"Dinh Kim Ngan Jewellery communal house." Hanoi Off The Beaten Path Tip by pfsmalo

Wandering the streets of Hanoi one morning we came across this recently (2011) renovated communal house which houses exhibitions of local handicraft and traditionnal music evenings to bring in a bit of money to help the deprived and further renovate the temple part of this old building. For 200 years the house was used as a silver mint and a centre for jewellery exchange but gradually fell into decay. The city of Toulouse in France has given a big helping hand.
The musical evenings are held twice a week on Sundays,Wednesdays and Fridays, which we watched and then tried our hand at using the traditionnal instruments. Must say that a 6-string guitar is a lot easier than their 3-string lute.
Reservations are not necessary and normally cost 10USD but that can be negociated down to 5$ if you feel like it, nobody will grumble. Ooh and there's free tea and biscuits as well.

You'll find it at 42-44 Hang Bac street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi. The photos are not very good as we weren't allowed to use flash.