Đàn Bầu: A World of Music on One String | Jason "SoulGook" Nguyen | TEDxCincinnati

The producer/musician SoulGook plays a unique traditional Vietnamese instrument that has just one string, making music that blurs the distinctions between genres, traditions, and generations. FB: @SoulGook / Instagram: @SoulGook / LinkedIn: Jason Nguyen / Twitter: @SoulGook / Youtube: @SoulGook / Website: soulgook.com Jason R. Nguyen ("SoulGook") Performance Blending sixteen years of training in Vietnamese traditional music with his love for a good groove, SoulGook (Jason R. Nguyen) creates music that complicates the artificial boundaries of traditional and contemporary, old and new, Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese. Having studied for years under a distinguished master of the single-string instrument known as "đàn bầu," he incorporates his fondness for traditional Vietnamese music into a repertoire that includes everything from R&B remixes of Vietnamese ballads to covers of pop-chart hits blended with the melodies of Vietnamese folk songs. Through performances that reach across genres and styles, SoulGook examines the social meanings we attach to music and engages with the nuances of cultural identity, hybridity, and history. Blending sixteen years of training in Vietnamese traditional music with his love for a good groove, SoulGook (Jason R. Nguyen) creates music that complicates the artificial boundaries of traditional and contemporary, old and new, Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese. Having studied for years under a distinguished master of the single-string instrument known as "đàn bầu," he incorporates his fondness for traditional Vietnamese music into a repertoire that includes everything from R&B remixes of Vietnamese ballads to covers of pop-chart hits blended with the melodies of Vietnamese folk songs. Through performances that reach across genres and styles, SoulGook examines the social meanings we attach to music and engages with the nuances of cultural identity, hybridity, and history. Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/YouTube: @SoulGook Web: www.soulgook.com This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx