Vo Van Anh plays dan tranh at a traditional music club in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - World renownedtraditional musician and composer Vo Van Anh is returning to Vietnam, herhomeland, to continue implementing her Master-Apprentice programme.
The programme involves having famousmusicians teach Vietnamese folk music to students from the country and abroad.
This year, it aims to help young musiclearners who love Vietnamese traditional music and instruments like the dantranh (16-chord zither), dan bau (monochord) and several others to connect witheminent people like artists Xuan Hoach and Trong Thuy.
After one year, participants will performbefore community as part of efforts to preserve and develop the arts, Anh said.
One of the ideas she is pursuing is to havethe students play once a week at Qua An Ngon chain of restaurants, a culinaryand tourism hub in Hanoi or at the ancient Van Mieu (Temple of Literature).
“Many of my students from the US and othercountries such as Spain and Portugal who are accompanying me on this trip willjoin the programme,” Anh said.
She set up a fund called Music Bridge in2013 to encourage young musicians to compose, perform and teach traditionalmusic and instruments. Their works would be an outlet for them to express theirsentiments.
“By doing so, we can develop and preserveour culture. Two workshops have been held in Ho Chi Minh City since the fund was setup,” Anh told Viet Nam News.
Anh said movie producers (in the US andother countries) who wanted to use her music for their films have donated tothe fund. For example, a producer will not have to pay royalties for her musicbut donate money to the Music Bridge fund.
Anh said she was particularly grateful to PhamThi Bich Hanh, the owner and founder of Quan An Ngon restaurant chain in Hanoifor her tireless contributions to the fund, organising concerts for her andartists and auctioning many items including her dan tranh.
Hanh said her aim in setting up the Quan AnNgon restaurants was not only to introduce and develop traditional Vietnamesecuisine but also to preserve it for future generations. Anh has a similar purpose,so “our thoughts meet, and I try to help".
“She not only has a great passion fortraditional music but also knows how to inspire young people to get involvedand love the art,” Hanh said.
Hanh’s daughters Do Minh Phuong, 15, and DoHa Phuong Anh, 11, have been learning to play the piano, but they are also keenon the dan tranh.
“We like the way teacher Anh performs the dantranh and the way she teaches us,” said Phuong.
For example, when playing the folk song KeoLuoi (Drawing Fishing Net), Anh performs with the action of a real fishermancasting and drawing the net.
“I understand the hard work a fisherman hasto do to earn a living. Thanks to her, my performance improves every day,” saidPhuong. She said she loved the dan tranh because it helps her understand hercountry’s cultural past.
“She teaches us how to express our feelingand sentiments through breathing and moving while performing,” said Phuong, whoplayed the zither with a group of foreign students at the Kennedy Center inJune 2015.
Anh tries to compose music that the youthcan play on traditional instruments so that the music can give voice to the newgeneration and express their feeling.
She recalled: “Once I had to make up aspecial version to teach my Japanese student. One day, I told her to play aVietnamese folk song in which she had to mimic the sound of rain in Vietnam.She played again and again but I couldn’t hear the sound I expected. I told herthat the raining sound in the country is often heavy, causing leaves to falland tree branches to break.
“The Japanese student understood. She saidthe sound of rain in her country is not as heavy as ours. So after hearing myexplanation and watching my performance, she can play the Vietnamese folk songwell,” said Anh.
Anh recalled the oldest student she’d everhad, an American woman named Laura Lopez, 84, who teaches piano to her twodaughters at her home. Once, Laura had a chance to enjoy Anh’s dan tranhperformance.
Laura said Anh played the instrument andher Vietnamese folk songs beautifully that it inspired her to learn it. Laurawas very happy when Anh agreed to teach her.
Laura added through it she had come to knowVietnamese culture and could understand the origin of the songs she played. Sheeven joined others to perform the Vietnamese instrument before US audiences.
International cooperation
Anh’s collaboration with many world famousmusicians has expanded her musical repertoire and helped her share Vietnamesemusic with international audiences.
“When I first resettled in the US, it tooka long time to be understood by others, because foreigners only knew Vietnamthrough the war, not its culture. So I have tried my utmost to bring ourculture to the world through my music composing and teaching.”
Anh was born in 1975 in Hanoi. She beganlearning traditional music at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music (now the VietnamNational Academy of Music) since she was six. She graduated from the school in1992.
Bich Vuong, one of her teachers, said Anhwas always a leading student in the school. She won the first prize at theNational Zither Competition and a Best Performance Award in HCM City in 1995.
Since settling in the US in 2001, she hasfocused on collaborating with musicians across different music genres to createnew works, bringing Vietnamese traditional music to a wider audience andpreserving her cultural legacy through teaching.
In 2002, she released her first CD, TwelveMonths, Four Seasons. Her third CD, Three Mountain Passes, released in 2013,featured her as the guest artist with the Kronos Quartet.
Anh has also collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma,the Southwest Chamber Music, Eastby Oakland Symphony and other World Music (WM)artists. She has been invited and participated as screening judge in the WMcategory for the 2015 and 2016 Grammy Awards. She recently became the firstVietnamese artist to perform at the White House.
Her “Odyssey – from Vietnam to America”premiered at the Kennedy Center in 2016. This work aimed to highlight theincredible power of the human spirit to survive as embodied by the so-calledboat people. It also sought to deliver the message of forgiveness, peace andunity.
Her works have earned high praise from theBBC, the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets. It was chosen among theNational Public Radio’s (NPR) 10 Favourite World Music Albums of 2013.
Mark Swed of the Times said: “Vo’s ThreeMountain Pass which includes her music and traditional Vietnamese pieces on anumber of Vietnamese instruments interestingly begs the question of what isAmerican music, especially since a knockout on the disc is her transcription ofFrench composer Erike Satie’s Gnossienne No 3.”
Molly Sheredan of the New Music Box said:“Indeed, Vo’s energy and enthusiasm for musical creativity seems to transcendany particular instrument and instead feed of a fundamental sonic curiosity aswell as a desire to reflect on her culture heritage and share those sounds withnew ears.
Heather Morris of the Peninsula Reviewwrote: “Her appearance was dramatic, in a stunning costume and headdress, hermusic was riveting, her stage presence theatrical and her contribution toVietnamese music culture outstanding.”
Despite winning a lot of successes andtitles, Anh still has a wish to return to Vietnam and bring togethertraditional music lovers to popularize the art and preserve it.
She wants the State to pay more attentionto traditional music artists because they are part of “Vietnam’s giant libraryof culture”.-VNA
VNA
