The ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands in general and the Ede Kpa in particular were born and raised in a natural environment full of musicality. They sought to recreate the sounds of nature such as the sound of flowing streams, the sound of wind blowing, the sound of birds chirping, etc. through the creation of musical instruments. Their music is associated with interactive spaces in the community. The presence of music in the lives of the people in the Central Highlands since ancient times has been found in oral stories about the origin of musical instruments.
According to the story of Dong Nam, collected by Ly Van Linh Nie Kdam:
“The woman went to the fields, drank water from a rock cave, came back pregnant, gave birth to six children, three boys, three girls. Every day the family was always together working in the fields, playing. Because they were so similar that it was hard to tell them apart, the father brought home six bamboo tubes of different lengths, giving each child one tube to distinguish who was older, who was older, who was younger..
The day their old parents passed away, they were tired from crying, each brother and sister brought their own bamboo tube to blow day and night. Seeing that their elder siblings were exhausted, the youngest brother immediately took a gourd, placed 6 bamboo tubes in two rows in order of meaning: the 3 tubes in the upper row belonged to the 3 sisters, the 3 tubes in the lower row belonged to the 3 brothers. The gentle sound of the 6 bamboo tubes through the gourd became even more melodious. From then on, at every funeral in the village, the youngest brother would bring his own bamboo tube to blow to express his condolences. The name Dong Nam in the Ede language means 6 tubes..”
Social changes and cultural exchanges in the Central Highlands in recent decades have gradually pushed traditional music into the past. However, the traditional music of the Ede Kpa people is still being carried on by a group of artisans living in Akǒ Siêr village, Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak province. Since the 1970s, uncles such as Y Mip Ayun, Y Due Nie, Y Dhu Nie, Y Phiơp Ê Ban, and Y B'Lim Nie have collected and preserved popular melodies that their predecessors could remember, and have recreated these musical instruments using traditional methods and original materials such as bamboo, rattan, and dried gourd shells, in order to preserve the original musical scale system of traditional Central Highlands music. Typical traditional musical instruments include: Dong Nam, Dong Tut, Dong Buot Chok, Ky Pah, and Dong Tak Tar.
The relationship of the Central Highlands community to their traditional music is also changing. Taboos around performing traditional music in villages are gradually disappearing. Except in cases such as the song Funeral Ching, every time the team leader performs, he must represent the whole team to ask permission from the Yangs - the gods, then perform the piece. Ching that. Central Highlands music is being supplemented with performance so that it can be presented in other settings, taking the story of cultural heritage far from where it began.
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