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For the first time, a music show in Vietnam has chosen ceramics as its central theme. No longer just a display material or stage backdrop, ceramics in GOm Show resonate, tell stories, and stir memories. A shift from "silence" to sound – from deeply rooted tradition to contemporary experience.
Behind GOm Show is the Dan Do group of artists, who are considered "awakeners of the local culture" through music. With the philosophy of "taking culture as the root, taking people as the energy," the group has consistently pursued a unique path: creating art on Vietnamese materials, using contemporary thinking and non-traditional tools. Artist Dinh Anh Tuan, the group's founder, shared: "We don't recreate folk culture like a museum, but breathe new life into it. Pottery is not just an ancient object; it also possesses musical potential, emotion, and imagination."
Pottery sings, music from the sediment.
Taking place on the evenings of June 28th and 29th, 2025 at the Hanoi Opera House, “GOm Show – Sounds from Ceramics” is a unique art project created by the Dan Do group of artists, who have dedicated over a decade to an artistic journey based on indigenous materials. This time, they are not just “playing” music but telling a grand story through the sounds emanating from seemingly silent objects: earthenware jars, pots, gongs, and bells… A deeply emotional artistic experience for those who love sound, appreciate tradition, and are curious about the magical storytelling abilities of Mother Earth.
The Dan Do group in the GOm Show performance space.
Pottery is not just present as a musical instrument, but also as the main character. It is the storyteller. It is the echo from the earth. Each resounding beat awakens layers of cultural memory, not through explanation but through evocative techniques and emotional guidance. A key highlight of the Pottery Show is the system of musical instruments created entirely from earthenware, each piece a unique sound. The Chum Drum (with a deep, bass-like sound), the earthenware gong, the earthenware bell, the clay pot lute, the rotating pottery... not only create physical resonance but also evoke spiritual vibrations, as if one were hearing the very "breath" of Mother Earth.
Ceramic musical instruments – creations from traditional materials
More than just music, GOm Show is likened to a space that evokes visual, auditory, and tactile sensations, where layers of sound guide viewers on a journey: from "Returning," "That Time," "Downstream" to "Finding Hani," "Gathering"... each segment is a unique voice from indigenous ethnic communities such as the M'nong, Tay, Lo Lo, Nung Din, Ede, and Ha Nhi... Combined with traditional instruments, innovative instruments, and performance elements, it delivers an unprecedented musical experience: both authentic and dreamlike.
When young people tell stories in their native dialect.
Not to perform as a cultural "exhibit," but to engage in genuine dialogue through contemporary spirit, with an open stage, rhythmic body movements, creative sound, and raw emotion. The presence of many young artists from communities with rich cultural heritage has breathed new life into the program. They bring not only rhythm or musical theory, but also the spirit of their own communities into their works: rawness, honesty, and rich emotion.
One special feature that makes this year's GOm Show so vibrant is the participation of many young artists from ethnic minority communities in Northern Vietnam.
One special feature that makes this year's GOm Show so vibrant is the participation of many young artists from ethnic minority communities in Northern Vietnam such as the M'nong, Tay, Lo Lo, Nung Din, and Ha Nhi… They bring with them the unique rhythms, languages, vocal ranges, and emotions of their own communities.
In GOm's world, performance elements, body movement, folk instruments, and contemporary creativity are not separate but intertwined, creating an "open" stage for visual, auditory, and emotional experiences. Viewers not only hear the music but also see themselves somewhere within a memory, a distant sound that has just been named.
Jars, pots, and earthenware vessels become musical instruments in the hands of the artist.
That group – those who call the land to speak.
With a consistent philosophy for over 12 years – “taking culture as the root, taking people as the energy,” Dan Do has continuously experimented with Vietnamese materials. Everyday objects, through the hands of the artists, suddenly become musical instruments, storytellers. They not only produce sound, but also echo a declaration: tradition is not dead, we just need to know how to listen.
Unlike imitation or museumization of folk culture, Dan Do chooses to recreate from the root – infusing new thinking into old materials, opening up a space for the intersection of tradition and the contemporary. This is also a generational transition, as young artists continue not only the skills but also the spirit of freedom and awareness in creation. At the Ceramic Show, ceramics – a material that is inherently silent and profound – are awakened to speak. Not through ordinary language, but through sound. Not aiming to recount old stories, but to evoke the imagination about Vietnamese culture in a new form.
The Dan Do group of artists are neither ceramics researchers nor traditional musicians, but rather contemporary creators who use indigenous knowledge as a foundation to tell the story of Vietnamese culture through the artistic language of the modern era.
The ceramic material, inherently silent and steeped in history, is awakened to speak.
GOm Show is not only a milestone in Dan Do's journey, but also opens up a different perspective on indigenous music, where tradition is not confined, but is infused with new life, resonating in the language of the times. The two performances at the Hanoi Opera House on June 28th and 29th, 2025, are a rare opportunity to listen to a different kind of music – simple, profound, and distinctly Vietnamese, not easily found in any other venue.
