Doi Tam – the village of drums

      Coming to Doi Tam, visitors will see big drums placed in front of each house in the village and hear the sound of planers and saws from every house.
Dinh Van Buc, 70, the manager of Doi Tam village’s temple, said the village has produced drums for over 1,000 years. It is said that brothers Nguyen Duc Nang and Nguyen Duc Ban were the founders of Doi Tam. In 986, to welcome King Le Dai Hanh to Doi Tam village to attend a plough ceremony, the two brothers made a big drum, which created sounds like thunder. The brothers were called Trang Sam (Masters of Thunder).
According to custom, drum-making techniques are transferred to sons and their wives, not daughters and their husbands. Any family that breaches the rules is expelled and cursed and booted from the drum-making occupation.
A drum is made in three major stages: leather tanning, drum-barrel making and drumhead stretching. Doi Tam craftsmen use buffalo skin to make drum heads. They shave buffalo leather till it becomes very thin and dry it in the sun. The drum-barrel is made of dried jackfruit timber. Stretching a drumhead is the most difficult task because it requires craftsmen’s skills to assess the sound.
According to Mr. Buc, Doi Tam kids are taught about the village’s tradition when they are 5 years old. At the age of 14-15, Doi Tam boys travel with their fathers to other regions in the country to make and repair drums.
The village’s chief, Dinh Van Luong, said since the government banned firecrackers, drum-making has developed strongly. The village has 14 enterprises producing drum-barrels, 13 making buffalo leather, and 10 making drums.
The village is producing various kinds of drums, from drums for cheo singing, for festivals, for schools, etc. with diameters from 20cm to 2m, as well as timber wine jars and timber bathtubs. Villagers earn VND1-1.5 million/person/month on average.
Doi Tam village was recognised as a traditional craft village in October 2004. The Vietnam Craft Village Association granted it the “Vietnam’s outstanding craft village” title in November 2007.
To celebrate the 990th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi capital, Doi Tam craftsmen made the largest drum in Vietnam, which is now at the Hanoi-based Van Mieu (Temple of Literature). The drum is 2.01m in diameter, 2.65m in height, and 10cu.m in volume.
Luong said the village will make an even larger drum with a diameter of 2.3m and a height of 3m to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.
Not only does it make drums, the village has formed a drum-playing team with 60 members to serve festivals in the country. The team includes 12 healthy and experienced old men and 48 married women.