Neo-Traditional Music

Most of the "traditional" music heard in Ho Chi Minh City today is actually relatively recent, performed by musicians trained in the Conservatory. Although traditional instruments are used, many compositions are new ones that are basically Western in structure and form, although melodies sometimes still retain traditional scales and ornamentations. Miranda Arana calls this kind of music "Neo-Traditional" in her master's thesis (at Wesleyan) Neo-Traditional Music of Vietnam and explores the genre in depth.

Thay Vinh Bao
An exception to this music scene is Thay (teacher/master) Vinh Bao, who is teaching me to play the dan tranh. He taught at the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory (formerly the National School of Music) when it first opened in 1956 and was also a visiting professor at Southern Illinois University in the 70's. He is adamantly against the use of Western notation to teach traditional Vietnamese music and has created his own notation system for the dan tranh, using the un-fixed Vietnamese pitched syllables Ho, Su, Xang, Xe, Cong. He feels that Western notation not only does not record ornamentions and pitch inflections of Vietnamese music accurately, but also discourages the performer from recomposing, rearranging, and improvising, all of which are central to traditional Vietnamese music. He says the conservatory uses western notation to teach traditional music because of an "inferiority complex". He chain smokes. Like a chimney.


Thay Vinh Bao and Prof. Phong


Thay Vinh Bao

The Conservatory
Very focused on Western classical music, especially the piano. Not much attention to contemporary music or traditional music. Traditonal music is taught using western notation, in a rigidly structured method of exercises. This is very different from the oral transmission that Thay Vinh Bao believes in. There are a decent number of practice rooms, although they are in need of some major sound-proofing, and the library is severly lacking in scores/recordings. The organization of departments also seems strange. There are separate departments each for Piano, Voice, Strings, and Traditional Music, but Musicology-Composing-Conducting are all grouped together in one department, as are Guitar-Acordian-Organ and Wind-Percussion.


the Guitar-Accordian-Organ department


Outside the library


practice room


I am pretty sure these books are violating copyright laws.
I don't think Mr. Noad knows his books have been translated
into Vietnamese. And why is that silly man playing a steel-string guitar.

Performances around Ho Chi Minh City

Music of Hue at the Phu Nhuan Cultural Center

Awful, gaudy, costumes. But popular.


ditto


birds dancing to previously recorded music


again, awful gaudy costumes and scenery
recreating an idyllic village setting.


typical staging of Vietnamese pop songs


skit, with sung parts

Ca Tru Performance at La Thom Restaurant

This peformance felt a bit more authentic, only because it was in a smaller setting.
Some of the musicians here also performed at the Phu Nhuan cultural center.


Dan Nguyet (moon lute)


Dan Nhi (similar to Chinese Erhu)


ngam tho (poetry reading/singing)


ngam tho


yummy food after the performance

Carol Kim
This is for anyone Vietnamese who watched Paris By Night in the 80's. Remember that song "Oh Carol"? Me and Carol Kim below. That's right.