Located at the foot of scenic Doi Mountain in Tien Son Commune, Duy Tien Town, the northern province of Ha Nam, Doi Tam village is famous for drum-making which has run for more than a thousand years.

To create the right sound for each drum, the work must be precise and often involves secrets handed down from generation to generation. A drum is made in 3 stages: leather tanning, drum-barrel making, and drumhead stretching. Pieces of buffalo skin are used to make drum heads. They shave buffalo leather until it becomes very thin, and then dry it in the sun. The drum-barrel is made of dried jackfruit wood. Stretching a drumhead is the most difficult task because it requires an artisan’s skill to assess the sound.

Currently, there are 62 drum-making facilities in the village, with a combined total of 500 labourers. In October 2004, Doi Tam Drum-making area was recognised as a traditional craft village. On December 20, 2019, the Doi Tam drum making craft claimed a berth on the list of national intangible cultural heritage as per approval by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Let’s take a glance at the Doi Tam drum-making craft village through photos taken by our freelancer Huu Thanh.

Making the drum-barrels

Cleaning and shaving buffalo leather.

Heat bending of wood

Creating drum frames of many sizes

A wooden wine barrel production workshop

Making drum molds

The making of wooden wine barrels

Reporting by DNO – Translating by A.THU