The Thanh Area is not only the land of Đông Anh folk songs, Vietnamese classical drama (tuồng), or traditional operetta (chèo) but also the cradle of the famous Mã River chanty that is famous all over the country.

The melodies of Mã River chanty are not monotonous and boring but very diverse in terms of sound and tune. It seems like the pentatonic system played by the Vietnamese people for a long time is also employed in this type of chanty here with such distinctive tunes as:

Chanty when ferry-boat(s) leaving the dock

Chanty when ferry-boat(s) going against the current (Sắng đò ngược)

Chanty of downriver ferry-boat(s)

Chanty when ferry-boat(s) going aground

Chanty when ferry-boat(s) making a landfall

The special feature and also the particular charm of Mã River chanty is the spontaneity of its melodies according to the mood of the singers, which always combined with the standardization of labor movements. There are thousands of lyrics of Mã River chanty, which have been taken from the traditional folk culture and reflected the people’s rich material and spiritual life. Sometimes, a tune of Mã River chanty is improvised by a young fellow according to the sin eight-word distich metre and sung while riding a ferry-boat to send his personal feelings to his girl.

In two resistance wars against the French colonialism and the American imperialist, Mã River chanty was sung by the people’s labourers at the firing-line, soldiers, and young voluntary people to encourage each other while pulling cannons, digging trenches, doing operation or in art performances.