

About rhythm, singing often use the external beat (phonetic). This type of rhythm brings a
feeling of unstable in the listener's mind, bringing the listener into a vague, fanciful state.

Singing chorus uses many tunes (also known as singing, singing). The ancients also called the
tune 格. For example, the dumbbell is called the dumbbell, the dumbbell is called the
dumbbell.

The basic singing tunes are: Belgium, Mieu, Thinh, Phu Binh, Phu Chenh, Phu Rau, Phu Rau
(Phu Dau), Dau Tho, Van, Vung, Xa, Kieu Duong, Ham, Dieu, Thuong kieu Occasionally, Sing
Sai (Onions), recite poetry. There are also many other tunes such as singing in ca tru, singing
then, Hue, singing ..

I really like Hau Dong, because it's a kind of music in vietnam. The singing in Hat Van helps
the soul relax and fun. It helps people find goodness and always do good deeds. Hat Van
also helps Vietnamese people respect and appreciate the national heroes and better
understand the history of the country. It helps people to feel good because they are good at
doing good deeds and want good things in life.

Words:635

References:

https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%E1%BA%A7u_v%C4%83n#Tr.C3.ACnh_b.C3.A0y

http://www.vietnam-culture.com/articles-41-8/Hat-van.aspx