by Ngoc Le
HCM CITY — Hundreds of fans and friends packed into a small hall at the top floor of Phuong Nam Bookstore in HCM City last weekend to celebrate the 90th birthday of Prof Dr Tran Van Khe, a world-renowned ethnomusicologist specialising in traditional Vietnamese music.
On the occasion, the Phuong Nam Cultural Company reprinted his two-volume auto-biography and released a documentary about his life-long quest to introduce Vietnamese music to the world.
"I am serving and will continue to serve the cause of music until my last breath," he told the gathering. "I will keep researching and talking about music as long as I live."
Born in 1920 into a family of four generations of musicians in the Mekong Delta's Tien Giang Province, Khe, who later was orphaned after his parents died, developed a flair for traditional musical instruments from his aunts and uncles who acted as mentors.
He defended his doctoral dissertation on traditional Vietnamese music in Paris in 1958, becoming the first Vietnamese to earn a doctoral degree in music.
He later worked for France's prestigious Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (National Centre of Scientific Research), taught at Sorbonne University and was elected a member of the UNESCO's International Council of Music.
"I have attended more than 220 international conferences on music, and written more than 200 articles on various international magazines," he said.
He said his goal of introducing traditional Vietnamese music to the world illustrated his dedication to the field that he inherited from his family and the country.
Three traditional Vietnamese musical forms, nha nhac (court music), quan ho (northern love duets) and gongs, received official recognition from UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of the world thanks to Khe's contributions.
The autobiography follows Khe's trips around the world as he gives presentations on different aspects of Vietnamese music and meets with the world's top musical personalities.
The documentary, titled Tran Van Khe – Nguoi Truyen Lua (The Man Who Carries the Torch of Vietnamese Music), is scripted by writer Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc and directed by Pham Hoang Nam. It chronicles highlights of Khe's eventful life.
"Khe and I share life-time devotions," said 82-year-old director Le Dan, who has been close to Khe ever since they were in France. "He has dedicated his life to music, while I have dedicated mine to cinematography."
Dr Nguyen Nha, a historian, said he was impressed with Khe's scientific methodology which he described as comparative.
"He has travelled all over the world, and he can compare Vietnamese culture and music with those of different countries," he explained.
"As a result, he has managed to find interesting facts about the country's folk culture," he added. "He has made Vietnamese music known to the world, but has not been as equally successful with Vietnamese youth."
Nguyen Hoang Trung, a 26-year-old engineer who has studied in the US, said he came to the gathering at the HCM City bookshop to listen to Khe's talk on Vietnamese music.
"I don't know much about Vietnamese culture, so I've felt an urge to learn about it from scholars like Khe," he said.
The autobiography was first published a decade ago on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
Both books and DVDs are available at the Phuong Nam Bookstore in Go Vap District's Nguyen Oanh Street. The books cost VND220,000 (US$11) for two volumes, and the DVDs cost VND50,000 ($2.5) each. — VNS