Dàn bàu (one-stringed zither). One đàn bau (monochord harp). Made in Hồ Chí Minh City (Saigon), circa 1994, possibly by Bá Phu’ó’.c. A printed label on the reverse of the vaulted wooden soundboard reads: ‘DC: 205/27F Diēn Biēn Phù/P.25 QBT. TP. HCM/DT8997314/Nghê nhân/Bá Phu’ó’.c/CHUYÊN SÀN XUAT/CÀC LOAI DÀN DÀN TÔC VN/CHAT LUONG ÂM THANH/DAT TIÊU CHUÁN XUÁT KHÁU’ (not all diacritics are reproduced correctly). The single steel string is fastened at one end to the instrument’s detachable neck of varnished bamboo, passing through a bulbous resonator of varnished wood. At the opposite end the string runs through hole in the soundboard edged in bone to a tuning peg. The wooden sides of the instruments are varnished and are inlaid with scenes of rural life, clouds and dragons, flowers and fruit in mother-of-pearl. Plain, unvarnished wooden soundboard and base, with two oblong sound holes and a small round hole for the attachment of a foot.
