Haunting: French artist Sylvain Streiff will team up with Canadian guitarist Alex Formosa and Vietnamese pianist Phúc Phan for a đàn bầu (monochord) concert at Manzi Art Space tomorrow night. – Photo sylvainstreiff.com |
HÀ NỘI — French artist Sylvain Streiff, Canadian guitarist Alex Formosa and Vietnamese pianist Phúc Phan will team up for a đàn bầu (monochord) concert at Manzi Art Space tomorrow night.
The Vietnamese đàn bầu, ubiquitous across a wide range of Vietnamese folk music genres, is remarkable for its eerily vocal timbre, its wide three-octave range, and above all its ghostly glissando and pitch bends. The programme’s title – Lachrymae, Latin for tears – refers to the instrument’s hauntingly plaintive tone.
This experimental chamber music programme at Manzi uses đàn bầu for a collection of late-19th, early-20th French and German art songs. The instrument lends its natural expressivity to the romanticism of early Berg and Richard Strauss, the jazziness of Satie and Roussel, and the poetry of Debussy.
Streiff, originally a jazz artist, started to learn Vietnamese folk music instruments, including đàn bầu, đàn nguyệt (moon-shaped lute), in 2013.
The special concert will start at 8pm. Manzi is at 14 Phan Huy Ích Street. Surcharge: VNĐ200,000/person. — VNS