Introduction
In order to follow how far did western culture have an effect on Duc Tri’s compositional output, it is essential to consider the biography of the composer.
Brief Biography
Duc Tri, from Vietnam, is the producer and Vice President of Music Faces, Entertainment and he has also written many songs that became hits. He has composed music for the movie The White Silk Dress (Ao Lua Ha Dong). Right from a young age, Dic Tri had been exposed to music and took up learning the piano, and received a grounding in various music theories when he was six. He joined the choir in his primary school and joined the choir members in singing Vietnamese and western choral traditional compositions.
Tri’s parents initially opposed his musical interests and tried to force him to take up regular school studies. However, many artists who were impressed by the precocious abilities of the young Duc Tri visited the parents and persuaded them to let Duc Tri pursue his musical interests. Over the years, many traditional Vietnamese musicians taught and trained him to develop his natural musical talent, and thus he was able to play nearly almost every traditional instrument. Some of the instruments he mastered were the monochord zither (dan bau), the two-stringed fretted moon lute (dan nguyet), two-stringed fiddle with a hardwood body (dan nhi).
Given below is an image of Dan Bau, the monochord zither.
Given below is an image of Dan Nguyet, the two-stringed fretted moon lute.
Given below is an image of Dan Nguyet, the two-stringed fretted moon lute.
After finishing high school, Duc Tri took up studies to major in digital technology, a decision his parent supported. He had to drop out of the course due to his father’s death but the learning experience from the brief time he spent in college helped him immensely. Later he joined the Ho Chi Minh Conservatory of Music, and obtained his Musicology degree.
While pursuing his degree, Tri managed to publish some of his earliest compositions such as Ta Chang Con Ai, Nhu Chua Bat Dau. Duc Tri was accepted by the Berkley College of Music in Boston and was awarded a diploma in Contemporary Music Writing and Production16. In 2004, Duc Tri decided to return to his native Vietnam and plays a major role in the music industry and he is also regarded as a very powerful and creative music composer and is called the ‘the music wizard’.
The White Silk Dress Synopsis
The White Silk Dress (Ao Lua Ha Dong) was composed in 2007 and is a war drama based on the events of 1954 in the Ha Dong region, now called Hanoi Vietnam. During this period, the region was under the control of France who had established a colony in the region. The story is about two people Dan the heroine and Gu, the hero who works as servants in different houses. The two fall in love but are victims of cruelty by their masters. Gu’s master is assassinated and the couple flees to the southern part and goes to Hoi An, a seaside town. They have four daughters and though the family is poor, they support each other. The Vietnam war is on them and they must hold themselves together to bring up their family and through the horror that the war has brought on them.
The movie derives its title from the white silk dress – ao dai that Gu had given as a traditional wedding gift to Dan just before they left Ha Dong. He has promised his wife that they would be married properly once things improve and to Dan, the white dress symbolizes her unrequited love and everything that she shared with Gu. After some years, things have got to be much worse and one of her daughters has to be admitted to the school. Not having any money, Dan realizes that she has to sell her cherished dress so that her daughter can be educated. The white dress had come to symbolize, hope, dreams, strength, and love and the struggle that Dan faces when she has to part with her most cherished possession. The white dress is symbolic and represents the hope and freedom that millions of Vietnamese lost during the war and this is one of the finest films that weave human drama and the inner struggle of the spirit.
References
Founded in 2004, Music Faces is an Entertainment Join Stock Company that specializes in Music Production, record label, artist’s management, and Recording Studio services. Web.
Van Nguyen, Asia Scout Network, Web.
From Duc Tri’s Flickr Album, Web.
Interview with Duc Tri
www.filmaffinity.com
www.vietmusic.pbwiki.com
www.kitesurfingschool.org
www.vietbao.vn
www.hochiminhcity.gov.vn
www.charmingvietnamgala.com
www2.vietbao.vn