Tran Thu Ha, also known as Ha Tran is one of the foremost singers of Vietnamese music.

Celebrated singer Tran Thu Ha believes her inspiration comes from her ancestors and loves reading books about the supernatural.

It might surprise many to learn that beautiful Vietnamese songstress Tran Thu Ha, also known as Ha Tran, spends a great deal of time with her head buried in books about philosophy and things that are weird and unexplainable.

Ha began reading at an early age. She read avidly all kinds of books, that kept her constant company, helping her get over her mother’s death at age 14. They also spurred her on through a difficult childhood.

Her favorite books were literary works and philosophy tomes by Western and Eastern authors and philosophers.

She said she now likes to read books on humans’ supernatural energy to reflect on herself and discover her own abilities and limits.

She considers it a blessing to be able to read books and enjoy music, saying when she’s reading a good story or listening to songs, she can put everything else out of her mind.

“Reading and listening to music complement each other well and enrich one’s soul,” she said, adding she will continue to read for the rest of her life.

Reading and her flair for languages has helped Ha with writing some of her own lyrics. She said she will continue composing songs, but won’t publicize them until they are perfect.

“I always try to find a point in each song that needs accentuation to arouse audiences’ emotions,” Ha said.

The 31-year-old believes she acquires her rich life experience from her ancestors and sources of energy in the universe which has the same frequency as hers.

According to Ha, the ability to understand people only through contact enables her to perform songs by many different composers.

“For example, I began singing uncle Tien’s [noted composer Tran Tien] songs when I was 20, but couldn’t really inject my feelings into them as I lacked life experience,” Ha said.

“After some years, I came to understand him better though he is double my age,” she added.

With her prime concerns being the relationship between humans, and between humans and the environment, the singer now isn’t so interested in singing love songs.

“Singing is no longer a challenge for me. I’ve performed different genres including pop, jazz, R&B and opera. In the local or overseas Vietnamese music industries, I’m at the pinnacle of my singing career, so there’s nothing more to achieve.”

Always willing to extend into new areas, she began working recently as a producer on an album for children, an album to introduce a new composer, and a concert music collection.

The music in Ha’s blood comes from her family. She was born in 1977 in Hanoi to People’s Artist Tran Hieu, one of Vietnam’s few popular baritone singers and Vu Thuy Huyen, former head of the singing department of Hanoi Music Conservatory.

Her uncle is respected singer-composer Tran Tien.

She learned piano and singing at an early age and graduated from the singing department at the Hanoi Music Conservatory in 2000.

Ha began singing professionally in 1998 and is known for successfully performing a wide variety of genres, including jazz, R&B and opera.

She appeared at many major shows, including Thanh Nien’s fundraising extravangaza Duyen Dang Viet Nam (Charming Vietnam).

Ha always renovates herself through her albums.

She released her debut album Em ve tinh khoi (You’re so pure) in 1999 which featured famed composer Quoc Bao’s songs to high praise.

In 2000, she worked again with Bao on the album Bai tinh cho giai nhan (Love songs for beauties) and released Tu hoa (Painting myself), a collection of her composeruncle’s haunting songs.

She has made four solo albums since then. Her latest in 2008, Tran Tien, marked the maturity in Ha’s singing voice and performing style, painting a different, original portrait of her uncle Tien.

She married an overseas Vietnamese and settled in the US in 2004.

Reported by Hai Mien