From father to son
Professor Doctor Tran Quang Hai has become a familiar name to Vietnamese traditional music lovers around the world. He is a talented musical scholar, who lives in France and has performed more than 3,500 concerts in 70 countries worldwide.
He was born into a family with a history of musicians dating back five generations in Southern Vietnam. His father, Professor Doctor Tran Van Khe, is well known for helping bring Vietnamese traditional musical instruments to the world and is also honoured in the fields of research and performance.
Professor Tran Van Khe’s research works on Don Ca Tai Tu (Southern amateur music), Nha Nhac (Hue royal court music) and the space of gong culture in the Central Highlands contribute to promote the image and musical heritages of Vietnam. After 50 years in France, he is currently continuing his research and teaching of traditional music in Vietnam.
Following in the path of his father, Professor Tran Quang Hai has been a guest lecturer at over 100 universities around the world and has attended more than 130 international music festivals. His name has appeared in many books, including The Dictionary of International Biography (UK), Men of Achievements (UK), Who’s Who in International Art (Switzerland), The Europe 500 Leaders for the New Century (US) and Ve Vang Dan Viet - The Pride of the Vietnamese (US).
The professor is a world renowned music researcher who can play a number of Vietnamese traditional instruments such as Dan Moi (lip lute), Dan Tranh (16-chord zither), Dan Nhi (two-chord fiddle) and even the spoon.
The Dan Moi, ladles and spoons have accompanied him to more than 70 countries and won thunderous applause from the audience. The sound generated by the instruments seemed to take the souls of many in the audience on a magical journey. Many foreign audiences stayed after the performance to express their wish that Professor Hai would help them study using the instruments.
Over the past 50 years living in France, the Professor Tran Quang Hai and the renowned Professor Tran Van Khe have contributed to the honouring of Vietnamese music.
Imbuing with national identity
Together with Professor Tran Van Khe’s family, musician Nguyen Thien Dao, a Vietnamese expatriate in France, has also honoured Vietnamese music as a world’s quintessence.
Named in France’s ‘Le petit Larousse’ and ‘Le Petit Robert’ dictionaries, he is one of the 20 world’s most famous musicians and has been honoured with prestigious international awards such as the French Fine Arts Academy’s ‘Andre Caplet’ award and the French Government’s ‘Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres’.
Although he lives and composes musical works in France his heart has always resided in Vietnam. His works are considered as a mix of many types of music - traditional and contemporary, scholarly and national.
He has expressed his patriotism through his works imbued with national identity, including ‘Song Nhat Nguyen’ (Monastic Wave), ‘Song nhac Truong Chi’ (The Wave of Music), ‘Ba Me Viet Nam’ (Vietnamese mother), ‘Les enfants d’Izieu opéra-oratorio’ and ‘Tuyn Lua’, which attracted a large number of the audiences in Paris as well as in other countries.
It seems that for overseas Vietnamese such as Professor Tran Van Khe, Professor Tran Quang Hai and musician Nguyen Thien Dao, the traditional musical helps bring them and their heart back to the homeland and make them feel proud of the Vietnamese nation.
