AMIS 2022: Contemporary Innovations for the Đàn Bầu Monochord in the Canadian-Vietnamese Diaspora скачать в хорошем качестве

AMIS 2022: Contemporary Innovations for the Đàn Bầu Monochord in the Canadian-Vietnamese Diaspora

Lisa Beebe is Assistant Professor of musicology and ethnomusicology at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, California. In 2017, she completed a PhD in cultural musicology from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a dissertation focused on the cultural history of the Vietnamese –dàn b`âu monochord. Along with the –dàn b`âu, she loves to play viola, tenor and bass viols da gamba, and recorders. A monochord zither, the –dàn b`âu (also known by Vietnamese musicians as the –dàn dô· c huy`ên or –dô· c huy`ên c`âm, both meaning “one string instrument”) is a symbol of cultural pride in Vietnam and in the Vietnamese diaspora due to its organological distinctiveness. For example, while other Southeast and East Asian cultures have monochords similar in construction to the –dàn b`âu, the Vietnamese instrument is unique in its use of natural harmonics rather than stopping the string directly. In this paper, I argue that Vietnamese-Canadian musicians draw upon the distinctiveness of the –dàn b`âu to distinguish Vietnamese music from the music of other diaspora communities. I draw on a series of interviews and virtual –dàn b`âu lessons with Vietnamese-Canadian musician Bic Hoang. As a teacher, composer, and performing musician, Ms. Bic has introduced Canadian audiences to the dàn b`âu through educational programs and collaborations with institutions such as the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra (VICO). Ms. Bic’s 2016 collaboration with VICO, River of Memory, is a fretted –dàn b`âu concerto featuring violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, and percussion, as well as the erhu spike fiddle, yangqin dulcimer, yueqin lute, and the oud lute. Not only is Ms. Bic a talented performer on the standard –dàn b`âu monochord, but her compositions for –dàn b`âu modified with frets make use of extended techniques to continue to expand the sonic palette of the instrument. Through the work of composer Bic Hoang, this paper explores contemporary organological innovations for the –dàn b`âu monochord and investigates the ways in which musicians center the –dàn b`âu as a symbol of Vietnamese identity in multicultural Canada.