Participants at the
meeting of the 8th tenure of Viet Nam Musicians Association shared the
view that the organisation should further co-operate with television to
promote more newly composed works.
"If new works are not widely promoted, the
association's activities would be reduced to just that of a wandering
art troupe," said musician Tran Manh Hung, commenting on the lack of
publicity surrounding new orchestral works.
He further said that many members in the association
lacked sponsorship or support to perform, and that they had few
opportunities to introduce their works to the public.
"There are many talented people in the association who
are performing artists, music critics and music teachers. The
association should be able to present a strong performing unit. But
until now, we've had to rely on television or performance organisers to
promote our work," he said.
"I think the association should be more active in
closely co-operating with radio and television stations to introduce new
works, especially by young musicians," he concluded.
Musician Do Hong Quan, who has been chairman of the
association since 2005, admitted that the association had been rather
passive in advertising serious musical works to the public.
In the meantime, the media including radio, television
and the press had focused on music that had commercial appeal with the
majority of the public and young people in particular, he said.
"If the works composed every year by association
members were widely publicised to the public, the domestic musical scene
would have a wider choice of options available," he said.
According to musician Luong Minh, who is head of the
Music Department of Viet Nam Television's VTV3, various Viet Nam
Television channels including VTV1, VTV3 and VTV6 had spared no efforts
in introducing new works to audiences through special programmes such as
Bai Hat Viet (Vietnamese Songs) and Tac Pham Moi (New Works).
Bai Hat Viet gathers a council of prestigious experts and has praised many influential works.
"However, the number of such programmes is fairly
small, while there are too many popular music programmes available on
commercial available TV channels," he said.
Minh held that the media might not be an absolute
solution. Because to change public perceptions of traditional music away
from commercial music would have to involve a modification in people's
tastes, primarily through musical education at schools.
He believed that once professional musicians had enough
work opportunities, serious high-brow musical forms including classical
symphonies would be more common, and the public would hopefully change
their tastes.
Addressing the meeting, Politburo member To Huy Rua,
secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, shared his
concern for the difficulties facing the association. He confirmed his
support for the development of closer co-ordination between concerned
agencies to overcome the current obstacles and develop the most
effective solutions to enhance the development of domestic music.
At the end of the meeting, Quan was re-elected as chair
for the next five-year-term. Musicians Tran Long An, Nguyen Duc Trinh
and Pham Ngoc Khoi were selected as vice chairmen.
The association also developed its orientations for
musical development in the new term (2010-15), in which it aims to
establish an advanced and professional music environment full of
traditional identity, and humanity. The association will insist on
fighting against ‘wrong' musical trends, which travel too far from
traditional values. It will further facilitate musicians, especially
young ones to go field trips to compose more realistic works. The
association will also organise an annual music day on September 3.
(VNS)