A welcome mat for foreign folk music lovers

While most young people are interested in pop, hip-hop, and other modern styles, two brothers from Ho Chi Minh City are head over heels in love with traditional music.

Mai Thanh Son performs with renowned Vietnamese musicologist, Professor Tran Van Khe

Mai Thanh Son and Mai Thanh Nam’s interest is shared by their international friends, who perform with them to entertain traditional music lovers.

They occasionally raise money for charity, but most importantly they retain the traditional forms.

Son and Nam live in Go Vap District in the middle of the bustling city.

Their house is a special stilt house where international musicians and students can get together and play the traditional instruments Son has collected.

Since the first time he performed at the 2000 Asian Drum Festival in Busan in the Republic of Korea (RoK), Son has been a regular in international music shows introducing his traditional music to people overseas.

“It left a very deep impression on me because it was not only an inter-national performance, but it was an influential one,” Son recalled.

“I had a good chance to make friends with international musicians and learn lots of things from countries such as India, China and RoK which are eminent in percussion performance.”

“Since then I have got more performing experience and more interest in the traditional arts. I feel like I became more mature after each overseas show, and of course, I have more international friends,” Son said.

In late 2007, Son toured Japan to raise funds for Agent Orange victims.

The charity tour was organized by Kamata Atsunori, from the Japan-Vietnam Peace and Friendship Development Council.

According to Son, Atsunori has organized 12 charity tours for the traditional troupe to perform in Japan.

“He is a kind, simple man with a strong passion for Vietnamese traditional music,” Son said.

“I have met him and I have great respect for him. It is his passion for Vietnamese traditional music that encourages young Vietnamese people like me to love our traditional music more,” Son said.

Getting started

Son and his brother Nam, who have played music since they were nine years old, can play and compose for many different instruments.

The first instrument Nam learned to play was the Dinh Goong - an instrument popular in the highlands.

He learned to play traditional drums at the same time.

Though it doesn’t take long to learn traditional musical instruments, he said, it takes five to eight years of daily practice to become a professional performer.

“When learning to play a musical instrument, music lovers should set a goal for themselves, and practice enthusiastically until they can play the instrument beautifully,” Son said.

He teaches the Vietnamese two string guitar at the traditional music department of the HCMC Conservatory, where his brother used to study the bamboo flute.

Nam is now studying in France.

Apart from teaching at the institute, Son takes students at the Tieng Hat Que Huong (Homeland Music) Club at Tao Dan Park.

On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday evenings, he performs with the puppet theater program at Rong Vang (Golden Dragon) Puppet Theater there.

Rong Vang attracts many international visitors.

“Here, I perform cheo - a traditional form of music that is not very popular with Vietnamese young people, but I am happy because inter-national audiences love it,” Son said.

An oasis

The brothers’ home has two southern-styled stilt houses and a northern-styled house with a garden.

It is a quiet, roomy place with a fish pond, a garden full of flowers, a hen house and a vegetable garden.

According to Son, 10 years ago his parents bought the three wooden houses - two from the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap and one from Binh Phuoc - and transported them to HCMC.

The houses contain a collection of different traditional musical instruments – a 16-stringed zither, a goong, a t’rung, a Vietnamese two-cord fiddle, a flute, gongs, a monochord, a lithophone and a Chinhk’ram.

The five drums from Binh Dinh Province are beautiful.

They are made of wood and covered with cow leather and produce loud clear sounds.

One of the most interesting instruments is the lithophone, made of big pieces of rock, each of which produces a musical note.

More than just entertainment

Wherever there is an audience, the two brothers will play, so they can feel the soul of their homeland blowing fresh breezes and resonating with the noise and excitement of bustling Saigon.

Fortunately, there are still some young people like Son and Nam in the modern music industry.

They listen to and play traditional music for entertainment, and at the same time help maintain and build traditional musical culture.

Source: TN