photo: Bill Bamberger

Dock Rmah

Art Form: Folk/Traditional Music

804 Honeysuckle Dr
Greensboro, NC 27408-6918

Phone: 336/545-3395

 

About Dock Rmah

"I was born March 1, 1942, in Plei Thoh, Pleiku Province, Vietnam," begins Dock Rmah when he tells the story of his life, his music, and his resettlement in Greensboro. Multiple references to his people suggest some of the historical complexities of that story. He is "Jarai," one of the many traditional ethnic groups that have lived in the mountainous regions of central Vietnam since ancient times. The French, who occupied Vietnam for nearly a century, referred to them all simply as "Montagnards"-- mountaineers. Those who banded together as resistance fighters after American ground forces withdrew from Vietnam in 1973 called themselves "Dega," combining names of mythic heroes they held in common. Dock Rmah, like other Dega, left Vietnam in the early 1980s for sanctuary in Thailand and for eventual resettlement in the United States in 1986.

Growing up in the Vietnamese highlands, Dock Rmah immersed himself in an oral culture that had been developing for at least one thousand years. In that culture, memory played a central role in learning music as well as communicating family and tribal histories. Almost everyone participated in the local singing traditions, and he easily absorbed the style and structures of his native song. In his home village, song exchanges occurred in activities as varied as working in the rice fields, mourning at funerals, and negotiating marriages.

As a songster, he honed the art of improvisation. The Jarai admire those who make each rendering of a song unique by adding something original. "We try to compose by ourselves what we like--the tune, or the voice, or the meaning," he explains. In his tradition, songs often change spontaneously to suit the occasion. Extremely popular are joke songs composed on the spot to comment on events or personalities of the moment, providing gentle commendations or criticisms. Most challenging of all are singing contests that erupt at social gatherings, pitting clever singers against each other to exchange couplets and rhymed verses.

Although the Jarai incorporate many musical instruments into the cultural life of their community, not everyone plays them. Dock Rmah has unusual gifts, not only for singing, but also for making and playing a variety of traditional instruments. He learned by observing other musicians. By the time he was an adult, he had mastered the truong, a bamboo and wood instrument that resembles a xylophone; the gong, a multi-stringed instrument with a bamboo resonator; the bro, a one-string "violin" that requires holding the string taut between the teeth and toes; and the dingnam and dingdek, multi-reed bamboo recorders.

True to his tradition, Dock Rmah remains creative, adapting new song texts about the more recent experiences of his people in America to the old structures of Jarai music. Among local Southeast Asian Americans who share similar cultural traditions--Lao, Vietnamese, Hmong, and Cambodians--he has gained the reputation of a master musician. His music represents an entire culture for many who are too young to remember the mountains, villages, rice fields, and water buffalo of their original homelands.

His activities have enriched the traditional musics in North Carolina, the primary resettlement location of the Montagnards. As a recognized artist in the larger Southeast Asian community, he often receives calls to plan cultural programs in Greensboro and beyond. He responds to requests from local schools to talk about his culture and demonstrate its musical traditions, and he has made presentations at teacher education conferences, at festivals, and in concert halls. "Of course, I want to keep Montagnard songs together," Dock Rmah says, "not just for me, [but] for my people."