"The living need light and the dead need music"
April 2024
I love music and sound, and I always have an open ear for what surrounds me. Especially in Hanoi where the sound carpet is incredibly diverse: traffic noise with honking vehicles, karaoke everywhere, live music sessions in small venues, the bicycle bells of the rubbish collectors at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Vietnamese folk music on public buses, pop bands on weekend walking streets, but also all the natural sounds of birds chirping in the morning, frogs croaking in the evening and roosters crowing all day long. And then there are the surprises in the pattern of the sound carpet, that you don't expect at all. For example, when I came home late one evening and the sound of a piano in the little alley where I live caught my attention. The piano was a little out of tune, but the person played with such dedication that I stopped and listened to a few pieces of classical music.
Another surprise, albeit with music that irritated me quite a bit, also took place in my neighbourhood. Firstly, because I couldn't recognize the style of the music. Secondly, because the music started very, very loud in the early morning and only ended at a constant volume in the late evening. I was working from home that day and hadn't left the house all day, so that evening I seriously wondered whether I had made the right decision to move there. But the next day and all the following days were quiet, and I forgot about this episode.
The last goodbye
A few weeks later, I heard exactly that kind of music again. A loud and high-pitched tune played on instruments that I thought were a kind of oboe or flute, gongs, and drums. I saw a group of people wearing white headbands and white gauze capes, and then I realized that the music was part of a mourning ceremony. The mourners sat at tables in the entrance of the house and in the alley, ate and drank, and a band played without stopping. I asked Cô Lien about it. She told me that according to Vietnamese belief, death is not the end, but the last stage of one life to be transformed into another. The family mourns for several days and invites friends and relatives as well as a religious leader to say goodbye. Family members usually wear white headbands to show their affection and respect, also to distinguish them from guests. That was actually all she said. My friend is normally very talkative, but this was obviously not her topic. I understand and respect that she, like most of us, doesn't want to talk about dying and death. Nevertheless, I wanted to know more about funeral music, and I had to ask Google.
The living need light, the dead need music
This Vietnamese proverb illustrates the importance of music. It helps the family to express their love and compassion and supports the sending off the deceased into the world of the ancestors. Both the music itself and the instruments are not the same everywhere in the country. At traditional funerals in the north, the band consists of 3 to 7 people usually playing flute, drum and lute, while in the south trumpet, electric guitar and organ are played. Although I have never heard funeral music from the south, I can easily imagine that the sound there is completely different. And then there are regions where the music is very unique. I found an article from 2015 about a band in a province in the north. The band has exclusively female members, all of whom play trumpet, saxophone, trombone, and horn. This is special in two respects: firstly, funeral music was traditionally only played by men and secondly, western brass instruments in particular were reserved for men. The leader of that band explained in the article that she and the other members, none of whom have a musical background, learnt to play the technically demanding instruments to generate an additional source of income. While they used to work as seamstresses and construction workers, they now contribute to the household income with music. In recent years, the band has had around 30 members, women aged between 30 and 50. So far, they are not afraid of the band ageing at some point, because several young women have expressed a desire to join the band in the future. Maybe one day I'll have the chance to listen to this band.
Until then, I will continue to pause for a moment when I hear the haunting music with its very own, loud, high-pitched sound. And I will use this moment to remember with gratitude the beauty of life and the transience of everything.
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