Festival of Vietnamese Traditional Music in Australia: DANG-THAO NGUYEN

Đăng-Thảo & Đàn Tranh(Zither)

Dang-Thao Nguyen (Vietnamese word order Nguyễn Đăng Thảo, known by the performing name Đăng-Thảo) is an accomplished musician and composer who graduated from the Vietnam National Conservatory of Music (Saigon) in both the Dan Tranh (Vietnamese Long Board Zither) and Classical Guitar (1971) and The University of Adelaide (Graduate Diploma In Music - Elder Conservatorium – 1993 and Master of Music (not completed). He is a teacher of Maths and Information Technology and lectures in Vietnamese music at the University of Adelaide. He also holds a Bachelor of Education (Uni of Adelaide) and Master of Education – Educational Computing (Uni of South Australia).
Dang-Thao is the Director of the Centre for Studies of Vietnamese Traditional Music - Australia

In Vietnam, he was

Đăng-Thảo & Đàn Sến (Three Stringed Lute)

a member of the “Petrus-Ký HS Folk music & Song Group” (Nhóm Dân Ca Dân Nhạc Pétrus-Ký (1962-1968), which performed Vietnamese traditional music for students in high schools and universities in Saigon and for the Movement for Developing Activities in Schools,
a conductor of Alfonse Choir in Nha Trang 1970-1971
an aircraft maintenance engineer (1969-75),
the leader of the music band “Bach Viet” (1978-82), which was a leading band of the time performing in Saigon and around Vietnam,

Đăng-Thảo & Bách Việt Band in Saigon - 1980

a lecturer of music at Van Hanh University (1974-75).

In Australia, Dang Thao has actively preserved, developed and presented Vietnamese traditional music. He has

Dăng-Thảo & Bamboo Ochre Band in SA Folk Festival

Bamboo Ochre Band

performed in many concerts and festivals in South Australia, interstate and overseas, both for the Vietnamese community and the wider community, such as Maleny - Woodford International Folk Festival (Queensland); National Folk Festival (Canberra); Melbourne International Festival; Bellingen Global Carnival (NSW); Festival of Arts and Fringe Festival (SA); State Folk Festival (Victor Harbor, SA); Multicultural Carnival Festival (Multicultural Arts Trust, SA); Multicultural Festival (SA); SA Public Schools’ Music Festival; Journeys in Music (SA); Concert of The East (Adelaide); Joy (Adelaide); Tet Festivals (Vietnamese Communities in SA, VIC & NSW); Singapore Festival of Arts and touring around Malaysia.
performed in Adelaide Festival Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Adelaide Town Hall, Elder Conservatorium Hall, Scott Theatre (Uni of Adelaide), La Trobe Theatre (Melbourne), Thebarton Town Hall, Norwood Concert Hall, Woodville Town Hall, St Peters Cathedral, St Francis Xavier Cathedral, and many local venues
done many recordings and interviews for the ABC, 5UV, 5EBI/FM and SBS/Radio & TV.

Đăng-Thảo & Dya Singh Band at Singapore Festival of Arts
been a musical director, composer, and performer for the SBS/TV documentary drama ‘Saigon Doctor’; the play ‘Life With Past I'mages’ (Centre for Performing Arts); The Primary Schools’ Music Festival (Adelaide Festival Theatre); the documentary ‘The Art of Place’ (ABC/TV & Griffin University,); the ABC radio play ‘Lotus War', and the play ‘The Boy with the Bamboo Flute’ (Patch Theatre) which has had successful tours around Australia in 9 years including 2 weeks’ performance at Sydney Opera House and tours in New Zealand, America, Canada, Japan, Korea and Singapore, the musical production ‘The Tale of Nam Xuong’ (Melbourne), the plays ‘Meat Party’ and ‘Wild Rice’ (Junction Theatre).

Performing in Malaysia with Dya Singh Band

Đăng-Thảo & Phan Văn Hưng in Perth

established and is the leader of the following musical groups: Bách Việt, Mandoline Ensemble, Bamboo Ochre - World Music, Dang Thao Ensemble, Về Nguồn, Dang Thao & Gerrd Menzell, Dang Thao & Ros Hewton, Hoa Đăng (Sydney).

Ros Hewton & Đăng-Thảo at Victor Harbor Folk Festival

lectured and presented Vietnamese culture and music in many schools, from primary schools to universities, and various organizations and conferences.
presented a workshop with Ros Hewton at Linking Latitudes - an International Education Conference, Hanoi 2005
presented music workshops with Ros Hewton at Studies of Asia Conferneces , Flinders University
transcribed and arranged Vietnamese traditional and contemporary music and western music for Dan Tranh, Doc Huyen, and classical guitar and mandolin; performed and published them on the Internet through:

1. YouTube Thao Nguyen:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNK3-xg_rU9tDXS3aix-S4A

2. Website “Guitar Music - Dang Thao Nguyen”

http://guitarmusicdtn.blogspot.com.au/

3. Website “Nhạc Guitar - Đăng Thảo”

http://guitardangthao.blogspot.com.au/

4. Website “Nhạc Đàn Tranh – Nguyễn Đăng Thảo”

http://nhacdantranh.blogspot.com.au/

5. Facebook “Dang-Thao Nguyen”

https://www.facebook.com/thngn17

Ros Hewton & Đăng-Thảo at a Tết Festival in Vietnamese Community

PUBLICATIONS

Zither Nostalgie (Dang-Thao: Music&Culture, 2001
Journeys in Music (Dang-Thao: Music&Culture, 2012)

Recorded Compositions

"The Sound of Joy” in CD Musical Traditions in Australia – Folk Alliance Australia, 2002
“A Way Without Sound” in CD Flute Journeys – Cicilia Kemezys, 2005
“Tiếng Hát Quê Hương ( CD Kiếp Mai, 1999)
“Mưa Bay” (Cassette Tape, Thanh Thúy 14, USA)

Performed on CD Mystical Traveller (Dya Singh, 1994)

Performed on CD Live At Club Aman, Kuala Lumpur (Dya Singh, 1995)

Printed Compositions

"The Song of the Starling", "Rice Drum" and "Happy" in the music book Festival of Music (Department of Education and Children Services, 1993)
“Festivals” in the music book Festival of Music 2001 (Department of Education Training and Employment, 2001)

Books

The Dan Tranh: Self Teaching Method, (Ve Nguon, 1998)
Musical Instruments of Vietnam - A Selected Chordophone: The Dan Tranh (Về Nguồn, 1998)
The Notational Systems Used in Vietnamese Music (Về Nguồn, 1998)
"The Tale of Betel Nuts" in Ants to Elephants: A South Australian Collection of Multicultural Folk Tales (State Library of SA, 1995)

Articles in Vietnamese Magazines such as Dân Việt (NSW), Nam Úc Tuần Báo (SA Weekly Magazine), and Collections of Papers Presented in the Annual Conference of the Vietnamese Professionals' Society.

VIDEO CLIPS