The process of acculturation: The investigation of the roles of gongs and drums in the cultural and religious life of the Cham Hroi and Bahnar people in Phu Yen province

Abstract

The gong performance is popular in many ethnic groups around the world. For each ethnic group or each cultural region, the gong performance has its own peculiarities, Phu Yen, Vietnam is a province in the central part of Vietnam, and it has a long process of historical acculturation. The set of gongs used in the area among the Cham Hroi and Bahnar people share similarities as shown in the name of the gongs and the drums (cồng ba ‘three nipple gongs’, chiêng năm ‘five flat gongs’, trống đôi ‘one pair of drums’), and in the pieces of the music played in ceremonies, scales, forms and spaces of performance. The set of the gongs and drums, cồng ba, chiêng năm, trống đôi has become the shared asset of the two ethnic people groups – the Cham Hroi and Bahnar and closely tied to the cultural rituals and ceremonies of the groups. On the basis of the theory of acculturation, this study indicates that this set of musical instruments has been through the process of cultural exchanges, selections and changes in the two groups. Notably, this study also indicates that the Cham Hroi and the Bahnar are the owners of the gong set, and the original number of the gongs in the setwas decided by the groups.