# Vân-Ánh Võ at YBCA Forum, January 22, 2016

[Yerba Buena Center for the Arts](http://www.ybca.org/odyssey) presents _The Odyssey - from Vietnam to America_ featuring [Vân-Ánh Võ](http://www.vananhvo.com/) & the VA'V  
2016-01-22  
[Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum](http://ybca.org/)  
[701 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=701+Mission+Street,+San+Francisco,+CA&hl=en)  
8:00 PM, Friday, January 22, 2016

[[2016-01-21-2|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2016|Up to the 2016 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2016#January_events|Up to the 2016 event list!]] ☸  [[2016-01-24|On to the next event!]]

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## Pre-show Discussion

[7:17 PM] introductions by Cathy Lam, moderator  
* Each panelist (Khatharya Um, Thuy Vo Dang and Alexander M. Cannon) responds at length to a single question from the moderator  
* Then one more question for each to respond to one after another  
[7:47 PM, thanks and done]


## Set One: the Odyssey

[8:09 PM; lights down]  
Part I: _Leaving_

01. [8:14 PM] _War_
02. [8:19 PM] _Leaving_
03. [8:22 PM] _Pirate_  
   
Part II: _Scorching Sun_
04. [8:26 PM] _Scorching Sun_
05. [8:26 PM] _Lullaby_
06. [8:29 PM] _Thirst_
07. [8:35 PM] _Sea of Tears_  
   
Part III: _Nuoc - My Country_
08. [8:37 PM] _Nuoc_
09. [8:38 PM] _My Country_  
   
Part IV: _Light of Hope_
10. [8:42 PM] _Awakening_
11. [8:44 PM] _Light of Hope_  
   
Part V: _Beyond the Seas_
12. [8:52 PM] _the Americans_
13. [8:53 PM] _How About Us?_  
[set ends 8:58 PM]

## Set Two

[9:24 PM lights down]

01. [9:25 PM] _Dat Nuoc Loi Ru_ (Lullaby for a Country)
02. [9:34 PM] _Hanh Van_ (Vietnamese folk song) 
03. [9:39 PM] _Luu Thuy Truong_ (Green River Delta) (Vietnamese folk song)
04. [9:44 PM] _the  Cycle_
05. [9:52 PM] _Summertime_
06. [9:58 PM] _Day Dream_
07. [10:08 PM] _Go Hunting_ 
[set ends 10:15 PM]  
   
**Encore**
08. [10:15 PM] ? (Vietnamese folk song)
09. [10:20 PM] ? (Vietnamese folk song)  
[show ends 10:28 PM; all off after a minute or two]


## Performers

* [Philip Blackburn](http://philipblackburn.com/): environmental sounds;
* [Dan Cantrell](http://bellowhead.com/):  accordion, musical saw,  percussion,  vox;
* [Alex Kelly](http://www.alexkelly.com/): cello ,  percussion,  vox ;
* [Jimi Nakagawa](http://www.jiminakagawa.com/): taiko drums, percussion;
* [Vân-Ánh Võ](http://www.vananhvo.com/): đàn tranh, đàn bầu monochord, đàn T'rưng (bamboo xylophone), klông pút (traditional drums), vox;
* [Ian Winters](https://www.ianwinters.com/): video and multimedia work.

## Notes

Promo blurb from YBCA: Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning composer Vân-Ánh Võ will premiere a new musical event, The Odyssey.; Inspired by the epic journey of the Vietnamese boat people, this performance reflects upon the resilience of the human spirit and the price of freedom. In this performance, Võ integrates traditional and modern instruments, video, field recordings, and interviews with those who survived the the voyage of fleeing Vietnam by boat. YBCA also posted a brief promo for the work on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIWGmbeIWYE).

[Promo piece](http://www.ybca.org/pre-show-talk-odyssey) for the Pre-show talk.

Lou Fancher posted a nice [article](https://www.sfcv.org/preview/oakland-symphony/vân-ánh-võ’s-odyssey) about Vân-Ánh at SFCV.

Cy Musiker posted a brief audio [interview and article](http://www.npr.org/2016/01/31/464841711/v-n-nh-v-s-the-odyssey-tells-refugee-stories-past-and-present) about the work on NPR.

Stephen Smoliar posted a [promotional article](http://www.examiner.com/article/yerba-buena-center-for-the-arts-will-begin-2016-with-a-new-musical-epic) about this show at the Examiner website, then followed it up with a [review](http://www.examiner.com/article/v-n-nh-v-premieres-her-musical-epic-of-the-odyssey-of-vietnamese-refugees) from tonight's performance.

Tonight's show was a nice alternative to the usual rock and jazz that tends to fill out our schedule. Despite the lengthy description above and even more detailed program notes, the first half was quite abstract, no more or less evocative of the source material than classical works like _the Pines of Rome_ or the tone poems of Debussy and Ravel. I quite liked it, even if I had a hard  time following the narrative structure. Probably would have been easier if the house lights were left up (for reading), but all in all, I prefer listening in the dark, so I'm not complaining as much as offering commentary. 

Alex Kelly made a terrific opening statement in his initial solo, playing through a fuzz box with a wah-wah pedal: he definitely earned the Hendrix of the Night certificate with that one. 

Dan Cantrell got us smiling 
later in the set when he took a polytonal vocal solo -- from Tuva to you, don't try this at home kids unless you're willing to shred those vocal chords a little on those basso profundo fundamentals! 

Vav had plenty of star turns tonight; no surprise there, after all it was her show!

Free of structural expectation, the second half, a handful of distinct songs, was a little easier to digest. I dunno that I'm all that keen to see another show by these folks again real soon, but I'll certainly keep my eyes and ears open for new works in future seasons. 

{{tag>music Van-Anh_Vo YBCA_Forum Vân-Ánh_Võ  Alex_Kelly Dan_Cantrell Jimi_Nakagawa Philip_Blackburn Ian_Winters}}

[[2016-01-21-2|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2016|Up to the 2016 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2016#January_events|Up to the 2016 event list!]] ☸  [[2016-01-24|On to the next event!]]