Music Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the Industry

Music Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the IndustryMusic Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the IndustryMusic Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the IndustryMusic Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the Industry
  • Home
  • Meet the Music Mavens
  • Order the Book
  • About the Authors
  • Book News & Events
  • Readers' Resources
  • Educator Resources
  • Contact Us
  • Kaoly Asano
  • Maria Elisa Ayerbe
  • Katarina Benzova
  • Regina Carter
  • Janet Dacal
  • Sylvia Massy
  • Nami Melumad
  • Lia Mice
  • Kaila Mullady
  • Nova Wav
  • Valérie Sainte-Agathe
  • Macy Schmidt
  • Kate Schutt
  • Joanne Shenandoah
  • Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ

Click here to order the book.

Music Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the Industry

Music Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the IndustryMusic Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the IndustryMusic Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the Industry
  • Home
  • Meet the Music Mavens
  • Order the Book
  • About the Authors
  • Book News & Events
  • Readers' Resources
  • Educator Resources
  • Contact Us
  • Kaoly Asano
  • Maria Elisa Ayerbe
  • Katarina Benzova
  • Regina Carter
  • Janet Dacal
  • Sylvia Massy
  • Nami Melumad
  • Lia Mice
  • Kaila Mullady
  • Nova Wav
  • Valérie Sainte-Agathe
  • Macy Schmidt
  • Kate Schutt
  • Joanne Shenandoah
  • Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ

If you put yourself into something, you will be a successful person because that will help you to express yourself. Maybe nobody else can see it, but you see it.


Vân‐Ánh Vanessa Võ, Multi-Instrumentalist & Composer

Chapter 11 - Vân‐Ánh Vanessa Võ: Tradition and Improvisation

     On December 4, 2021, San Francisco Bay Area music lov‐ ers crowded into Zellerbach Playhouse in Berkeley, donning masks and flashing vaccination cards, to witness a sold‐out world premiere. In that performance of Songs of Strength, Vân‐ Ánh Vanessa Võ and her Blood Moon Orchestra offered tra‐ ditional music’s answer to contemporary questions. Among them, the 86,400 challenge.

     The latter asks you to imagine that $86,400 is deposited in your bank account every morning. It’s all yours. The only catch: you must spend it. You can’t transfer it to savings, you can’t invest it. Use it or lose it! If the idea sounds far‐fetched, consider the fact that everyone wakes in the morning with that amount of a precious commodity, namely time—the 86,400 seconds in each day.

     How should you spend it?...


So opens the bio of Vân‐Ánh Vanessa Võ, an artist perfectly poised to explore themes of presence and intention. From a very early age,  she dedicated her daily 86,400 to one thing—music. And for her, the future always lay in songs of the past.


(Read how Vân‐Ánh followed traditional music around the world, weaving stories of her homeland with the narratives of others.)

Photo Gallery

Vân‐Ánh Vanessa Võ plays the đàn bầu

Photo by Tung Nguyen


The đàn bầu is a traditional Vietnamese monochord instrument.

    VideoS

    Malaguena - Vân‐Ánh Vanessa Võ

    Van Any says, "This is a Vietnamese-Middle East-Dutch-American-Spanish version of Malaguena! With my T'rung (bamboo Xylophone), I love doing fusion music!"

    SOUNDTRACK RECORDING - People vs. Agent Orange - Blake Leyh & Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ

    The People vs. Agent Orange:  Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for the devastation caused by Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides. 


    This powerful documentary tells their story, driven home by an innovative cross-cultural score that blends the Vietnamese music of Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ with modern composition and electronics by Blake Leyh.   The People vs. Agent Orange soundtrack release on June 25th.  After many international festival screenings, the film airs on PBS in the United States on June 28th.

    Mekong Trilogy: SOUL, LIFE, REFLECTION. Cambodian Roneat (Xylophone) Setup

    Exploring the sounds of souls and lives of people and cultures that live along the Mekong River is greatest joy to work on this production. 


    These three roneat instruments were brought home to the U.S from last Thanksgiving research trip in Cambodia. The first part of Mekong Trilogy is coming to you in 2022.

    Music as Conversation with Vân‐Ánh Vanessa Võ and the Blood Moon Orchestra

    Award-winning Vietnamese composer and traditional multi-instrumentalist Vân-Ánh Võ presents “Resilience: Building Strength through Community Experiences,” the second installment of two interactive performances. 


    Together with special guest artist Charya Burt, and Võ’s musical collective, Blood Moon Orchestra, Võ will share stories of immigrant communities’ resilience through music and movement.   About special guest artist Charya Burt: 

    Charya Burt is an acclaimed master dancer, choreographer, vocalist, and teacher of classical Cambodian dance who has injected new life into the dance form by creating inventive new works. Following the Khmer Rouge genocide, Burt trained extensively with Cambodia’s foremost surviving dance masters, eventually joining the dance faculty of Cambodia’s Royal University of Fine Arts. Since emigrating in 1993, Burt has performed throughout the United States and has trained thousands of dance students in California. A 2019–2020 Dance/USA Fellow and Isadora Duncan Award recipient for individual performance, she is founder and artistic director of Charya Burt Cambodian Dance.  


    This program was presented at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco in partnership with the Vietnamese American Non-Governmental Organization (VANGO) Network and Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN).   

    Thi Ca Su Viet 9 - Act 6: Vân‐Ánh Vanessa Võ and The Blood Moon Orchestra (2022)

    Van Anh Vo’s Blood Moon Orchestra is a genre-bending musical collective  that defies the bounds of Vietnamese traditional music, hip-hop/rap, and  breakdance. All master musicians, members of BMO have an innate ability to blend very different sounds together, creating surprisingly new and fresh musical dialogues.  


    Beginning back in 2015 as an initiative by RIGHTSTARTER (drummer/producer PC Muñoz and rapper DEM ONE), current director/composer Van-Anh took over the creative directorship in 2017. BMO concerts address social issues, critically engage with underserved communities on issues of our times, and bridge cultures and generations through traditional music. 


    In 2019, BMO was a headliner and provided workshops to 12,800 audience members for BridgeFest Vietnam, which aimed to foster dialogue surrounding diversity and equality.


    Joel Davel, marimba lumina; Kai Echkardt, electric bass; Tunjie,  breakdance and contemporary ballet; Jimi Nakagawa, percussions  and taiko drums; Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ, orchestra lead, zither, monochord, bamboo xylophone, lyrics, and vocals. 

    Spotify Playlist

    Visit Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ's Website
    • Meet the Music Mavens
    • Order the Book
    • Contact Us

    Music Mavens: 15 Women of Note in the Industry

    Book Published by Chicago Review Press

    Audios & videos are artists' intellectual property

    Copyright ©2023 ASHLEY WALKER & MAUREEN CHARLES • All Rights Reserved.

    This website uses cookies.

    We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

    DeclineAccept