the atlantic monthly
October 1995
An Open-door Musical Policy
19903 THE MUSIC OF VIETNAM
(3 CD BOXED SET) - VARIOUS ARTISTS
Most Westerners probably associate Vietnamese music with its use in
the occasional Hollywood movie, where it is contrasted with American
popular music for a few seconds, as if to say, "Wow, these people
are really foreign." A more concentrated exposure will generate
a "wow" based on the similarities and differences and the
bottomless well of complexity in between. Such an exposure happens to
be available on The Music of Vietnam (Celestial Harmonies), a
historic three–CD boxed set recently recorded on state–of–the–art
equipment and propitiously timed for America's diplomatic recognition.
The first two disks concentrate on the folk music, while the third deals
with the more formal imperial court music of Hue. Although Western pop
has heavily infiltrated the culture since the war, traditional Vietnamese
music obviously retains its vitality. Guitar fans will relate especially
well to the dan nguyet, or "moon–lute," a stringed
instrument with irregularly spaced frets that allow for extremely expressive
note–bending and much the same finger acrobatics that jazz and
metal virtuosos employ. If Nguyen Xuan Hoach ever gets to play "People
and Fighters Unite" on MTV, he will likely spend the rest of his
life being followed by teenage boys who want to steal his licks. The
other instruments take a bit more getting used to but are played with
equal skill and passion. Like folk and blues players in the United States,
Vietnamese musicians tend to work with a five–note scale, playing
stark melodies with ornate decoration. Having been invaded by the Chinese,
the French, the Japanese, and the Americans in its tortured history,
Vietnam has been a unique melting pot of musical styles, and is now
finally free to influence others as it has been influenced.
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