After more than 20 years of work, Professor, Doctor Nguyen Thuyet Phong was recognised as a national heritage by the US government for his efforts to bring traditional Vietnamese music to the US.

Professor Nguyen Thuyet Phong.

Born into a farmer family with a tradition of involvement in music in the Mekong River Delta, Professor Nguyen Thuyet Phong knew about traditional Vietnamese music genres from don ca tai tu, ritual music, hat boi to cai luong at the age of five.

After graduating with a Doctorate in Ethnomusicology from the Sorbonne Academy in Paris in 1984, he went to the US to teach Asian music at more than 20 universities, and later became a member of the American National Arts Council.

In the US, he has been invited to teach traditional music of many countries in the world, including Vietnam, in 50 states and over 40 universities. The Vietnamese professor’s lectures are always very attractive and interesting because he is not only an expert in theory, but also can play many traditional musical instruments very well. Besides traditional Vietnamese musical instruments, he can also play over 20 traditional musical instruments of Japan, Thailand, China, among many other countries of the world.

The numbers of students attending Prof. Phong’s lectures always reach the limit. “Many students were not born in Vietnam, and cannot speak Vietnamese, but they can play traditional Vietnamese musical instruments and love Vietnamese music,” said Professor Phong.

The most memorable story to Professor Phong was that a US student bought a piece of wood and learnt how to make a Vietnamese monochord to present to his teacher.

Prof. Phong’s collection of traditional Vietnamese music is thought to big the biggest overseas. His music documents are stored at the US Congressional Library and the University of New York.

The professor recently devoted half of his time in Vietnam to research Vietnamese music. He also wants to spend more time to research Vietnamese education. He established an institute in HCM City to study Vietnam’s educational methodologies and the application of American educational methodologies in Vietnam.

How to help Vietnam’s education catch up with the world level and Vietnamese diplomas be recognised worldwide are his biggest concerns at present. Professor Phong started by studying teaching activities at Vietnamese art schools, such as dance, cinema, theatre. He also plans to open a music university in Vietnam named Dao Tan.

VietNamNet/TP