Acculturation of Catholic Music in History: Through Instruments and Singing

Abstract

Catholicism was introduced to Vietnam in the sixteenth century, and since then, it has had various contributions in several areas of Vietnamese life, including the process of creating the Romanized Vietnamese script (Quốc ngữ), the preservation of national culture, and so on. The article mainly focuses on synthesizing the achievements of the process of cultural integration of Vietnamese Catholic music during the course of history, then clarifying elements of that process in two aspects: vocal music and instrumental music. Additionally, considering the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam and the lay community as the actors of the process of acculturation will help the article shed much light on the analysis of this issue. Thereby, it aims to not merely affirm that the value of folk music plays a significant role in the national culture, but also suggests that the combination with religious music is necessary, and that needs to be further encouraged.