Artist Thao Giang (Photo: sankhau.com.vn)

Thao Giang was born in Thanh Oai district, Hanoi. He studied at the Vietnam National Academy of Music and stayed there to teach after graduation. Giang also spent years studying music abroad. The musician then worked with Professor Pham Minh Khang to establish the Vietnam Music Development Center. Giang said: “The Vietnam Music Development Center was set up in 2005 aiming to research, restore, and preserve traditional music through teaching and performing. In 2010, the Ministry of Education and Training allowed the center to train some types of traditional music, including Xam, the music of blind street performers, Ca tru (ceremonial singing), Chau van (ritual singing), Quan ho folk songs and traditional musical instruments. The first 20 students finished their training in 2015”.

Thao Giang has cooperated with other musicians to provide free training classes in traditional music.

During his career, Thao Giang has written many musical works, with “The story of harvest time” being the most popular one. Artist Xuan Hoach talked about this piece: “The work portrays a lively picture of harvest time in the rural area with people harvesting and carrying rice, the sounds of birds, and roosters. It depicts the happiness of farmers having abundant crops. “The story of harvest time” was first recorded on the Voice of Vietnam and was also performed in other countries”.

Thao Giang also develops great love for Xam singing. He has carried out a lot of research to preserve and popularize the genre: “We first performed Xam singing in 2005 on the Old Quarter’s Hang Ngang street, which attracted a large audience. Since then, we give regular performances in the area every weekend. Now, Xam singing is integrated with other art forms such as stage, circus, movie, traditional opera, classical drama, and modern music”.

Many old people are regular attendees at Xam performances at the night market in the Old Quarter. A lot of foreigners like listening to Xam and Ca Tru singing and even visit his music center to learn singing.

At an old age, Thao Giang is still devoted to traditional music which he said is the soul of Vietnam’s culture. People’s Artist Xuan Hoanh, one of Thao Giang’s colleagues, said: “Musician Thao Giang made a great contribution to Vietnamese music without caring about any title or acknowledgement. He has profound knowledge about traditional music and is devoted to it”.