Search - Tran Van Khe, Tran Quan Hai :: Viet-Nam Improvisations Nouvelle Musique Traditonnelle

New traditional Vietnam

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 01/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As far as my own personal music collection is concerned, this may have been THE reissue of 1999, although the original release date was before I was even born if I am not mistaken. With this album Tran Van Khe created an at times freely improvised music within the context of traditional Vietnamese styles. I just have to say that the "dan kim" (moon-shaped lute) has one of the greatest tones I have heard from an acoustic stringed-instrument. To break it down, this instrument is an ancient Vietnamese cousin (predecessor) to the acoustic guitar, but with a very different tone.I won't even try to pick one or two favorites off of this album because each one is a stand-out performance, although everything seems to lead up to the magical last track, a track which is by itself worth the cost of the cd. If you have even half an interest in traditionally-styled Asian music you will find much to savor on this cd. If you know nothing about Asian music of any country then it'd be tough to find a better place to start than this."