Re: Hon Vong Phu vs Me Viet Nam

[ianb@sun670.telecom.tandem.com (Ian Bui)]

Bac Tuan Pham wrote:

> ... I think HVP, while being a
> very beautiful composition, is a product of the 1940s
> and 50s. It reaches the limits of what conventional
> Vietnamese music can achieve - conventional rhythms,
> conventional tonalities, conventional mythology.

I'm not sure I would agree with the above assessment.
But let's not get into the technical issues because
that will require too much background information
(and time.)

> I think Me. Viet Nam is a much greater composition
> in terms of its originality, its variety, its unique
> structure, its grand scale - as well as a firmer
> grounding in Vietnamese folk mythology and music.

Whatever it was, Kieu certainly was not grounded in
Viet folklore. So what gives?

> To be sure it's much less accessible to the general
> public than HVP. 

My point precisely!!! HVP touches the general VNmese 
psyche musically the way Kieu does poetically. That's
why I made the comparison (and it didn't have anything
to do with personal taste.)

> I feel that Me. Viet Nam will be the
> one Vietnamese composition that will transcend time,
> a work that many Ph.D. theses can be written about.
> Of course you can say that I am biased :)

Only time will tell...

Cheers,
Ian