Kho Mu people’s unique music at Museum of Ethnology

The unique music of bamboo flutes played with the nose of Kho Mu ethnic minority people will be played during an event at the Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi on November 23-24.
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The unique music of bamboo flutes played with the nose of Kho Mu ethnic minority people will be played during an event at the Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi on November 23-24.

A group of Kho Mu men and women perform mua boòng bụ (dance while beating on bamboo tubes). Photo courtesy of Museum of Ethnology

The programme will introduce music of the Kho Mu people living in Nghe An and Dien Bien provinces with the participation of 19 artisans.

Visitors will have a chance to meet with the artists and learn to make traditional musical instruments of the Kho Mu such as nose flute, drum set, jew harp and bamboo castanets. The audience will also join the Kho Mu artists in various dances such as múa sạp (dance between bamboo poles) and múa boòng bụ (dance while beating on bamboo tubes).

“The traditional musical instruments are varied and unique including percussion, stringed instruments and wind instruments,” said PhD Bui Nhat Quang, director of the museum.

“The Kho Mu often use them in festivals, anniversaries and weddings. They also perform folk singing and dancing.

“We have worked with culture departments of Nghe An and Dien Bien provinces where the local people still preserve their music to introduce the unique cultural heritage to the public,” he said.

“Through the event, we want to raise awareness of ethnic minority culture and folk music, helping preserve the heritage.”

Also part of the event, US-born PhD Frank Porschan will host a talk show on culture and lifestyle of the Kho Mu in Laos, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

Porschan is an independent consultant in cultural heritage and cultural policy and has been a folklorist at the Smithsonian Institution, a programme specialist for UNESCO and a lecturer at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

The discussion will take place on 2pm on November 23 with participation of many experts from the Museum of Ethnology, Vietnam Institute for Musicology, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.