Reviving the B'rôh ethnic group

For the Ede people, the B'roh instrument is deeply intertwined with their community life. However, due to its limited sound characteristics—"each person plays for their own listening pleasure"—the B'roh is not widely used or popularized in large, diverse performance spaces alongside other musical instruments, both traditional and modern.

This limitation has also led to the gradual disappearance of the B'rôh instrument from villages and from contemporary cultural and artistic activities.

The stylized B'rôh instrument created by artist Nguyễn Trường attracts many music lovers who come to learn and experience it.

Teacher and artist Nguyen Truong (former music lecturer at Dak Lak College of Culture and Arts) regrets the loss of this unique traditional musical instrument, so he has independently researched and experimented to stylize the B'roh instrument so that it can have a wider "stage" in contemporary life.

He shared: "From the traditional B'rôh instrument, including its constituent parts (neck, strings, knobs, frets, and soundbox), I've stylized a few details so that players can express their emotions as they wish. First, I found ways to overcome the limitations of sound by adding electronic devices to the soundbox to make the sound more resonant; accordingly, I increased the number of frets from 5 to 7 (or more) to expand the range of tones; and I added a strap for easier and more flexible movement during performances."

With these stylistic variations, artist Nguyen Truong believes that the B'roh instrument is no longer confined as it once was (for solo storytelling or accompanying the rhythm of the ding puot flute during poignant epic storytelling nights); this instrument now has a much stronger reach, capable of harmonizing with many other instruments in any performance space. More importantly, the sound of the B'roh, through his creative hands, still retains the rustic nuances of bamboo and rattan, created through a resonant box made from a traditional dried gourd.

Artist Nguyen Truong is passionate about crafting his stylized B'roh instrument.

Through numerous performances of the stylized B'rôh instrument by artist Nguyễn Trường at various cultural venues inside and outside the province, music lovers acknowledge this as a success in inheriting and promoting the traditional values and identity of the Central Highlands folk music heritage – this B'rôh instrument has pushed the scope of perception and appreciation for both players and listeners further and more widely in contemporary life.

In other words, this unique traditional instrument has been revived and embraced by the public thanks to its novelty – both rustic and unusual, yet more modern and mainstream, contributing to the integration of the folk music of the ethnic groups here into the mainstream of Vietnamese culture.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202504/hoi-sinhdan-broh-e9f1bc1/