19-year-old Ly Wiegand, a German volunteer in Binh Dinh, enrolled on a musical class opened at the province’s Labour and Culture Palace and she has started learning how to play dan tranh (Vietnamese 16-chord zither) here.
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Ly always practises hardly at ther musical class. Photo N.T
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“My mother is a Vietnamese woman born in An Nhon district’s An Thai commune,” Ly said. “I sometimes visited my relatives in An Thai and they also went to Quy Nhon to visit my family but it is a pity that I can’t speak Vietnamese fluently.”
“I hoped that I will quickly improve my Vietnamese when doing charitable work at Nguyen Nga vocational center,” she added.
When she was a child, her parents took her to Vietnam to visit their relatives. A performance of dan tranh attracted her when she attended a concert in Ha Noi.
“This was the first time I’ve seen a Vietnamese 16-chord zither because there is no kind of musical instrument in Germany,” she recalled. “I was interested in dan tranh at once and wished I could play it one day.”
Returning to Germany, Ly read many books on dan tranh and listened to pieces of music performed by dan tranh.
Working in Vietnam as a volunteer for two years, Ly decided to learn how to play dan tranh and she enrolled for a dan tranh class in Quy Nhon city.
“The more I learn dan tranh, the more I love it,” Ly said. “Besides its beautiful sound, I could practise my patience and concentration when playing dan tranh.”
Her parents presented her a Vietnamese 16-chord zither as a Christmas gift last year. Ly is now able to play dan tranh to perform three Vietnamese songs.
“I always perform at home whenever I learn a new piece of music,” Ly said happily. “My father is fond of listening to Vietnamese songs.”
Ly’s musical instructor, Thanh Hoang, said, “Ly is very industrious and practise hardly. I will teach her some new songs, particularly the song Que huong (hometown) to which her mother likes listening.”
Thanks to her love for dan tranh, Ly is also interested in Vietnamese culture. Her mother is very happy when Ly show her love for the maternal hometown.
“Many of my friends whose parents are Vietnamese live in Germany don’t know anything about dan tranh,” Ly said. “They are interested in dan tranh when I sent them some photos of me and dan tranh and they are waiting for my performance in Germany,” she said.
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