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Cross-cultural: Danish singer Michael Moller (first left) and his group at a studio on De La Thanh Street in Ha Noi. The group will perform with Vietnamese musicians at a concert in the capital city this weekend. — Photo Mi Ly |
HA NOI — Five Vietnamese artists who play traditional musical instruments will join five Danish musicians at the Sunny Days, Rainy Nights concert this weekend in Ha Noi.
The concert will premiere nine new pieces of music by Nicolai Abrahamsen and Michael Moller.
The songs Untimely Fragments; Song and Sunny Days, Rainy Nights were inspired by late President Ho Chi Minh's poems and the Vietnamese novel The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh.
"I borrowed a collection of poems by Ho Chi Minh in the Danish language," said musician Moller. "I didn't think Ho Chi Minh wrote poems."
Moller says he was also introduced to the Vietnamese novel The Sorrow of War by a Vietnamese friend. The songs title ‘sunny days, rainy nights' and some of the lyrics were inspired by passages from the novel.
The song will be sung by Moller, who will be joined by Abrahamsen on guitar, Tav Klitgaard on trumpet, Jeppe Skjold on clarinet and saxophone and Jakob Millung on bass guitar.
Among the traditional Vietnamese instruments highlighted during the show are the monochord, 16-chord zither, 36-chord zither and Vietnamese percussion played by Do Ba Duyet, Phuong Nhung, Thu Ha and Ha Dinh Huy.
The concert's highlight will be a piece composed by Moller in dedication to Phuong, the main female character in the novel The Sorrow of War.
Both Moller and Abrahamsen previously worked with Vietnamese musicians Quoc Trung and Vu Nhat Tan in 2009, when they explored ways to combine Oriental folklore and Western contemporary music.
The concert will provide an opportunity for cultural exchange as it will be recorded and screened to Danish and international audiences in the future to introduce Vietnamese traditional instruments to music enthusiasts outside of Viet Nam, according to concert organiser Tri Minh.
The concert will begin at 8pm on Saturday at the Youth Theatre at 11 Ngo Thi Nham. Free tickets are available at 19 Dien Bien Phu and 11 Ngo Thi Nham streets, or call 09 7578 5037 for bookings. — VNS