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Recently, an art show titled Viet Soul 2 was held at a theater in Sydney which took the Australian public to visit the Central and Central Highlands of Vietnam through a vibrant and attractive musical journey.

Heavy rain and cold weather on a winter night in June did not prevent people from filling the Bryan Brown Theater in Sydney, Australia to watch the VietSoul2 program organized by the Vietnam Australia Culture Exchange Organization (VACEO).

VACEO Director Nguyen Viet Ha said that the program is organized to develop and widely spread traditional Vietnamese culture to the Australian public. "There are up to 40 professional and amateur artists participating in the program. At the same time, the program also has the participation of community schools, such as the dance group of Alysian school and their martial arts group."

Vietnamese and Australian music instruments perform together. Photo: VACEO

VACEO's purpose in doing so is to encourage and provide opportunities for children and new generations of Vietnamese people in Australia to know Vietnam's culture and traditions so that they will later have the task of preserving them to pass on to future generations, Ha stressed.

The program brought the Australian public to visit the Central and Central Highlands of Vietnam through 13 performances on the journey to Vietnam of young Jordan Sefton, a native Australian. From songs with strong Central characteristics such as Chau Van Singing (a Vietnamese form of ritual singing) to the song Paranung Drums filled with the breath of the Central Highlands mountains or dances such as the 'Statue of Shiva' performance of the Cham people and ethnic musical instrument ensembles have brought to a unique and high-quality traditional music space.

Tran Hong Van, Principal of Viet School, told a VOV reporter that the event is an attractive program and has profound meaning for the Vietnamese community in Australia. She was surprised because, in her 17 years in Australia, she had never seen a program as elaborately staged and of such high quality as today's show.

"It's really surprising and it's a program that brings to Vietnamese audiences in Australia the cultural features of Vietnam's traditional musical instruments and maybe many people here have never seen it before. For children, 2nd and 3rd generations in Australia, this is an extremely useful opportunity for them to access the beauty of Vietnamese culture," Van expressed.

Van expressed her thanks to the artists from Vietnam like the artists in Australia who prepared this program. She also voiced her admiration for their contributions to a wonderful program.

Vietnamese and Australian music instruments perform together. Photo: Viet Nga

The special thing about the program is that it not only performs Vietnamese traditional music but also combines traditional Australian music and instruments, the Didgeridoo. Even though they come from two different cultures, the performances combining the national musical instruments of the two countries blend surprisingly well and create an extremely unique performance.

Jordan Sefton, a didgeridoo performer, shared that he liked this combination because it created a great performance. "I like Vietnamese culture. It's fun, I find it very interesting."

When participating in these activities, the sounds of Australian and Vietnamese musical instruments blend very well, Jordan highlighted, that the intertwining of Vietnamese and Australian cultures has created wonderful sounds.

During its two-hour run, the show left a strong impression on not only children who have been away from home for a long time but also on future generations, those whose parents are both Vietnamese or whose parents are Vietnamese.

Jordan Sefton plays Didgeridoo, harmonizing with Vietnamese music. Photo: VACEO

Smith, Jordan's brother, said the show impressed him. "The show was great, it was excellent. It was great to see a variety of performances with musical instruments many of which I have never seen before. It's great to see and listen to the show."

Angie, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wollongong explained more about her excitement about the event. "Every time I get close to my mother's side of the family and culture, it makes me feel familiar like I'm at home. It makes me happy and I'm very excited about tonight's performance."

The program is not only attractive to those with blood connections to Vietnam but also for the Australian public who are not familiar with Vietnamese culture.

As for Nadie James, an Australian invited by a friend to attend the program, the combination of traditional musical instruments of Australian Indigenous people with traditional Vietnamese musical instruments has created a unique impression of the program.

"We enjoyed the program very much and liked the way you enjoyed traditional culture, music, and traditional dances. I especially liked how you included traditional Australian musical instruments in the performances. Vietnamese music section. What a wonderful night," Nadie shared.

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