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GOm Show is not just a performance, but a multi-sensory experience, where the audience is invited into the world of sound and performance art. GOm Show has no narration for each piece; here, the music tells its own story with layers and chapters, opening up a unique dimension where only familiar yet strange melodies resonate from instruments made of unique local materials – ceramics.
Both nights of the GOm Show on June 28-29 at the Hanoi Opera House were packed with viewers.
On stage, everyday objects familiar to Vietnamese people – jars, pots, and crocks – are transformed into unique musical instruments such as the Chum drum, Lang drum, Niêu lute, earthenware gong, and rotating pottery… No two instruments are alike; each possesses its own distinct sound, created by the hands and experience of the artist.
Unique musical instruments made from jars, pots, and other earthenware vessels produce sounds that are both strange and familiar.
The sounds from pottery are not ostentatious but utterly rustic, emanating from the movements of turning, tapping, and touching – sometimes deep and resonant like the earth, sometimes clear and crisp like the wind rustling through roof tiles, sometimes dreamy like the gentle lapping of water against the body of a jar. In that space, the audience not only hears, but also remembers – remembering things that are very old, very pure, and very real.
In the program, artists will combine new melodies with traditional music of the M'Nong, Tay, Lo Lo, Ede, Ha Nhi, and other ethnic groups.
GOm Show is also a journey of indigenous sounds. Where the sounds of horns, drums during festivals, gongs during highland celebrations… – sounds from many different cultural regions such as Hmong, Tay, Nung Din, Lo Lo, Ede, and Ha Nhi – blend together in a vibrant collective space. All meet on the Vietnamese pottery wheel, like a continuous, profound, and enduring cultural flow.
GOm Show is a vibrant tapestry of music and visuals.
The unique aspect of GOm Show lies in the connection between music and visuals. Within the same performance space, artist Nguyen Duc Phuong presents a visual exhibition on the same theme: ceramics. Installations made from bamboo, wood, and ceramic tubes, along with a series of paintings on traditional Vietnamese dó paper, serve as a wordless extension to the performance, recounting glimpses of life in the ceramics industry – production, daily life, and community development – across Vietnam.
GOm Show is the result of over a decade of research and creativity by the Dan Do group of artists. After a long journey with bamboo instruments, the group continues to expand its creative materials with ceramics – a material deeply symbolic and closely associated with Vietnamese culture and beliefs. GOm also marks a turning point in Dan Do's musical journey, as the group decides to step back and become mentors for the next generation – those who will carry the mission of spreading Vietnamese culture to the world with a youthful and unique artistic vision.
The Dan Do group is handing over the spotlight and the mission of spreading local culture and music to the public to the next generation of artists.
After two nights of performances in Hanoi, GOm Show will continue its journey in Ho Chi Minh City on July 19th. Regular performances in Hanoi are also being planned to serve both domestic and international audiences, with the aim of spreading the sounds and culture of Vietnam to a wider international audience.
