HOÀI HƯƠNG NOSTALGIA GROUP

Hoài Hương Nostalgia Group was formed in 2011 by a group of friends who love Vietnamese traditional music. The Group often performed for the Vietnamese community and in muticultural events in Sydney, NSW in order to maintain and introduce Vietnamese traditional music to the  public. The Group played on a regular basis with the Hong An Catholic Choir in Cabramatta, particularly hymns based on the Vietnamese modal system.

Currently, the members are:

• Quốc Tuấn và Thanh Thủy: Zither
• Thanh Ý: Flute
• Ánh Linh: Monochord, Zither
• Quốc Tiến: Drum

Hoài Hương Nostalgia Group always invites traditional music lovers to participate with the group every forthnight in order to become future new members.

STEVEN KNOPOFF

Steven Knopoff is a musicologist and composer with wide musical interests. His primary research and publications are in the area of traditional Australian Indigenous songs, music analysis, contemporary art music composition, and popular music. 

He is currently Deputy Director of Learning & Teaching and Head of Musicology at the Elder Conservatorium of Music (University of Adelaide), where he lectures in the areas of musicology, musicianship and music theory, popular music history, and music media in contemporary society. 

Steven Knopoff is Co-Convener of the 39th National Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia, which will be held at the University of Adelaide from 30 November-3 December 2016.

MINH HÀ

Minh Hà has grown up in a family with a long tradition of music. Her father is a highly respected bamboo-flautist in Vietnam. She graduated from Saigon Conservatorium in 2006 and is a multi-instrumentalist. Her instruments include Monochord, Bamboo Flute, Bamboo Xylophone, Klong-Put (bamboo organ), thirty-six stringed zither and percussion.

Minh Hà has formed the music bands “Red Sun” and “Golden Bamboo” and is the leader of these bands.  She has performed in concerts and festivals in Sydney. She also organised a music class in Sydney where she lives to teach Vietnamese traditional instruments. Recently, she has formed a traditional music group for young Vietnamese students in Sydney. 

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QUỐC-LOAN LÂM

Quốc Loan graduated from

• Saigon Conservatorium in Percussion, Mandolin & Guitar (1992)
• the House of Public Arts & Culture (Saigon) in Singing (1987)
• College of Education, majors in Mathematics and Physics (1986)

In Saigon, he received

• the second prize for singing songs written in English organised by the Consul General for the Philippines in Saigon (2009)
• the First prize in the concert “The Good Voice of Workers in Saigon” (2007)

He also taught ballroom dancing from 1986-1990. From 1990-1994, he was the head of the Ballroom Dancing Branch at the Cultural House for Women in Saigon.

GERALDINE BALCAZAR

Geraldine Balcazar is a movement artist with particular interest in collaborating with visual and sound artists. Her movement practice is based on research of the body, its anatomy and building sensory performance work that is both resonant by the dancer and spectator.
 She has worked with Xavier Le Roy (France) in his new durational work presented by Kaldor Public Arts Projects Sydney; Tino Sehgal’s durational work at the Art Gallery of NSW (2014); Annalouise Paul’s world premier of Mother Tongue (2014).  Her movement art, collaborations, research and works continue to immerse and have been supported by Bundanon Trust – Artist in residency program (2014) and Imagine Platform since 2013

NGÔ THU HIỀN

Thu Hiền is a virtuoso of the Đàn Tranh (Vietnamese Long Board Zither). She started to learn the Đàn Tranh at the age of seven. She practised diligently under the supervision of her parents to master her skills on this instrument. She won a prize in a Đàn Tranh competition at the age of fifteen and since then has performed in public

Thu Hiền now lives in Canberra. She has performed at various musical gatherings and concerts, both in Vietnam and Australia.

A bit about the ‘Đàn tranh cải tiến’

 As we all know, a traditional DT has 16 strings, tuned to the Pentatonic scale; that is there are five notes in the scale. This tuning has reduced its versatility. It cannot play many pieces written for a more versatile instrument like a guitar, piano or violin.

This limitation has been a source of inspiration for experienced artists, who love the characteristic sound of Đàn tranh, to find ways, to innovate, to create a sibling instrument which can handle pieces of music not specifically written for DT on the Pentatonic scale.

Then came ‘Đàn tranh cải tiến’. Here it is. It was created by Nghệ sĩ nhân dân Đỗ Thị Phương Bảo. This new model of the traditional ‘Đàn tranh’ was highly appraised by ‘Hội đồng khoa học nghiệm thu công trinh Đàn tranh cải tiến’ in 1995.

The ‘Đàn tranh cải tiến’ has shared the same general characteristics (such as physical appearance, art works, sound, timbre and playing style) as the ‘Đàn tranh cổ’. Apart from that, it is more versatile than the ‘Đàn tranh cổ’ in terms of performance practice. The tunings for the ‘Đàn tranh cổ’ are arranged in the PENTATONIC scale while the tunings of this new model are based on the Western scales. Furthermore, it was designed with an immovable timber bridge in the middle of the instrument and the traditional bridges made of wood tipped with copper are replaced with small pieces made of stainless-steel which are also called ‘bridges – con nhạn’. These stainless-steel bridges are movable to allow pitches to be tuned to semitones. Traditionally, the artists may use three, four or even five fingers on the right hands to pluck the strings and the left hand’s fingers are used to press on the left side of the strings to bend its pitch and provide ornamentation. Similar to the ‘Đàn tranh cổ’, the ‘Đàn tranh cải tiến’ artists can use their fingers on the right hand to play all traditional music (nhạc cải lương, nhạc chèo, dân ca,…). In addition, the artists can also use their fingers on the left hand to pluck notes on the left side and even the right side of the strings to produce larger chords or scales. This improved instrument is now well incorporated into modern Vietnamese music, and even in many pop performances as an exotic solo or accompaniment to the modern band instruments.

THU HIỀN