“Dan Do” - sharing the same vision on the path of practicing art from indigenous materials
In 2012, the group of artists Nguyen Duc Minh, Dinh Anh Tuan, Nguyen Quang Su, Tran Kim Ngoc returned to Vietnam after four years of working and touring together in Europe within the framework of the famous contemporary circus program “My Village”. That was also the milestone marking the time when the group was established to “extend the happiness” of creating and practicing art.
At a workshop in Gia Lam, Hanoi, the group began to explore, research and develop new musical instruments, mainly made from bamboo - a familiar material for generations, closely associated with the culture, life and soul of the Vietnamese people. During this period, Dan Do welcomed a new member - visual artist Nguyen Duc Phuong, who recorded the artists' work through paintings, thereby finding a turning point in art practice when he began to mix clay used as pigment, explore and try out techniques on lines, shades, surfaces...
Dan Do Artist Group.
Rustic materials and pure sounds like nature echoing back
“Dan Do” is also the name of a special musical instrument made from bamboo trunks - the first child of the group of artists. “Through bamboo, we have access to the cultures of different regions. That is the endless inspiration for us to pursue the philosophy of bamboo, about the rich and abundant colors in the foundation of Vietnamese indigenous culture”, Mr. Nguyen Duc Minh, one of the creative members of Dan Do, shared about the inspiration to build the group's musical instrument set.
“That” - the name given to this special musical instrument because it has a similar shape to traditional Vietnamese fishing gear - that; and also refers to the sound “that” - the original sound of the early days, like nature echoing back, the sound “no one remembers the face and gives a name”, but when hearing them, the listener exclaims because it feels so... familiar, “it turns out I've heard it before, it turns out it's that sound”.
The amazing artistic journey begins with that Guitar.
To produce clear, pure sounds, "that" is the dedication the group of artists put into every detail of the instrument, and also the interesting and arduous story about the process of forming each musical instrument from two basic materials, bamboo and earth, creating an orchestra with a full range of sounds.
“That” is the work of artists traveling across regions from North to South, choosing wild bamboo bushes, bamboo stems at least 15-20 years old, cutting the fourth bamboo from the bottom up, waiting for half a year for the bamboo to dry naturally... to make “Dan Do”; to combining two seemingly unrelated materials, a large jar and a piece of motorbike inner tube, to form the “Chum Drum” - a rare low-pitched percussion instrument created by the Vietnamese; or the unique “Lang Drum”, which was ordered by the artist to be made according to a special design in the famous pottery village of Phu Lang, and then taking the word “Lang” as its name. In addition, there are: zither, lute, rolling drum, thanh drum, gong, thiu flute... and recently, water flute.
Those sounds are produced by special instruments.
Each instrument carries its own story, at the same time creating its own sounds and creative inspirations for the group of artists. “La Do” is the story of the group’s development journey, from a bamboo tree to that instrument, from gentle, clear sounds to majestic, resounding sounds and the listener can also notice a bit of wit and charm here and there.
“Día à” is about the simple, unrequited love of an ethnic girl named “Día” for Minh “the mouth harp”, with a sound that seems to soar from the bottom of the abyss, following the mountainside to the sky, then suddenly falls apart.
“Here and There” is a journey of the senses, when sitting in a bar in the lowlands drinking a glass of corn wine, or when drinking a glass of whiskey high up in the mountains, it is a blend of modernity - tradition, the highlands - the lowlands and when a little “drunk”, there is no longer any region. All create a chord that is as pure and attractive as nature and life, yet as real and emotional as the soul of the artist.
The artist Dan Do tells stories through sound.
In the cozy space of Dan Do lab, the paintings of artist Nguyen Duc Phuong bring a unique and complete experience to the multi-sensory art journey of the minishow “The Story of Do”. On the background of red earth paintings and broken ceramic pieces, the characters have simple, rustic shapes but are as impressive as the sounds themselves, which are being recreated by the group of artists here. The paintings vividly depict the scenes of the artists' daily activities, when composing, when resting... especially exuding a sincere and naked joy like a human in the midst of majestic nature, of an artist before the primitive sounds.
12 years - an old cycle closes, a new cycle opens
Over the past 12 years, the Dan Do group has participated in larger music projects such as SEA Sound, a Southeast Asian indigenous orchestra, creating “Chem Gio Concert”, “Loi Cua Tre”, “Dan Do”, “Xuyen Khong”… This is also the journey of the artists going through the youthful excitement, entering middle age with more calmness, but the enthusiasm and diligence, the endless creativity, to create a unique orchestra, bearing the group’s mark, are still intact as in the beginning.
Now, after 12 years, they are making another memorable turning point, continuing their own philosophy of artistic practice, but under a new look and mission: to bring the sound of Dan Do further, beyond borders, with the spirit of contemporary music.
Not only stopping at experimenting with traditional instruments such as the mouth harp, leaf horn, đàn tính, flute... the group of artists has had breakthrough experiments and practices, seemingly contradictory - that is combining with music and friends - Western artists: Beatbox, bass guitar, contemporary artist group Limebócx, Jazz artist Quyen Thien Dac and most recently, right before Christmas, the Đàn Đo group has combined with Bryan Charles Wilson - an American cello artist with a desire to explore and create to bring the color of Vietnamese folk music into his works. This combination brings a different spirit to the performing language of the cello - a Western classical instrument, and Bryan hopes to share this interesting combination with international audiences.
Bryan Charles Wilson - an American cellist who loves Vietnamese folk music
With a unique artistic mindset, a deep love for national and indigenous culture; from the journey of searching and creating a harmony of the most beautiful, innocent and pure sounds, while adding new value to the treasure trove of Vietnamese musical instruments; the Dan Do group is now embarking on a new journey - bringing their music far and wide and blending with the world flow. Believing that their unique yet familiar sounds, along with their compositional style and impressive performance skills, will certainly be warmly welcomed by the art-loving community in particular and the public in general.
The concert program "Xuyen Khong", an interesting meeting of two musical language platforms - Western Jazz and Vietnamese indigenous music, tells the story of the relationship between artist Quyen Thien Dac and the Dan Do group, which will take place from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on January 20-21, 2024 at the Dan Do lab, Hong Ha factory area at the end of lane 109 Truong Chinh - Thanh Xuan - Hanoi.
