Ca Huế (, Chữ Hán: 歌化, "Huế songs") is a form of classical

Vietnamese music Traditional Vietnamese music encompasses a large umbrella of Vietnamese music from antiquity to present times, and can also encompass multiple groups, such as those from Vietnam's ethnic minority tribes. History Traditional Vietnamese music has ...

of Central Vietnam, particularly the

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

region. It contrasts with the

ca trù ''Ca trù'' (, , "tally card songs"), also known as hát cô đầu or hát nói, is a Vietnamese genre of musical storytelling performed by a featuring female vocalist, with origins in northern Vietnam. For much of its history, it was associated ...

genre to the North, and the đờn ca tài tử "gifted scholar" style to the South. The singer sings solo, as in the ca trù genre, accompanying herself with small wooden clappers, sometimes similar to the phách sticks used in ca trù, sometimes shaped like small teacups. Before and between the solo songs a traditional ensemble plays instrumental sections to complement the singer. The ''ca huế'' ensemble should be of five excellent instruments, ''ngũ tuyệt.''The Garland handbook of Southeast Asian music p269 Terry E. Miller, Sean Williams - 2008 "The ensemble accompanying ''ca huế'' is that of the "five excellent instruments" (ngũ tuyệt): a board zither, a two-stringed fiddle, a moon-shaped lute, a pear-shaped lute, and a three-stringed lute; a transverse flute can replace a lute."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ca Hue Vietnamese traditional theatre Vietnamese music