Carving on the base of a pillar in Van Phuc Pagoda
The second musician from the left is playing a Dan Nhi type instrument
From a carving of a musician playing a Dan Nhi (or a similar instrument) found on a pillar in Van Phuc Pagoda in Bac Ninh, Northern Viet Nam, experts have estimated that Dan Nhi was probably originated from either the Cham ethnic group (center of Viet Nam) or Southern China around or before the 10th century together with a number of other musical instruments.
Technically, Dan Nhi is a very simple instrument. Even thought Dan Nhi origin is somewhat uncertain, due to the simplicity of the instrument, one can guess that it was invented earlier than the 10th century. Coincidently in China, a similar instrument named "Erhu" was becoming very popular during the same period (Erhu and its Vietnamese equivalent, Dan Gao, have a larger sound box than that of Dan Nhi)
In Vietnamese, "Dan" means "musical instrument" and "Nhi" means "two". So "Dan Nhi" is mainly a "musical instrument with 2 strings". In Chinese, "Er" means "two" and "hu" mean "barbarian". So Erhu is mainly a "2 string musical instrument from the barbarians". This further implies that the Erhu came from outside of China.
Dan Nhi has been a very popular musical instrument in South East Asia since the 10th century and it is the most popular traditional musical instrument today. You can find Dan Nhi in all traditional orchestras and its role is almost indispensable in traditional music of the region.
The strings of Dan Nhi were made of silk in the past but a modern Dan Nhi frequently uses metal strings for the outside string (higher pitch string) and nylon for the inside string (lower pitch string).
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| Modern Dan Nhi |
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