Vietnamese female guitarist captivates Belgian audience

Interspersing contemporary and classical Western music, guitarist Le Thu made the audience amazed and excited when performing Vietnamese folk melodies.

From November 22-26, the 2024 International Guitar Festival and Competition with the theme "Earth, Our Planet" took place in Brussels, Belgium. The concert gathered many famous artists from all over the world to attend and perform, especially the participation of the beloved Vietnamese-American guitarist Le Thu, who is living in Bahrain. The performance started at 8 p.m., but in the auditorium of the Royal Conservatory of Belgium, the audience arrived very early and there was almost no empty seat. Sharing with a reporter from the Vietnam News Agency in Brussels, Mr. Grégory Van Delborg, a Belgian audience member, said he came to enjoy the concert with his two sons. His whole family is passionate about guitar and knows the reputation of guitarist Le Thu as well as the artists participating in the concert. Not disappointing the audience's expectations, in the first part of the show, the artists brought colorful cultural performances, through stories told through charming Latin music . The most anticipated performance in the second part of the music night was Le Thu's performance, with solo and duo guitar segments, duet with famous Austrian-Cuban artist Marco Tamayo. This is the first guitar duet performed in Belgium. Interspersed with contemporary and classical Western music, Le Thu made the audience amazed and excited when performing Vietnamese folk tunes such as "Loi Lo" with a Cheo melody, arranged for guitar. In particular, the Northern folk song "Beo dat may troi" performed by her and male artist Marco Tamayo received enthusiastic response from the audience. At the end of the performance, continuous applause resounded throughout the auditorium, causing the pair of artists to stand up and bow repeatedly in response to the audience's love. Talking to VNA reporters in Belgium after the performance, artist Le Thu emphasized that for her, this was a very special performance because 10 years ago, also in Brussels, she first participated in this competition and won an award. 9 years later (2023), she was invited to participate, but did not perform, and this year, exactly 10 years later, she was invited to perform at the competition. Her feelings are still the same as 10 years ago, very wonderful, honored and proud. According to artist Le Thu, the fact that many Vietnamese audiences, including the Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium and the European Union Nguyen Van Thao came to enjoy and cheer her on in the performance made her really emotional. As an artist who has traveled to many places and performed in many countries around the world , performing for her compatriots far away from the Fatherland is always a very sacred, proud and emotional feeling. Not only performing for her compatriots, she also wants to convey the identity and beauty of Vietnamese culture to international audiences, so that they can better understand and love the country and people of Vietnam. This is also the reason why she always performs Vietnamese works in her performances. Sharing about the fact that the rate of women playing guitar is much lower than that of men, artist Le Thu said that her first teacher was her father and to be able to maintain her success to this day, the biggest motivation is the passion passed down from her father, second, is the effort and determination to assert herself. Although women playing guitar face more difficulties than men, because they are also busy with responsibilities for family and children, she always believes that she must always try and try harder, what men can do, women can do too, as long as they maintain the flame of passion and pride in what they do. Referring to her plan to return to Vietnam to perform for her home audience, artist Le Thu affirmed that it is always a joy and pride, as well as a very important part of her music career. Almost every year she returns to Vietnam to perform and visit her family, and she hopes to meet Vietnamese audiences in the near future, possibly in May 2025. Meanwhile, male artist Marco Tamayo, who performed the song "Floating Water Float" with Le Thu, shared that he has a passion for Asian music in general and Vietnamese music in particular. Although he has not been to Vietnam, he really hopes to set foot in this beautiful country. Artist Le Thu, born in 1978, graduated with honors from the Vietnam Academy of Music in 2001 after 15 years of studying and became a lecturer at the school. In 2010, she moved to New Delhi and was invited by the Bridge Music Academy of India to be the Head of the Guitar Department. Artist Le Thu has won many international guitar awards, such as the Asian Guitarist of the Year at the Kolkata Guitar Festival (India) in 2010 and 2013, and the first prize at the Nilüfer International Guitar Competition (Turkey) in 2015. She is currently living with her family in Bahrain. She has been invited to perform and teach guitar in many countries such as Italy, France, England, Austria, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Turkey, the US, etc. The Brussels International Guitar Festival and Competition is an annual music festival organized by Mr. Hugues Navez, Founder and Artistic Director. Over the years, this festival has built up its reputation and become a gathering place for artists and guitar lovers from all over the world. What is special is that this year's festival is co-sponsored by the Embassy of Vietnam in the Kingdom of Belgium, along with the European Union./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nu-nghe-sy-guitar-goc-viet-lam-dam-say-cong-chung-bi-post995294.vnp