Legend has it that once upon a time, there was an ethnic couple who lived a happy conjugal life.

Unfortunately, the wife had a serious disease and died. Her husband felt wretched and missed his wife while their child cried and called his mother.

Feeling sorry for the child, the husband went to the neighbouring village to buy a drum to amuse the child. He beat the drum while dancing to make the child stop crying.

When he died, his child beat the drum to see him off. Generation after generation, the name Du drum appeared. Du drum beating has become indispensable in the cultural activities of the Muong community in Yen Lap District, Phu Tho Province.

Today, the locals often organize the Du drum dance on the occasion of festivals, New Year Holidays and ceremonies to pray for bumper harvests and clement weather and celebrate new houses. Watching the Du drum dance, people can understand the wish of the Muong ethnic people for an affluent, happy life and good neighbourhood sentiment, chasing away unfortunate deeds and receiving new joys.
 
A Du drum is 45cm high and has a round face which is 30cm in diameter and made of buffalo skin. At the initial time, the Du drum dance involved only two people who represented the father and the son. Later, it involved four more people; each of them beats the large drum, plays the clarinet, beats a small drum, sounds the bamboo tocsin and plays the castanet. The person who performs on the large drum serves as the soul of the dance.

He beats the drum while embracing, turning and rolling it. His movements are quick and flexible, showing his expertise. He beats the drum rhythmically to match with the sounds of other musical instruments. The Du drum dance requires the dancer to have not only performing skills, but also a good health, endurance, nimbleness, a sense of the dance’s meaning and the ability of reflecting the human inner feelings via movements.
 
When the dance begins, the large drum player is the first to step out to the stage. He bows his head to salute the audience and makes three consecutive rolls of drum. Immediately, other members of the group come out from the two tormentors.

He continues beating the drum and keeps the dancing rhythm while the sound of the clarinet is rising. His hands slide from the middle to all corners of the drum’s face while he moves quickly, sometimes lying on his back, with his head turning to the audience, sometimes holding the drum by his legs to beat, turning his body, even using both legs to push the drum up to the hands, then holding and beating it.

The flexible dancing movements, the lively sounds plus the colourful costumes of the members of the group make the performance more boisterous and attractive. Normally, the large drum player wears pink trousers, a red shirt with a green belt and a red turban around his head while other members wear brown costumes with belts and red turbans.
 
The Du drum dance has become a pride of the Muong ethnic people in Yen Lap District, Phu Tho Province.