8.00 in the morning we left our apartment to follow Hue, her students and the TV crew to Hue's old master, Nguyễn Thị Chúc's home outside Hanoi. The traffic was terrible so it took us about an hour or so to get the 15 km outside Hanoi. Chùc lived in a beautiful, but draughty, old house with a small yard and some outhouses. We have met Chúc once before in Hanoi, but it was nice to meet her in her home. We had tea and Chúc talked with Hue´s students about her life and Ca tru. After a while Hue got hold of a dan day and the music started. Hue and her student Thuy took turns at playing the dan day while Chùc, Hue and some of the students sang. Some neigboring children also turned up to listen. One of them, a young girl, had learned some Ca tru from Chúc and also joined in the singing. We had a very nice time listening and talking about music. It turned out that Hue had scheduled a meeting with Tran Van Khe in the afternoon so we went back to Hanoi, had lunch and went of to meet him at his hotel.
Mr. Khe was very enthusiastic to meet Hue's students. He told them about Ca tru performers he had met and was eager to know which tunes they knew. Hue arrived a bit later with the dan day. The students took turn singing and Tran Van Khe sang some childrens songs he had composed and recited a poem. After a while the students took out their other instruments and played some Nha nhac, a style that mr. Khe have spent a lot of time to save from extinction. When I and Pia left a few hours later the others ordered take away and continued to sing and talk.
Ca tru in the house of Nguyễn Thị Chúc
Tran Van Khe reciting a poem (Ngam Tho)
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