Nippon Scape

There’s a Japanese woman who plays a traditional Vietnamese musical instrument called a t’rung. When she starts to play, a grand, soul-stirring sound emerges from around her small frame. She is at the core of a trio which is an ensemble somewhat jazz-like in nature, producing moisture-rich grooves. I paid them a visit and found out what kind of dreams the three of them are carrying forward on the palanquin that is their music.

Hello. I’ve just heard the t’rung for the first time, but it produces a very lovely sound, doesn’t it? Could you give a brief explanation of what kind of musical instrument it is?

Oguri: The t’rung is a musical instrument originally from one of the minority tribes in Vietnam’s Tay Nguyen region. Simply put, it’s a sort of xylophone made of bamboo instead of wood.

I find it very interesting to see a young Japanese woman heading a band where an unusual instrument from another country is being played at such an advanced level. How did you wind up getting involved with the t’rung?

Oguri：Most of the Vietnamese musical instruments that people hear about are ones from the culture of the Kinh people, who make up 90% of Vietnam’s population. But the t’rung is a musical instrument that comes from one of the minority people who live in the Tay Nguyen region. One day I learned about this and it just stuck with me. There are over fifty different minority peoples in Vietnam, and there are so many different musical instruments in each region of the country, so why did the t’rung become as well-known nationally as the dominant Kinh culture? In order to find the answer, I began to look into the history of research on the development of the t’rung.

You’ve got a wonderful thirst for knowledge. But I find it really unusual that your original academic curiosity has evolved into your becoming a passionate performer of that music yourself.

Oguri:Actually there’s a reason for that. When I was a child, I learned to play the marimbas. Marimbas are a kind of xylophone, so for me it was very natural to shift my interests to the t’rung, which is another type of xylophone. I first encountered the t’rung when I was in university, majoring in Vietnamese. In my professor’s research lab was a miniature souvenir t’rung, and I was drawn to it from the first time I saw it. When I saw my first real one in Vietnam, I was strongly impressed by the shape and sound, and it completely charmed me off my feet.

It sounds like fate had a hand in things. Now, you’ve taught yourself the t’rung based on your knowledge of marimba techniques, then?

Oguri: No. Actually I went to Vietnam to study for a year, and I learned from a teacher at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music (now named the Vietnam National Academy of Music) and from the original person who began research into the development of the t’rung, who lives in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hanoi Conservatory of Music’s Professor Mai Lai.

You had the guts to go and study in Vietnam just to learn the t’rung. I’m blown away. Vietnam doesn’t have the greatest sanitation, and in a sense it requires a certain degree of fortitude to get by, but you managed to get over that and devote your life to Vietnam. That’s quite unique.

Oguri:Thank you very much. I love the country of Vietnam. If I were to describe Vietnam in one word, it would be that it’s a very human country. I feel that people are very close to one another there. Compared to Japan, where people have a tendency to percieve others as “strangers,” in Vietnam if someone is next to you then you strike up a conversation, and people naturally help one another. I feel that people don’t worry much about “people I don’t know” and I think it’s very good and natural.

But, no matter how much you like it, to devote your passion to a certain musical instrument from that country is not something a lot of people do. Now, your current endeavor, the T’rung Trio, could you tell me how and why you started this group?

Oguri:he trio was formed for a concert at the Vietnam Festival in September of 2008. It’s important to do traditional Vietnamese music, but I also want to use the t’rung to express my own sense of rhythm and sound, my own sensibility. I wonder what kind of new worlds could open up to Vietnamese people watching me, a foreigner, playing the t’rung from my unique position, in a new style? If my new style of t’rung playing can be heard by the people of the world and give just a little strength to people, I’d be very happy.

I hope that your pursuit of that unique musical world can reach the ears of more and more people. Finally, if you have some sort of vision, please tell me about that.

Oguri:I think that the t’rung has a lot of possibilities as a “bamboo xylophone” once the view of it is widened. That’s why I want to use the trio to break new ground with it as a traditional instrument. Also, I respect my mother, who was a musician, very much. People always gathered around her and got energy from listening to her songs. She got sick and passed away, and so I think I’d like to try and continue what she started with her musical activities.

Kikuda:My personal belief about performing is to keep a theme of “living” whether it comes out as cool or not. I think the sounds that a musician produces affects that person’s way of life. So I want the sounds I produce, the melodies I weave, to be honest to myself. As a result, I think I can make sincere music. I think that the music I’m doing with T’rung Trio is close to my personal goals. I want to do things that will make more and more music fans go “Oh!”

Okayama:At any rate, we’ve got no choice but to play in a way that is sincere to ourselves. If you think something’s “good,” you’ve got to have confidence and take responsibility and actively pursue it. That attitude, and the ability to be flexible about opinions other than your own, if you can take those two things in a good balance and connect them to your music, you can naturally produce your own sound. That’s what I believe. I want to both do that and have the strength to keep it up.

Oguri: We’re putting on a big concert in October, so I hope we can make our own unique atmosphere and bring everyone into our new world of music.

Thank you very much! It gives me strength just watching you young people pursuing a new world. I’m looking forward to experiencing your new world of music.

Information!!

T’rung and Marimba Trio Concert

@ Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse #1 3F Hall
October 4, (Sun) 2009
Doors at 17:30
Show at 18:00
Performers: Kumiko Oguri (T’rung, Marimba), Shigenobu Kikuda (Double Bass), Akihisa Okayama (Percussion)
All seats \3000 (p code: 324-126)
Ticket Dealer: Electronic Ticket Pia: 0570-02-9999

Sponsor: Oguri Kumiko Trio
Co-Sponsor: Japan T’rung Association
Backing: Vietnam Air, the Vietnamese Embassy, Asahi Shimbun Yokohama Bureau, Marimba North Star Association, Neoria Korogi, Asia Wave