HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Musician Association held the 2020 Việt Nam Music Award Ceremony on Sunday, celebrating artists and showcasing some award-winning performances.

Awards were dished out in several categories, including Vocal, Instrumental, Critiques, Musical Journalism and Musical Performance Programmes. 

The organisers awarded C prizes to artists. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Đức

Judging the quality of submissions, Associate Professor, Dr., Musician Đỗ Hồng Quân, President of Việt Nam Musician Association said: “In the Instrumental category, lots of artists examined topics related to history, wars and revolutions, patriotism and knew how to exploit our ethnicity, combining traditional and western music.

"Other pieces had creative findings in presented structure and language; symphonic poem performances were well written and beautifully presented by the international orchestra.

"However, some other pieces were too simplistic, with unclear structures, and didn't show personal identity or high level of professionalism. Some other pieces did not harmonise the sound with the total spectrum.”

Overall, 78 excellent pieces from all categories were acknowledged and awarded with prizes.

This year’s vocal entries increased compared to last year’s. However, there wasn’t a specific song that transcended techniques, topics, and musical language. The majority sounded familiar, using traditional styles, with many songs having similar melodies and contents. However, judges identified songs that stood out, with topics of current events like COVID-19 prevention, celebrating international friendship and teacher appreciation.

"Tứ tấu dây" (Four string quartet) performed by Voice of Vietnam Theater. VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Đức

In the children's song category, compared to 2019, new compositions in 2020 had better content as well as presentation and presented songs suitable to their age group.

For critiques, entries mainly fell under research projects and collections of newspaper articles. Musician Đỗ Hồng Quân noted the majority of entries were of high quality, showing the professionalism of writers and researchers.

The council praised songwriters for contributing to musical criticism, which is typically a difficult field with few contributors, complimenting researchers for having articles published in scientific magazines with prestige nationally and internationally. 

In other critiques, some entries still had scientific issues, with some still subjective evaluations, without accuracy and objectivity. VNS