Published
Gong Culture of Southeast Asia: Ede Female Group (Vietnam)
The Ede groups live mainly in Tay Nguyen, the central highlands of Vietnam. Ede women are the master of their families and the children usually take the family name of their mother. This recording consists of the music played by the only the female group of Ede (Ede-bih – subgroup of original Ede). They only play the gong on special occasions such as festivals, funerals, and welcoming guests. Besides these, their gongs are usually kept in the wooden box and preserved them in the church. In this recording, they played different gong music with 7 gongs. The names of gongs are termed by the order of family members and this female gong group only uses the knobbed gong (also called nipple gong) that the sound is far more resonated than the music from the Ede male gong group which is faster rhythmic patterns and wilder tonalities.