Heritage: An Asian Perspective

The relationship between music and social systems is explored through the lens of Vietnamese court music and its revitalization. The author describes his role as part of a Japanese research group that identified elderly Vietnamese court musicians and helped to establish a university-level course to teach performance practice, old Vietnamese notation, and the contextualization of this music in the broader context of Asian music. Despite initial criticism by the Vietnamese government of cultural intervention, the project is a model of a cooperative network that cuts across cultures to secure a musical style for the world (and not just the local culture where it had once been vital and then had gradually disappeared).