South Vietnamese Traditional Instrument Stamps 1966

South Vietnam is the colloquial name for a former French colony that had several different names between 1949 and 1975. The State of Vietnam was the name beginning in 1949, while it was a self-governing country in the French Empire. In 1955, it became the Republic of Vietnam, with the capital city of Saigon. South Vietnam was part of the western bloc and was allied with the United States and Nato during the Cold War.

Beginning in 1955, the country fought a bitter war with North Vietnam. The war became a proxy war between western democracies and the Soviet Union and China. By the end of the war, the United States had sent 550,000 soldiers to Vietnam and nearly 60,000 died. The U. S. withdrew in 1973 and the country collapsed in 1975 and was incorporated with North Vietnam to become the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Postage Stamps

This series of four postage stamp designs features traditional musicians of Vietnam. The stamp release was in Saigon on September 29, 1966. The beautiful designs are each two related colors, creating a bit of an ombré effect. According to this excellent resource about Vietnamese stamps each stamp in the series had a different designer. The 1 đồng stamp design was by Trần Văn Châu, the 3 đồng by Nguyễn Văn Trọng. The quite distinctive 4 đồng stamp is by Nguyễn Văn Thành, and the final 7 đồng design by Nguyễn Thị Lệ.

Đàn nhị

The smallest denomination in the series is a 1 đồng stamp featuring the dan nhi, a two stringed bowed fiddle. The instrument is similar to the Chinese erhu. Unlike western fiddles, the dan nhi and other Asian fiddles like it, has no fingerboard. Instead the player presses directly against the string to stop the string and create the pitch. The strings of the bow are between the two strings and the musician plays with both the inside and outside of the bow.

Đàn tranh

The next stamp in the series is the 3 dong stamp. I have the stamp in two sizes, a larger stamp that matches the rest of the series, and a smaller stamp that I recently learned was sold as a coil stamp. The design features a woman playing a zither known as the đàn tranh. The most common version of the instrument has sixteen strings, each of which has a movable bridge. Like similar zithers found throughout Asia, the instrument sits on the floor with the player behind. The musician plays the instrument by plucking the strings with the right hand, and uses the left hand to bend the string to create a wide variety of special effects.

Đàn nguyệt

The next stamp has a very different design than the other three. The design is very blocky – the figures have squared off shoulders and hands, whereas the other three stamps are very natural and fluid. There are two instruments on the stamp, including a đàn tranh in the background. In the front is a two-stringed plucked instrument known as a đàn nguyệt. The translation means “moon stringed instrument.” The player plucks the strings with a small plectrum in one hand and bends the strings with the other.

Sáo

The final stamp in the series features two figures, a woman and a young boy, playing transverse flutes. The flute, called a sáo, is made of a single piece of bamboo with six or ten fingerholes. The simple construction allows a for a large variety of playing techniques including half covering the holes, or using the breath to create special effects.

Listen to this audio recording of several traditional Vietnamese instruments.