One man who dreams of telling his grandmother’s story is set to revolutionize Vietnamese music later this year. François Bibonne, a documentary filmmaker from France, has shot and produced a documentary for release next month. The documentary, titled Once Upon a Bridge in Vietnam, seeks to explore classical Vietnamese music throughout time and cement its legacy in history. Bibonne, who holds a master’s degree in Contemporary History, will combine his passions of classical music and film with his family history. Bibonne’s grandmother, a native of Vietnam, will help guide the film’s production. Throughout the later months of 2020, Bibonne traveled from village to village in Vietnam, learning everything about the unique music styles in each region.

Two important opera houses in Vietnam are crucial to the classical music scene: Ho Chi Minh City Opera House and the Hanoi Opera House. The opera house in Ho Chi Minh City, also known as the Opera de Saigon, hosts some of the biggest and influential artists and concerts each year. A few of the biggest pianists and violinists have played in the Opera de Saigon over the years. The Hanoi Opera House, or the Grand Opera House, is also home to many large concerts and events throughout the year. As the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi is a bustling city with tons of cultural impact. A third, but much less significant, opera house is in Haiphong. While the city itself is a center for culture and industry in Vietnam, the opera house in Haiphong is nowhere near as influential as the others in the classical music scene in Vietnam. 

 

 

Despite French influences in many aspects of Vietnamese culture, their musical culture has remained independent of these French influences. “‘This idea of classical music is very different here, because in France… we have like 

Baroque music and contemporary music and classical music and all the stuff, Western classical music. Here {in Vietnam} they have this, but they also connect that to traditional music and to the Vietnamese folk songs,’ François told Việt Nam News.” The goal of Bibonne’s documentary is to highlight this distinct version of classical music. “I think we know quite well the place of classical music in Japan, China or even South Korea, but not enough in Vietnam in my eyes,” Bibonne says. 

 

In an interview with a Vietnamese news outlet, François Bibonne recalls his time in Vietnam two years ago, listening to the “backdrop of classical music performed by the great ensembles of the country.” During this visit, he was first introduced to the nuances of classical Vietnamese music. “When I am with the musicians, we are all immersed in an atmosphere relaxed, unprofessional, a million miles from what we know about European classical music. It allows me to reexamine the role of professional musicians while watching them evolve. They all tell me that we play to be happy!” he continued. 

Unlike classical music in the Western world, Vietnamese classical music takes on a special tone and style. Traditional

folk song and culture is a prominent theme in the classical music scene. Often, both folk songs and classical music tell a traditional story, one that resonates with the Vietnamese audience. This unique style of classical music drew Bibonne, both as a music enthusiast and as a person of Vietnamese heritage. Classical music in Vietnam tells powerful and unique stories, which is something Bibonne believes is worth preserving. The documentary Once Upon a Bridge in Vietnam, will focus on preserving a traditional sense of Vietnamese classical music, discussing Vietnamese history and heritage, and introducing new ideas of classical music styles to the Western world, Bibonne’s most prominent audience. 

Throughout the pandemic, Vietnamese musicians have been forced to cancel all live performances. As vaccine rollout

begins, albeit slowly, the music industry is opening up again. The “We Return” concert by the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO), performed in June 2020, served as the massive reintroduction of music culture back into Vietnamese life. Now, in August, Vietnamese classical music will reach a broader audience as Bibonne’s documentary releases.