6 March 2023
Vietnamese music to the world: Efforts to have a separate path
(HNMCT) – Traditional music is having its own way to reach young international audiences: Not by mass exchange programs to introduce and promote culture, but sometimes only through a few songs. Music attracts attention. Although that path has not had clear achievements, it shows the continuous efforts of young people on the path of asserting their own identity based on tradition.
Hoang Thuy Linh is highly appreciated for choosing a style that combines ethnicity with contemporary.
I know the lute… Jazz
Each performance is like living with all available energy, Vinh Khuat (real name Khuat Duy Vinh) is a name that makes viewers impressed at first sight, first listen. He is a Vietnamese-German singer, songwriter and music producer, known to domestic audiences after his solo performance at the Sao Mai Gala in 2019 with the song “Too long”, composed and composed by himself. air lung. And, when learning about Vinh Khuat, I found this guy really special. Vinh has excellently graduated from the Hannover Conservatory of Music with two majors: Jazz singing and composing, and has won many impressive music awards at the Golden Voice contest held in Germany, the First prize of the Made in Schauburg contest. – held every 3 years in Germany, the first prize of the music competition Boss Loop Station Word Championship of three countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland…
Vinh plays music in the style of “one man band”, he alone does all the work of a band such as arranging, playing piano, saxophone, zither, lute, beatbox, singing and rapping while performing songs. self-composed song. The products are composed by him in English, German and Vietnamese. The music style selection is very exciting, but most of Vinh’s songs have the tone of Vietnamese traditional music, which is a blend of Jazz, Rock, Reggae and Vietnamese folk music. This is what makes Vinh Khuat’s music special. Khuat Vinh shared, when he put the work online for friends to hear, many friends asked why the sound was so strange, that was the first time they knew about the dan bau, erhu… through Vinh’s compositions.
He also added: “Vinh was exposed to ethnic music from about 2010 – 2011, very curious because it is different from Western music. Then Vinh taught himself music on YouTube. Vinh loves the lute very much, there is no other instrument in the world with only one string that can play so many notes. Vinh studied the lute, then the zither, the zither, the k’long put, the dandy, the erhu. Vinh studied and mixed with new music composed by Vinh, becoming Vinh’s style. Vinh’s music is similar to Vinh, born in Vietnam but raised in Germany. Using ethnic musical instruments with Vinh is like bringing Vinh people, Vinh’s hometown, to introduce to friends around the world.
Spreading with modern creations
Khuat Vinh is just an example that young artists are contributing to bringing national music to the world, creating their own colors with their own national character. Although these are not “dense” works of national character, the performances have the nature of introducing culture to foreign countries in a methodical way, but have the ability to create “trends” and stimulate listeners’ curiosity. curious to find out.
Khuat Vinh made an impression when he included ethnic music in his vibrant compositions.
In addition to Khuat Vinh, there are many young faces in the country who have succeeded with this method, bringing ethnic musical instruments into harmony with modern sounds, bringing new colors and attracting young people. For example, the recent MVs of singer Nguyen Tran Trung Quan: “Flowing water, drifting flowers”, “Tu Tam”, “Tau Khuc Tu Tam” (a version dedicated to honoring national musical instruments)… are all featured. considered a success thanks to the combination of ethnic musical instruments such as erhu, picture, and bamboo flute in “earning” arrangements. Or the music products of Hoang Thuy Linh, Bich Phuong… also make a mark with the introduction of folk materials into the music. Worth mentioning, some MVs have reached millions of views, even being loved by foreign audiences. From this love, they began to know Vietnamese music, began to learn Vietnamese folk instruments…
As an enthusiast of ethnic music, spending decades studying and researching ethnic music, musician and singer Ngo Hong Quang is always searching to bring ethnic music to young audiences and the world. . He once shared: “Every time I put Vietnamese works or musical materials into a new music space like Jazz, world music, or Western contemporary music, I feel like I’m being revived. Vietnamese music has the opportunity to be shared with other cultures.”
Difficult roads need “good horses”
However, making young audiences, or moreover international audiences know and love traditional ethnic music through the combination with contemporary music is still a difficult path. According to musician Ngo Hong Quang, playing traditional music as original is difficult, playing it and bringing it into a new space is even more difficult. Musician Vo Thien Thanh also once expressed his opinion: “Ethnic music is not easy to attract young people, because of the difference in space, time, and living era. To create novelty and difference for their works, many young singers put ethnic instruments in. This approach has been around for a long time. However, its effect is not great if you want to spread national music to a greater extent.”
However, according to many musicians, this is still the way to go because each era is always changing, but wherever people go, people will still return to traditional values. Those are the values that always need to be preserved and promoted. “The future of world culture will have no borders, distances will gradually narrow, people will live more comfortably and be more creatively free. Indigenousness is of course there, but our natives will live with other natives, not independently, that’s the story of us humans becoming a common community in the future. What I emphasize is connection, in many forms. Connecting opens up more opportunities to spread your music instead of closing doors. We shouldn’t be conservative and extreme, because everything moves and we have to move, too. We need to listen to how the world is in order to join that flow,” – musician Ngo Hong Quang expressed his opinion.
The fact that young artists are asserting themselves with young audiences in not only Vietnam but also in many music markets around the world has proved the effectiveness of this direction. That is something that needs to be acknowledged and encouraged.
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