It is easy to find the home of Artisan Nguyen Ba Chau as he is well known in Tra Dong village, Thieu Trung commune, as the man who has restored the once-lost bronze drum casting craft.

According to Chau, the craft in Tra Dong village has been passed down from generation to generation. He doesn’t know when the craft was established, but heard that the profession has existed for thousands of years. Chau learned how to cast bronze drum from his parents and grandparents; he has 50 years of experience in making bronze drums.

Chau said the craft village can make valuable products from bronze, but no one can cast bronze drums.

The bronze drum casting almost ‘faded away’ when consumers shifted to products made of aluminum, iron, plastics and stainless steel, which were cheaper and diverse in designs.

The revival one decade ago occurred when more people wanted to buy bronze-made products. 

Chau set to work on reviving bronze drum casting in 1998. At that time, he saw villagers buying small bronze drums and selling in the village at high prices. The high income from bronze drum trading prompted him to revive the casting.

It took Chau one year, a lot of efforts and time to do this work. Meanwhile, his continuous failures cost him a whole fortune and caused him to fall into debt.

But Chau never thought of giving up. He traveled from the north to the south to learn the technique of making bronze drums. However, there was nearly no locality making this product. Returning to his hometown, he searched for information from all possible sources, read books and researched bronze drum samples at museums, and started to cast bronze drums.

In 2000, Chau successfully casted bronze drums and began teaching villagers how to cast drums.

In 2012, Chau began working on large-sized bronze drums. The first large-sized drum he made had a diameter of 2.05 meters and a height of 1.6 meters. It is being displayed in Long Khanh town in DongNai province. 

In 2016, he was awarded the title of Meritorious Artist by the President.

The largest bronze drum Chau has casted has the diameter of 2.35 meters and height of 1.87 meters, weighs 4 tons. It has been recognized as the largest bronze drum in Vietnam. There are hundreds of households in Thieu Trung commune developing traditional bronze drum casting.

Le Duong