Predestinated love with folk music
People’s Artist Xuan Hoach was born in the cradle of Chao (traditional opera), Dong Hung District, Thai Binh Province. He learnt to play some music instruments himself at a young age and was admitted to Vietnamese Traditional Instrument Department (currently Vietnamese Traditional Music Department), Vietnam National Academy of Music. After graduating, he worked for the Central Troupe of Dance and Music – now the Dance and Music Theatre of Vietnam. He has been deeply attached to Hanoi and devoted his whole life to traditional music of Hanoi in particular and of Vietnam in general as a predestinated love.
People’s Artist Xuan Hoach is performing traditional music instrument (Ancient Music Group of Tonkin)
He was officially trained in playing Dan Nguyet (moon-shaped two-string guitar), but he can play other musical instruments such as Dan Nhi (two-chord fiddle), Dan Ho (two-string vertical violin), Dan Bau (monochord) and Dan Day (three-string lute) … If he self-taught two-chord fiddle and two-stringed vertical violin, he found Artist Dinh Khac Ban to learn how to play the three-string lute. At that time, he made tireless efforts to learn to play the musical instruments through the nights. In 2009, he became a student of Artist Pho Thi Kim Duc – a final singer of Kham Thien Ca Tru (ceremonial singing) school. Music of People’s Artist Xuan Hoach serves as a fulcrum for the famous voice of artist Pho Thi Kim Duc. People’s Artist Xuan Hoach can both play musical instrument and sing songs while using his legs to beat rhythm. His smooth voice and talents are like ferment and make the listeners immersed in folk songs.
More than 10 years ago, People’s Artist Xuan Hoach was one of the pioneers involved in the revival of Xam singing as well as some Northern folk music genres. He and other talented artists such as Meritorious Artist Thanh Ngoan, Meritorious Artist Van Ty, Mai Tuyet Hoa and Dao Quang Minh … brought the national arts back to Hanoi audiences. Particularly, the series of “Old Quarter Music Story” of the Ancient Music Group of Tonkin, which he was a member, was performed at Hanoi Old Quarter Cultural Exchange Center (50 Dao Duy Tu) as well as performance activities at many places in the walking street around Hoan Kiem Lake. Hanoi audiences admired his talent and voice, favored him with names such as “Mr. Xam” or “the Elder” of Vietnamese traditional music village.
Find silk sound for national guitar
People’s Artist Xuan Hoach is always thinking about how to find the most original sound for traditional musical instruments. Because only silk can create a national soul in the sound. The silk strings produce more profound, beautiful and lower sounds than iron and nylon strings. Especially when the strings stop vibrating, the silk is still intact, creating echoing sounds that lasts a long time before it ends. The sound of silk is like the heart of Vietnamese artists.
However, the production of silk strings has been lost for too long by the “rise” of iron strings and nylon strings and the trend of electronic music instruments. So no one remembers the technique and manipulation of producing the silk strings. People’s Artist Xuan Hoach has self-learnt how to do it. He used a fan to spin and rice flour as glue to bind silk threads. After nearly 8 years of research, by 2010, People’s Artist Xuan Hoach had successfully returned the sound of silk to Dan Day (three-string lute). After that, he restored silk strings for many other traditional music instruments such as Dan Nhi (two-chord fiddle), Dan Ho (two-string vertical violin) and Dan Bau (monochord)…
For him, all elements of Vietnamese guitar must be pure Vietnamese. People’s Artist Xuan Hoach used bamboo, small bamboo (truc), wood and coconut shells … to produce music instruments. In 1991, based on photographs taken by French photographers, he recreated Dan Bau in the “standard” way of the old artisans with elongated and bow-curved rod. Not only that, many other traditional music instruments such as Nhi, Ho, Day … have been successfully manipulated by People’s Artist Xuan Hoach. With a traditional silk thread, the traditional music instruments produce natural sound and embody Vietnamese soul.
People’s Artist Xuan Hoach (the second from the left) and artisans are performing folk music (Ancient Music Group of Tonkin)
In 1997, artist Xuan Hoach was conferred the title of the Meritorious Artist. In 2007, he was honored to be awarded the title of People’s Artist. In particular, People’s Artist Xuan Hoach is one of the few Vietnamese artists ever to be recognized as a world artisan by the World Masters Committee.
Devoted to the traditional music for nearly half a century, despite being at the age of sixty, the People’s Artist Xuan Hoach still lives fully with his passion and always wants to aspire the love of traditional music to the young generation so that the traditional music arts legacy will be preserved and honored.
Minh Trang