VanAnh Vo Vietnamese multi instrumentalist, composer and vocalist

Passionate and wildly talented traditional Vietnamese instrumentalist and composer Van-Anh Vanessa Vo knows where the soul of her music lies: in her left hand.

“It brings out all the colors, everything you want to hear, the bending and sliding notes. Otherwise, with just the right hand, the melody feels so dry,” explains Vo. “The right hand is the father who sired me, but the left hand is my mother who raised me.”

The left hand’s color and emotive quality burst through the diverse and intriguing pieces of Three Mountain Pass, (Innova; release: September 24, 2013). A masterful player of the 16-string danTranh—a zither with moveable bridges and the springy, bending tones resembling the koto—and the pitch-bendingmonochord danBau, Vo draws on the dozens of traditional genres found in Vietnam to craft new arrangements and compositions.

Whether setting a sensual 18th-century poem to a newly invented instrument (“Three Mountain Pass”) or completely upending one of Satie’s Gnossiennes, Vo brings virtuosic subtlety and profound emotion to her work, a keen ear for the essence of her roots and their potential resonance with contemporary sounds.

In collaborations with Kronos Quartet (the wonderful chamber music conversation of “Green River Delta”) and in her work with orchestras and Japanese taiko drum ensembles, Vo reveals the great breadth and flexibility of the traditional styles she spent decades perfecting with master musicians and at the conservatory in Hanoi. Now based in the Bay Area, Vo pushes the envelope of the past, engaging sounds and complex, multi-layered concepts to unfurl new spaces for the music she loves.

“I think if you have a love for music, you want to explore more and more and maximize your abilities,” muses Vo, whose mastery of danTranh, danBau, and 5 other Viet traditional instruments is exceedingly rare. “I’m still doing it, not just with Vietnamese traditional instruments, but I’ve moved to many other instruments around the world, as many as I can.”

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Excerpt work from Fire and Bronze (stage 1) production. Featuring Jazz guitarist Nguyen Le. Ensemble members: Sheldon Brown on wind and reed instruments, Jimi Nakagawa on Taiko, Aaron Germain on Upright Bass and electronic bass.

Van-Anh Vo on dan Tranh (Vietnamese 16-string zither), dan Bau (the monochord), dan T'rung (the bamboo xylophone), vocal, Viet traditional drum and other percussions.