Thet Xoan Singers: Farmers and Taxi Drivers Keeping Ancient Art Alive

When the Troupe Leader Calls

In Phu Tho province, xoan singing is not a museum piece—it's a living practice, and the people who keep it alive clock in at regular jobs. Nguyen Van Tuan, 39, drives a taxi in Viet Tri. Minutes before a recent performance at Thet communal house, he parked his car, stepped into a traditional ao dai and turban, and became a kep xoan—one of the male singers and drummers. After the show, he went back to work.

Le Thi Hoa, 44, runs a spa. She closed it for the same performance. "When I was in Japan for work, I missed xoan singing so much. I'd watch videos on YouTube," she told us. Three days after returning to Vietnam in late 2022, she rejoined the troupe. Her daughter, born in 2006, learned the melodies by ear as a child, sitting in on rehearsals. Now she sings alongside her mother.

The Thet troupe has over 80 members, 16 of them officially recognized artisans. Most have other jobs. But when troupe leader Bui Thi Kieu Nga—a 61-year-old who inherited the role from her xoan-singing parents—calls a rehearsal, they show up.

What You Hear at Thet

"Xoan" means worship singing at the communal house gate. The form is ancient, believed to trace back to the era of the Hung Kings. On the afternoon we visited, the troupe performed three categories:

• "Hat tho" (worship singing) — originally performed for kings and mandarins during village festivals. The song "Dong dam" is from this stage.
• "Hat qua cach" (stylized singing) — praises the homeland and working people across all professions. "Doi day cach" celebrates scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.
• "Hat hoi" (festival singing) — a call-and-response between young men and women, like "Bo bo."

No instruments, just the drum, voices, and spare dance movements. This is the original form—no accompaniment, nothing added. Six female singers (dao xoan) wore traditional ao dai and khan mo qua headscarves. The drummers wore ao dai and khan dong turbans. Before performing, all of them completed a ritual inside the communal house.

Image by Lmbuga (Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez) via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

Four Sacred Singing Villages

Thet is one of four communes where xoan singing is considered to have originated and flourished: Thet, An Thai, Kim Dai, and Phu Duc. All are in Phu Tho. The Thet communal house, built centuries ago, is deeply woven into the troupe's identity—they rehearse and perform there regularly.

In 2011, UNESCO added xoan singing to its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. By 2017, thanks to preservation efforts in Phu Tho, it was upgraded to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

How It Passes Down

Before 2013, knowledge moved almost entirely within families. Bui Thi Kieu Nga's parents were xoan singers; she learned as a child. Nguyen Thi Nga—another artisan—learned at nine, her mother also an accomplished singer in the Phu Duc troupe. After marrying into Thet village, she kept singing and taught her own children and grandchildren.

Then, in 2013, the commune started formal evening classes. Now four or five generations of villagers sing together. Le Thi Nhan, 67, said her daughter, granddaughter, and grandson all know the songs. "Sometimes very young children who can't read yet will hum the lyrics and copy the dance moves just by watching their mothers and grandmothers," she explained.

Image by Lmbuga (Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez) via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

Performing Beyond Spring Festivals

Thet singers now travel to cultural exchanges in Bac Ninh, Cao Bang, and Hanoi. They perform at Hung Temple Festival events, where visitors often stop to experience the folk art. Le Thi Hoa said that learning xoan was hard at first, but once she grasped the lyrics, she became passionate about mastering all the original songs of her homeland.

Musician Nguyen Quang Long, who has worked with the troupes for years, launched a project in 2024 to record and upload xoan songs online. The first installment covers 16 songs, including three from the worship stage and 13 from the stylized stage. Video was shot at all four sacred sites: Lai Len Temple (Phu Duc), Thet communal house (Thet), Kim Dai communal house (Kim Dai), and An Thai communal house (An Thai). The approach was deliberately rustic—no overdub, just raw performance, to capture authenticity.

Visiting Thet

Thet commune sits in Viet Tri city, Phu Tho province, about 110 kilometers north of Hanoi. The communal house is the hub for troupe activities. Early spring (late February through March) is prime season for xoan performances, especially around the Hung Kings' Festival. The troupe also welcomes visitors who stop by to experience the art. If you're curious about how an ancient worship song survives in the hands of taxi drivers and farmers—and how a child absorbs melody just by sitting in the corner—Thet is worth the detour.