Tuyet Mai and traditional music

      The artist couple Tuyet Mai and Dinh Linh have their own way of bringing traditional music to audiences: playing traditional music at home.
“Some people have called us art traders, who do business with traditional music. I was sad at the beginning. I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong by using my knowledge and talent to support my life. Moreover, we have tried to show our passion for and to advertise traditional music,” Meritorious Artist Tuyet Mai said.
A small house at 104 Pham Viet Chanh, Ward 19, Binh Thanh district, HCM City, named TrucMai House, is the place where Tuyet Mai and her husband, Dinh Linh, perform their skills and talents. They are both Meritorious Artists and former students of the Hanoi Conservatory of Music, which is the Vietnam National Music Institute at present.
In that small house, one can see over 20 types of musical instruments, including popular traditional ones like dan tranh (16-chord zither), tam thap luc (36-chord zither), Kongput, T’rung, bamboo flute and others.
Besides enjoying traditional music works played by the two artists, visitors can ask anything about the origin and the characteristics of each instrument in a warm and close atmosphere.
Artist Tuyet Mai is happy and proud to answer any question of foreign visitors about traditional musical instruments of Vietnam. She always tries at her best to help international audiences understand the basics of Vietnam’s traditional musical instruments.
She said she is very happy to receive positive feedback from spectators. Many foreign visitors have returned home and sent an email to her to share their feelings about Vietnamese music. They also promised to introduce her address to their friends if they came to Vietnam.
Tuyet Mai said it was very hard to build TrucMai House. “In 1992, we moved from the Vietnam Song and Dance Theatre in Hanoi to the Bong Sen Song and Dance Theatre in HCM City. It is lucky that we have a stable job. However, to support our life and to widely advertise traditional music, we are the first to perform traditional music at restaurants and then at a small theatre at the Thong Nhat Palace (HCM City). After 12 years, we opened TrucMai House,” she recalled.
After 17 years going their own road, Tuyet Mai and Dinh Linh are very glad to see a large number of people who also love traditional musical instruments and music. The couple’s passion for traditional music has been inherited by their two sons, who also join in the family shows. The youngest son, Dang Nhat Minh, 13, is studying bamboo flute in China.
After five years of operation, the couple plan to turn TrucMai House into a club for fans of traditional music. Tuyet Mai has opened experimental classes to teach traditional music at home in the morning and the evening on Saturday and Sunday.
“I hope more and more Vietnamese young people will learn about traditional music. I hope this club will help preserve the Vietnamese character in music,” she said.

Tuyet Mai was born in a family of art. At the age of ten, she entered the Hanoi Conservatory of Music to study playing tam thap luc (36-chord zither).
In 1988, she graduated from the conservatory and was recruited by the Vietnam Song and Dance Theatre. She met and got married with artist Dinh Linh there.
In 1992, the couple moved from Hanoi to HCM City to work for Bong Sen Song and Dance Theatre. They were recognised as Meritorious Artist in 2007.