Keeping the soul of Cham trumpet in the Holy Land

TP – For nearly ten years now, following in the footsteps of his teacher, Cham artist Thien Thanh Vu (born in 1990, from Ninh Thuan ) has been tirelessly working every day to keep the sound of the saranai trumpet echoing forever in the heart of My Son Sanctuary (Quang Nam).

Generation Bridge

In the quiet space in the heart of My Son, only the sound of footsteps and the occasional rustling of the wind could be heard. In the distance, the sound of a trumpet, sometimes low, sometimes high, suddenly echoed. A group of tourists stood around a group of Cham artists in costumes that stood out against the backdrop of moss-covered temples. The trumpet played a solo for a few minutes, then the drums and gongs harmonized together to create a captivating harmony.

The performance lasted about 20 minutes, enough to make the crowd silent with the traditional saranai music of Cham artist - Mr. Thien Thanh Vu. The sunlight shone on his dark face with a thick beard. Vu wrapped a scarf, pulled back his long hair, looking as mature as the seniors in the Cham community. If not asked his age, no one would think Vu was only in his thirties.

Vu is the only Cham descendant of folk artist Truong Ton - a Cham artist who devoted his whole life to preserving the saranai trumpet sound in My Son Sanctuary. Vu is like a link between generations, connecting the elders who devoted their whole lives to preserving Cham cultural and artistic heritage and the current generation of Cham youth.

Born into a Cham family with a long tradition of art and many generations of famous Cham musical instrument makers in Ninh Thuan, since childhood, Thien Thanh Vu grew up playing the saranai flute, paranung drum, ginang drum... Only a few people in the Cham village of Phuoc Huu (Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan province) know how to play the traditional musical instruments, all of whom are near death.

His grandfather and father were the ones who guided Vu to traditional arts. At the age of 12, Vu learned to play the saranai. It was not easy to play this instrument. Vu spent 2 years learning how to hold his breath, and 3 years to play it well. “I still remember the times I practiced the trumpet, I had to walk very far, to the fields, to the high mounds, far from the village to practice. The Cham people believe that the sound of the trumpet and drum should only be heard in the village on special occasions, and on normal days, if the sound of the trumpet and drum was heard, it was a bad omen,” Vu recalled.

By chance, Vu met Master Truong Ton when he went to Ninh Thuan to find someone to teach him the profession. Vu followed Master Ton to My Son to study more. When the master passed away, Vu planned to pack up and return to his hometown, but his master's advice and the sincerity of the Monument Management Board kept Vu at My Son Temple. Since then, nearly ten years have passed, and the sound of the saranai trumpet at My Son Sanctuary has never been "intermittent". Vu now has another disciple, a late 9x Cham youth named Phu Binh Huyen.

Bringing Cham soul to the world

The saranai – the musical instrument that Vu plays most proficiently (if not as a master) – is the typical musical instrument of Cham art. The small saranai is only about 2 spans long, the body of the trumpet used to be made from elephant bones and buffalo horns, but now it is replaced with ancient tamarind wood. The trumpet symbolizes “humanity” with 3 parts: head, body and legs; the 7 holes on the trumpet symbolize the 7 holes on the human head (mouth, 2 eyes, 2 ears and 2 nostrils). The sound of the saranai is not lively at all, it always feels sad in the silence. When asked about Vu, he said that the sound of the saranai symbolizes the meeting and connection of the souls of the deceased.