A fusion concert featuring traditional music and beatboxing by artist Ngo Hong Quang took place at the French Cultural Center in Hanoi on the last day of June to debut his album “Nam Nhi” (Macho).

This is Quang’s latest album after “Hanoi Duo” which was co-produced in 2017 by Quang and Vietnamese French jazz artist Nguyen Le.

The concert started with a performance of the traditional gourd lute or Tinh instrument by Ngo Hong Quang. Beatboxer Trung Bao then joined in the middle of the performance as a musical accompaniment.

The performers’ beautiful fusion of gourd lute and beatboxing eliminated any doubt among the audience about combining these two totally different genres.

In the second part of the show, Ngo Hong Quang treated the audience to beautiful songs in his new album like “Leaning against the boat side”, “Yesterday I missed my friend”, and “To the fairy’s palace”.

In Macho, the uniqueness of “Quan Ho”, “Xam” songs or folk music of Mong ethnic people, intertwined with modern beat-boxing, left a profound impression on the audience of something new, but also very close to their hearts.

The album is a ‘marriage’ between the Vietnamese UNESCO heritage quan ho (love duet) folk songs and the Western string quintet.

"I’ve been listening to Quan Ho folk songs since I was very little. For me, Quan Ho is easier to listen to than Xam songs or Cheo opera. That’s why I chose to combine popular Quan Ho folk songs with modern music to provide the audience with a new space to enjoy their traditional music in a different way," elaborated Ngo Hong Quang. 

Quang is a Vietnamese traditional musician from Hanoi presently based in the Hague, the Netherlands. After teaching traditional music at the Hanoi Conservatory of music, he moved to the Netherlands to study composition at the Royal Academy of Music Netherlands.

He has a wide variety of talents, ranging from singing to playing Dan Nhi or two-string fiddle, Dan Bau or mono chord, and instruments from the ethnic minorities of Vietnam such as Dan K’ny, or fiddle with vocal resonator (akin to an acoustic vocoder), and Dan Moi or Jews Harp.

"Starting as a traditional musician, I’ve always wanted to improve my knowledge of international music, which includes contemporary musical stylings. I’ve traveled around the world for performances which have broadened my mind and sharpened my skills. After a while, I decided to experiment with combining Vietnamese folk music with the world’s contemporary music to create a natural development path for our traditional music,” said Quang. 

Ngo Hong Quang is working and performing between Vietnam and Europe. His most recent shows in Vietnam include Non, which featured dancer Vu Ngoc Khai in 2016, and Hanoi Duo with artist Nguyen Le in 2017.

VOV