No Rest For the Wicked...

We've been so busy I haven't had time to write much on this blog lately. I have a few minutes before we have to go to the next action packed adventure, so here goes...

The people of Hanoi are really wonderful and I like this city a lot. Hanoi will celebrate it's 1,000th anniversary soon. It's the cultural center of Vietnam and the capitol.

Night before last we played a few songs in a demonstration session with some very traditional Vietnamese musicians. There was a singer and two musicians including a 90 year old man that played a type of archaic music that was only played for kings and the royal families hundreds of years ago and is lately making a resurgence led on by this group. The woman singer is one of the most famous in Vietnam and they explained that the music was hard to understand or appreciate unless you were of royal blood. Maybe I was Prince Roberto in a past life because I enjoyed it - it was fascinating and strange. Very quiet and somber with a strong atmosphere. The old gentleman was the string player. I hope I'm still able to play at that age... We also heard another trio that played traditional music but was more lively. There was a sort of hammered dulcimer, a two stringed instrument called a "moon" and a mono-stringed instrument that the woman player played very gracefully. I'm posting a couple of photos here so you can get an idea of what the instruments were like.

Yesterday we had a master class and the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music and a performance in the theater of Hanoi University. We invited some students up to play with us a few guitarists and some traditional players too.

Tonight we play a festival with seven other bands from all over the world. It's in a stadium and we're told there will be 25,000 there. it's also on country-wide live TV with a potential audience of 20 million! I'll let you know how it goes.

We've so slammed with shows, workshops and demonstrations, we haven't seen any tourist attractions or museums yet. We head out for the Viet Bac College of Culture and Arts in Thai Nguyen tomorrow morning...