Huong Thanh - Huong Lan's sister: Vietnamese classical and folk music messenger in Europe

As one of the few overseas Vietnamese artists pursuing traditional music, Huong Thanh is considered by music lovers as a messenger of Vietnamese classical music and folk songs in Europe.

Growing up with the breath of reform

Her father is Huu Phuoc, Huong Lan's sister is famous for her folk music, Huong Thanh is also passionate about folk songs but she has a different direction, combining ethnic music with foreign musicians, singing folk songs on the background of jazz.

Artist Huu Phuoc was originally a teacher in Soc Trang. On one occasion when he went to Saigon, he was discovered by the phlegmatic teacher, taught to sing, and then he fell in love with the singing burden. As a horizontal but gifted hand, diligently following the apprentices, artist Huu Phuoc, in addition to his excellent voice, also has the ability to perform many types of roles.

His voice is so unique that in the village of Cai Luong, there is a Huu Phuoc school of song. In 1965, he won the Best Actor Award of the prestigious Thanh Tam Award.

Huu Phuoc Artist's House is near the Buddha India Pagoda (Tran Hung Dao street), I don't know when that place is considered an artist area when there are many famous artists and athletes operating in the Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga troupe such as the famous Seven Ba (Vien Chau People's People's Committee), Nam Co, Year of Thom, Chengbe, Ye Lang, Feng Lien...

Every time he practices at home, one person walks through the other's house. The children were buzzing, listening to the adults practice and singing along.

Huong Thanh plays with the musician Yuanzhou, Nam Co. Then he was attracted by the musician Ba Ty in his free time to teach singing to the little girl who was eager to sing and showed her talent very early. So to fulfill her dream of singing from the age of 8 or 9, Huong Thanh was taken by her grandmother to the classical music class of Mr. Ut Trong (teacher of the late artist Thanh Nga).

Mr. Ut Trong in the children's memory is a very evil teacher. However, Huong Qing has never been spanked because she got used to the sound of lyrics too early, so she came to this class with a very steady rhythm. Then, at a family party, in front of the guests of musicians Duy Khanh, Bao Thu, Mac The Nhan ..., Huong Thanh boldly asked to sing a song.

When she finished singing, the musician immediately returned to his new music class. Not only studying Duy Khanh, Huong Thanh also studied Bao Thu.

From dreams of singing peaches to folk singers

At the age of 16, Huong Thanh and her family settled in France. In her school days, Huong Thanh would sing Vietnamese folk songs to her French friends. At Tet holiday, she followed her father Huu Phuoc to sing for the Vietnamese community.

The father and son sang for free so that the organizers could raise money to help the difficult lives in their homeland of Vietnam. Then Huong Thanh got married, from about 20 to 36 years old, she only went to sing small shows to serve the community. She was instructed by artist Kim Chung, Huu Phuoc's father to play the charming role of Dieu Boat, artist Kim Chung played Lu Bo and her father played Dong Trac.

Huong Thanh listened to Cai Liang every day, every night she practiced her voice, and an acquaintance introduced her to teach music in France. In particular, she listens to many different types of music in the world, tinkering, brooding, as a natural hobby, not for nothing.

Then, by chance through the recommendation of a friend, Huong Thanh was invited by a foreign musician to collaborate with his band. Huong Thanh sang folk songs and on Vietnamese folk music, musicians composed music their way.

Then there were other foreign friends. At first, Huong Qing didn't understand why they chose him. Then she realized that foreigners like lullabies, songs, voices.

Huong Thanh does not like to sing foreign music translated into Vietnamese lyrics, she perseveres with Vietnamese ethnic music, making musicians interested and always wants to collaborate with her.

In the early 1990s, Nguyen Le met Huong Thanh, two friends of the same age who collaborated on the program Tales from Viet Nam to tour many places, the eight-person band only Huong Thanh was the singer. Then they recorded.

The first disc took 5 or 6 months to complete, Huong Thanh chose 10 folk songs to include. Four records later by the two, Huong Thanh was also the song seeker.

Huong Thanh's traditional music luggage has been carefully equipped, so when meeting suitable first soul mates, Vietnamese ancient music and folk songs just flow.

The combination of Huong Thanh and Nguyen Le as a phenomenon, many of their performances in Germany are constantly sold out. The record received many awards in Germany, Switzerland...

The "secret" of voice training is to sing cai luong

Initially, Huong Thanh's forte was singing Southern folk songs. But when she joined bands, she "encroached" on more Northern and Central folk songs. She had the good fortune to study under Weiqing, who knew Qing well as the son of the Liang family.

Therefore, when teaching Huong Qing, he showed her the notes to avoid so that when singing new music, she would not be hybridized. With Northern and Central folk songs, Huong Thanh self-researched and raised two tones compared to the usual voice so that the pitch touched the voice and nasal voice. That particular way has given her voice a special touch and achieved many successes.

Despite making a name for herself as a famous Vietnamese folk singer in Europe, her love for Cai Luong is still very deep in Huong Thanh's heart. "Listen to my disc, you'll see... Reform Roots. Somewhere there will be some reform music, songs," Huong Qing said with a laugh.

Huong Thanh's combination of Vietnamese national music with the rhythm of Western music and specifically jazz is sometimes considered to "break" the national music, because it does not follow the familiar way of playing and listening.

Huong Thanh said that if the composer is good and the piano is good, it will conquer listeners no matter what genre of music. She expressed that people who pursue this type of music must have an open head. And the receiver must be just as open-minded.

The shows usually have only one singer, so Huong Thanh is used to standing on stage singing for one to two hours. In order to maintain her performance for 35 years, Huong Thanh said that she is never satisfied but must learn and update completely.

And the path of Vietnamese national music to the world is the journey of brave, progressive people, who have an earnest love for each national song and dance like Huong Thanh, who have carried that love for more than 30 years.

Che Linh posted to refute Huong Lan's statement about Mr. Dam, his junior's strange attitude Bảo Nam3 months agoIn recent days, Huong Lan has caused controversy when she expressed her indignation and implied that some artists are taking advantage of their colleagues' downfall to join social media to attract views.