KHO KHONG KHO – A Methodological Frameworks for Documentation & Digital Archiving of Performing Arts & Cultural Practices Project

Archiving and documenting music are important, but are often overlooked in the process of researching and practicing music, culture, arts, and heritage in Vietnam. Through this program, we aim to develop tools and techniques for methods and documentation of traditional & ethnic music, while bringing together researchers and Vietnamese musicians to explore methodologies for documentation, and to build necessary research capacities towards the creation of a Vietnamese cultural archive.
“KHO KHÔNG KHÓ”- The “Methodological Frameworks for Documentation & Digital Archiving of Music & Performing Arts” project is a research and educational program, funded by Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom, with the main partner being the Dom Dom Experimental Music Center in Vietnam.
We also aim to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the value of traditional music heritage, promote the development of music research & music industry in Vietnam while establishing domestic and international partnerships among researchers and artists.
With nearly 40 participants, the training went over 3.5 days with useful and interesting content. Fortunately, Kho Kho Khong started with very beautiful days in Hanoi. The first day of the training commenced with an opening and introduction from Professor Franziska Schroeder from Queen’s Belfast University and Musician Tran Kim Ngoc, founder of Domdom. Highlights throughout the day were research walks in urban environments, during which participants conducted group data collection, audio recordings, short interviews and live footage of Hanoi streets. With those rich materials, each group worked with their own materials and created a map.
Kho Khong Kho’s Ride continues to roll with lively discussions about situating music, sound and archiving in the context of Vietnam and the world. The second day of the training featured the sharing of experts and practitioners in archiving and documenting music and performing arts: Dr. Pham Minh Huong, Dr. Kieu Trung Son, Musician Nguyen Xuan Son and Dr. Lu Thi Thanh Le.
Trainees also gained knowledge and tools through the workshop “Mapmaking in understanding power and representation in music and archive”, in addition to preparing for a field trip to Bac Ninh by learning key terms & methodologies of ethnographic research.
The journey of Kho Khong Kho gradually reached the finish line with a field trip to Bac Ninh to practice archiving and documenting Quan Họ performance. As an important part of the entire scale of the training, the field trip is where trainees observe, learn and experience the practice of quan họ in its most natural and lively environment. Together, the members of the Kho Khong Kho watched and practiced documenting Quan Họ performance, had lunch and conversations and singing with local artists, documented some of the singing, interviews based on ethnographic methodologies and did Goodbye singing & return to Hanoi.
The last day of the Kho Khong Kho training ended with an impressive “long table” discussion. As the final session of the Kho Khong Kho training course, the “Long Table” seminar brings together all participants, speakers, coordinators to review and discuss what has been experienced and reflect on the topics or ideas raised.
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The “Long Table” encapsulates Kho Khong Kho not in a closed way or as an ending, but as an open ending, inviting continuity and prolongation of discussions, archival questions, and documentation. It is hoped that the members of Kho No Difficult will be the ones who continue to bring the knowledge and experience of the training to all the ways of practice and research in the field of music and performing arts at Vietnam and abroad.
We would like to express our warmest thanks to the experts from Queen’s University Belfast, Professor Franziska Schroeder, Prof. Maruška Svašek and Dr. Ali FitzGibbon for co-constructing Kho Khong Kho from the very beginning. The training could not have been fully successful with its wealth and diverse knowledge without the great contributions from local experts Dr. Pham Minh Huong, Dr. Kieu Trung Son, Musician Nguyen Xuan Son (SonX) and Dr. Lu Thi Thanh Le.
We would like to thank all trainees for their active and enthusiastic participation in the training. Hopefully, the next projects of Domdom will still receive attention and suggestions from all of you to become more complete!
           
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