Ca Tru Dong Mon, the cradle of the rhythm of the Chau drum

Dong Mon people, Hoa Binh commune, Thuy Nguyen district (formerly Thuy Duong district, Kinh Mon prefecture, Hai Duong road ) in addition to cultural activities and festivals like other villages, also have a typical Ca Tru cultural activity, quite developed with many famous artists in Tam Phu Bat Huyen. According to remaining documents and through the stories of the ancients, Dong Mon Ca Tru was born in the Le dynasty.

According to the locals, the ancients said that ca tru here originated from four brothers of the Pham family in Thuy Duong village, Kinh Mon district, Hai Duong road, formerly Pham Quang, Pham Nghiem, Pham Huan, and Pham Thi Cuc Nuong. All four brothers followed King Le Dai Hanh to fight the enemy. After their death, the villagers built temples - Ngoc Phuong village (now Thuy Tu village, Thuy Duong commune) worships Pham Quang and Pham Thi Cuc Nuong. Nuong Ke and Chiem Phuong villages (now Hoa Binh commune) worship Pham Nghiem - Thuong Son village (now Nui Deo town) worships Pham Huan, who were the first people to bring ca tru to spread in this area. That is only word of mouth, it is also possible that ca tru singing started in the Tien Le period, but during this period, ca tru was probably mixed with other forms of folk music and had not yet become an independent art form with its own music rules as from the Hau Le period onwards.

However, based on the remaining relics, it can be affirmed that Dong Mon village, Thuy Nguyen district is also one of the cradles of Ca Tru art. The evidence is that in Dong Mon village, Hoa Binh commune, Thuy Nguyen district, there is currently a temple to worship the two founders of Ca Tru Dong Mon built during the Later Le Dynasty. This temple worships Dinh Du, also known as Thanh Xa Dai Vuong (some people also call him Dinh Le) and his wife, Princess Bach Hoa (Princess Man Duong Hoa, daughter of Mr. Bach Dinh Sa, a district official of Thuong Xuan district, Thanh Hoa ). There are two hypotheses about these two founders. The first hypothesis is that Mr. Dinh Du and his wife learned the art of Ca Tru singing in Dong Mon, established a teaching guild and organized the teaching to the children in the village and neighboring villages and districts. This detail is probably difficult to verify, but through the legendary story about the founder of Ca Tru and the system of family worship relics that remain today throughout the country, which were surveyed in the first part of chapter 1, it can be seen that it is not certain that Dinh Du and his wife ever came to Dong Mon and passed on the profession to the local people, but like many other Ca Tru villages and guilds, Dong Mon people still built a family temple to show gratitude to the founders who had contributed to passing on the singing, clappers and instruments to posterity. And so, the second hypothesis seems more reasonable, it is rumored that Dinh Du and his wife in Thanh Hoa gave birth to a very beautiful new singing style, the people of Dong Mon sent people here to learn instruments and singing and then returned to the village to pass it on to their descendants. Dong Mon Ca Tru officially existed from that time.