Bronze drums - the rhythm of time in the highlands of Tuyen Quang

Bronze drums – a special cultural symbol of our nation, appeared from the Dong Son culture period thousands of years ago. And when talking about bronze drums, many people will think that its “life” only exists in museums, few know that in the northern highlands of Tuyen Quang province, the rhythm of bronze drums is still parallel to modern cultural life.

In the northern highlands of Tuyen Quang province, especially the Dong Van Stone Plateau, there are 17 ethnic groups living together, many of which are known to possess precious ancient bronze drums. These are the Lo Lo, Mong, Dao, Pu Peo, Bo Y... But the most famous are the Lo Lo people - considered the owners of ancient bronze drums. In the ethnic community in Vietnam, many ethnic groups have used bronze drums in their history of development. But, a special thing is that until today, only 2 ethnic groups still keep the "breath" of the rhythm of bronze drums in their lives, which are the Muong and in Tuyen Quang, the Lo Lo.

Most of the bronze drums discovered in the northern highlands of Tuyen Quang are Lo Lo bronze drums.

According to historical and ethnographic studies, the northern region of Tuyen Quang in general, and the Dong Van Stone Plateau in particular, is a land that has recorded communities of residents living there for a very long time. At the same time, there are many migrations of ethnic groups to this land such as the Lo Lo, Mong and many other ethnic groups... Therefore, this is also a land of intersection and is very rich in unique cultural values, one of the cultural values ​​preserved to this day is the ancient bronze drums.

Over the past 100 years, there have been many surveys and discoveries of ancient bronze drums in the northern highlands of the province. Thereby, dozens of ancient bronze drums have been discovered and collected by the authorities from the Lo Lo, Mong, Dao, Pu Peo, Bo Y, Co Lao ethnic communities... Many ancient bronze drums have been collected, preserved, researched and displayed by the Vietnam National Museum of History, the former Ha Tuyen Provincial Museum and the current Ha Giang Museum for public viewing.

Comrade Bui Duc Tan, former Director of Ha Giang Museum, said that in the Stone Plateau, many ethnic groups used bronze drums for their cultural activities. Among them, the Lo Lo people are the ethnic group that uses bronze drums the most for cultural activities and are the only ethnic group on the Dong Van Stone Plateau that still maintains the use of bronze drums. Most of the bronze drums collected and preserved at the Ha Giang Museum today are Lo Lo bronze drums. The Dong Van Stone Plateau is the place where the largest number of bronze drums have been discovered. The bronze drums are classified from Heger I to V with ages ranging from several hundred years to more than 2,500 years. At the same time, many cultural values ​​and roles of the drums used in the cultural and spiritual activities of ethnic communities have been identified...

Bronze drums are still maintained in the cultural activities of the Lo Lo people on the Dong Van Stone Plateau.

The Lo Lo people on the Stone Plateau are currently one of the very few ethnic groups in our country that still use bronze drums. This creates a living museum, contributing to the rich cultural colors of the stone land. Another special thing is that unlike some places where we often see bronze drums used alone, in the Dong Van Stone Plateau, bronze drums are used by the Lo Lo people in pairs with male drums and female drums. It is very valuable that the Lo Lo people still preserve the original rituals and regulations related to bronze drums, such as each time a drum is used, it must be worshiped, the drum must be buried in the ground after use, the drum cannot be carried across the river or only prestigious people can keep the drum... From that, it can be seen that bronze drums are a very sacred object in the spiritual life of the Lo Lo people.

Through research, it is known that the Lo Lo people on the Stone Plateau currently have up to 36 bronze drum melodies. In each cultural and spiritual life, the sound of the bronze drum plays a role in keeping the rhythm for dances, the most famous of which we can see is the "forest man" or "grass ghost" dance with many people participating in the dance. Until now, people still pass on to each other legends about bronze drums such as the legend of the male drum, the female drum, the legend of the bronze drum with two holes in the middle of the face, the bronze drum also appears in Lo Lo folk songs...

One source of pride is that among the few treasures recognized as national treasures of Tuyen Quang province today, there is a pair of Lo Lo bronze drums belonging to the Dong Son drum group D. This pair of drums was discovered by the people in 2009 and is currently kept at the Ha Giang Museum with one male drum and one female drum and was recognized as a national treasure by the Prime Minister in 2015.

The pair of Lo Lo bronze drums at Ha Giang Museum are recognized as national treasures.

Nowadays, in the strong development of life, the slow pace of life still takes place in places with bronze drums, including the Lo Lo community. Listening to the resonant rhythms of the male and female drums, we will feel each drum sound as if it were something that is holding time to a standstill. Come to the Dong Van Karst Plateau UNESCO Global Geopark to sob together, returning to the past through the rhythms of time of the bronze drums.

Huy Toan

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/van-hoa/du-lich/202512/trong-dong-nhip-dieu-thoi-gian-tren-vung-cao-tuyen-quang-5ea5771/