Overview:

About 50km from the center of Hanoi, there is a small village located on the last piece of land of the city, famous for making ethnic musical instruments with a thickness of about 200 years. It is Dao Xa village, in Dong Lo commune, Ung Hoa district. This is one of the famous craft villages in the country while still keeping the traditional craft to this day.

Excellent Artisan:

Arriving at the beginning of Dao Xa village, we not only smelled the scent of the wood for making the lute but also heard the sound of the lute and the erhu emanating from the households making the lute. To learn more about this work, we were directed by the villagers to the house of Mr. Dao Soan, one of the oldest artisans in the village. It is known that Mr. Dao Soan is the only person in Vietnam to be conferred the title of National Folk Artist in the field of traditional craft villages and the title of Excellent Artisan of Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi. With 40 years of experience with musical instruments, he is more than anyone else who understands the ups and downs of the craft village best.

Traditional Musical Instruments:

For musical instrument makers in Dao Xa, from the past to the present, to be able to follow the profession, they must be proficient or at least know about carpentry, not to mention must have delicate ears and eyes. From the stage of choosing wood, making wood, drying the wood to the stage of joining, grafting, sealing python skin, polishing, polishing, inlaying pearls and finishing. All of them are made by hand in accordance with traditional techniques. The hardest part about making a guitar is perfecting the sound. The craftsman must both know how to align, and also know how to evaluate the sound to make the instrument reach a certain standard.

Products of the village are very diverse, from lutes, zithers, crosses, greens, bottom lutes, lutes, pis… to stamens, lake, sage… are all available. Those who have followed this profession can master all kinds of ethnic flocks. The most special thing is that no one in the profession has any knowledge of music, but the instruments they make have very accurate sounds, rarely returned by customers.

Guitars:

Currently, the whole village of Dao Xa has about 6 households opening workshops to make guitars. The profession of making flocks provides households with a fairly stable income. The products are not only sold to musical instrument stores in the inner city, but also the guitar makers receive individual orders from customers to give as gifts or export to foreign countries. Mr. Dao Ngoc Tuan Anh, one of the people who make a living by making the lute, said that every month his family exports from 50 to 60 guitars of all kinds, earning about 18 million dong. Although this amount is not too large, compared to the conditions in the countryside, his family is still classified as having a good income.

Historical, Cultural & Outdoor activities such as rowing boat among limestone mountain in Tam Chuc pagoda.  Hanoi Tours – Impress Travel bring you to visit one of the famous handicraft for traditional musical instrument, Dao Xa village & Tam Chuc Pagoda in Ha Nam province that is one of the biggest pagoda in Vietnam.

The itinerary in detailed:

• Hanoi at 8.00 AM.
• Transfer to Dao Xa instrument village (50km from Hanoi – 1h25)
• Visit and study the traditional instruments at Dao Xa village, the village is alive museum for the traditional musical tools.
• Have a lunch.
• Visit Tam Truc pagoda & Boat trip to explore the stunning limestone mountain.
• Return to Hanoi at17h00 or 17h30.

+ Price is 110 USD/person (For private tour is from 2 pax, merely 1 person available to operate, single supplement is 110 USD). If your group is more than 2 pax, price is under 110 USD, and please give us the check rate.

+ Inclusion: Private transfer, tour guide, entrance fee, boat trip, lunch.