On 7 April 2014, music researcher Esbjorn Wettermark announced some sad news to the ethnomusicology community.

Ca tru musicians Nguyen Thi Chuc and Pham Thi Hue. Photo: Huib Schippers.

Ca tru singer Nguyen Thi Chuc, Pham Thi Hue’s teacher and one of the last old ca tru singers in Hanoi, died this morning in her home at the age of 85. Mrs. Chuc has had an important role in the revival of ca tru in Hanoi, she has taught a number of students, including her own grand children, as well as been the main tutor in a number of workshops aimied at getting more young singers involved with ca tru.

 

From a young age, until the closure of the Hanoian ‘singing houses’ in the 1950s, she worked as a professional singer and she had a great knowledge of the ca trù repertoire from this late era of ca tru. Through her work in Hue’s club, Ca tru Thang Long, Mrs. Chuc has been the source of much of the clubs repertoire and style. Ca tru has lost one of its most knowledgeable singers and she will be missed by the whole ca tru community.

Read more at VietnamNews.