January 20, 2004
Nguyen Vinh Bao Ensemble | Nguyen Vinh Bao Ensemble |Ocora | Vietnam
buy it
Over the years, the French have done the world an invaluable service in supporting and compiling traditional Asian music. Nguyen Vinh Bao Ensemble is an excellent new example of that tradition--lovingly recorded and packaged by Ocora Radio France, this collection of Southern Vietnamese chamber pieces will appeal to collector and neophyte alike.
The ensemble is a quartet of stringed instruments that will be recognizable to any Chinese music fan. Leader Nguyen Vinh Bao plays the dan tranh (Chinese: zheng), a 25-string lap harp. The other members play moon guitar (dan nguyet/ruan), two-stringed fiddle (ut ti/er hu) and lute (dan ty ba/pipa). However, despite their adoption of Chinese instrumentation and use of pentatonic scales, the Vietnamese came up with a sound distinctly theirs.
Improvisation is prominent. Using a simple melody as an anchor, the musicians float their variations and ornamentations, free from the constraints of time signature and major or minor keys. The sound is both delicate and challenging, with the musicians' improvisational skills revealing themselves more and more with repeated listens.
The booklet includes some great photos of the 84-year-old Nguyen and his group. The liner notes are extensive and (despite suffering a bit in the translation from French) informative. There are at least ten other Asian titles in this series from Ocora--hopefully, they'll keep 'em coming.
Posted by Mack Hagood at January 20, 2004 09:48 PM