Meritorious Artist Duc Dau suddenly passed away

(NLDO) - His sudden passing left a huge void in Vietnamese folk music.

Artist Duc Dau's family said he suddenly passed away at 7 p.m. on December 12, at the age of 68. Artist Duc Dau's real name is Tran Trong Dau, born in 1957. He is considered by experts to be one of the few artists who persevere in the mission of preserving traditional musical instruments. During more than 45 years of his career, he has won the National Gold Medal for Solo Percussion "Quang Trung Battle Drum", 2 Silver Medals for Hmong flute and Dan Bau, and was awarded the title of Meritorious Artisan by the President (in 2015).

Meritorious Artist Duc Dau

He was born and raised in a famous petty bourgeois family in Hue Street, Ha Tay (present-day Hanoi). His family arranged for him to study medicine early to become a doctor, but after being moved by the soulful, melodious sound of the Dan Bau and his endless passion for traditional musical instruments, he decided to study traditional musical instruments.

After a period of apprenticeship, he was officially accepted to perform at the Song and Dance Troupe of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army. In 1980, he and his six brothers decided to establish the Phu Dong Percussion Band. His career in collecting musical instruments also began when he decided to go to Ho Chi Minh City with the percussion band (1986).

What makes experts admire him is his will to learn musical instruments and find a way to collect the right kind of musical instruments. He learned the Hmong flute from artist Luong Kim Vinh (the Hmong flute king of the Lao Cai song and dance troupe), learned the Goong and T'rung from artist Thao Giang of the Dam San song and dance troupe... and thus he became a person with a famous collection of musical instruments.

Phu Dong Percussion Band has been established for more than 40 years, not only performing domestically but also performing many times in other countries such as: America, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, France, Switzerland... thereby spreading the spiritual values, national soul, national essence hidden inside each musical instrument of the Vietnamese people to listeners around the world.

He passed away, leaving behind a massive collection of up to 200 traditional musical instruments and nearly 2,000 artifacts such as the Elephant Ivory Horn, Stone Horn, Cheng drum (Northwest), Po-ro instrument, 13-bar bamboo gong set (Central Highlands) ... and many other musical instruments from all regions of the country.

The funeral of Meritorious Artist Duc Dau was held at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda (339 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City).

The funeral will be held at 8:00 a.m. on December 15, after which the body will be cremated at Binh Hung Hoa.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nsut-duc-dau-dot-ngot-qua-doi-196241213113830636.htm