Vọng Cổ

''Vọng cổ'' (, Hán tự: , "nostalgia") is a Vietnamese song and musical structure used primarily in the '' cải lương'' theater music and '' nhạc tài tử'' chamber music of southern Vietnam. It was composed sometime between 1917 and 1919 by Cao Văn Lầu (performing name Sáu Lầu "sixth Lầu"), of Bạc Liêu Province in southern Vietnam. The song achieved great popularity and eventually its structure became the basis for numerous other songs. The tune is essentially melancholy in character and is sung using Vietnamese modal inflections.

History

The term vọng cổ is used to mean:Peter Manuel ''Popular Musics of the Non-Western World: An Introductory Survey'' Page 202 - 1990 "Thus, the term vọng cổ denotes: (1) a particular mode, equivalent to the óan nuance of the nam mode; (2) a particular song, dating from around 1919; and (3) any piece in the vọng cổ mode which employs the pitches of the original vọng cổ song as structural cadential points. The last and most general sense of the term is perhaps the most common; commercial cassette labels, for example, generally cite the two composers of Western music (tan nhac) and vong co', that is, Vietnamese music. In most cases the vqng co' is preceded by a nói loi. Although un- metered, this is usually sung in even note values, in a syllabic style. Often it begins in a different mode — most typically, an anhemitonic pentatonic scale — and then modulates ..."

# the particular mode, equivalent to the oán naunce of the nam mode;
# the original song ''Dạ cổ hoài lang'', by Cao Văn Lầu from around 1919
# any piece in the vọng cổ mode which employs the pitches of the original vọng cổ song as structural cadential points.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vong co
Culture of South Vietnam
Vietnamese traditional theatre
Vietnamese music
1910s songs