Mr. Tran Van Hoa - Head of the Drum Board of Bong Tien Parish (Vu Tien commune, Hung Yen province) led us to a private house built to hold the drums of the Drum Board.
In this private house, there are many drums of three sizes: large drums, medium drums, small drums.
Mr. Tran Van Hoa said that Ban Trong has been established for 70 years to serve the processions of Bong Tien Parish and neighboring areas. Currently, Ban Trong has one large drum, 3 medium drums, and 40 small drums.
According to Mr. Tran Van Hoa, 25 years ago, parishioners contributed labor and money to make the giant drum. The drumhead is made of jackfruit wood core; the drum face is made of whole male buffalo skin. The drum face area is large, it is very difficult to have buffalo skin to make the drum face. It takes many years, with many stages, to complete the drum.
Mr. Tran Van Hoa added that the specific dimensions of this drum after completion are: drum skin surface with a diameter of about 2.4m; height of about 4m; vanh line (largest point) nearly 11m; weighing 7 tons to 1 ton.
According to Mr. Hoa, from the past until now, large drums have had to be replaced twice due to damage.
People said that playing this big drum must be a healthy person; the sound of the drum every time it is played sounds like thunder. Usually, the drum performance on holidays in Bong Tien, after three nine-beats of the thunder drum and a loud gong sound, all the small drum sets will harmonize. The drum sound serves events and important ceremonies of the parish as well as the diocese.
