Playing fingerstyle guitar has become popular in Vietnam in recent years. One simple way of describing this genre is that, with only a single guitar, a performer can play as if he was an entire band. Fingerstyle brings about a whole new perspective for the acoustic guitar, and is currently drawing attention for the guitar-music genre from the community.

Classes, exchanges, concerts, and contests have been organized in Vietnam, mainly by the Vietnam Fingerstyle Guitar Organization, to broadly develop the genre and make more international connections. Some of the highlighted activities that have attracted lots of attention are: “The 1st Vietnam Percussive Fingerstyle Guitar Contest” in 2013, the "Passion and Challengers" concert in 2014, the "Guitar… Like never before" concert in 2014, the Vietnam International Fingerstyle Guitar Festival 2015, and most recently, the “Sungha Jung Live in Vietnam” 2016 concerts. These concerts have made foreign guitarists more interested in performing in Vietnam.  Do Duong Tung, Chairman of the Vietnam Fingerstyle Guitar Organization, said:“The Fingerstyle guitar genre is a new kind of art in Vietnam. The fans are obsessed with foreign artists, but they never used to come to Vietnam to perform. With the concerts that we’ve been organizing, it’s like a dream come true. Every time we invite a well-known musician, the fans request more artists. There are many musicians that the fans want invited to Vietnam to perform.”

“Korean guitar prodigy” Sungha Jung (source: danguitar.vn)

Sungha Jung is one of many well-known guitarists who have been invited to Vietnam to perform. The “Korean guitar prodigy”, who mastered the guitar at the age of 10, shared his love for the fingerstyle guitar genre:“There’s an attraction with this specific genre called “fingerstyle guitar”. You can play melodies, chorus, and percussion at the same time. That’s why I fell in love with this fingerstyle genre”.The talented artist said he’s pleased to be back in Vietnam:“I have a big fan base here in VN. I’m so excited to have concerts here because my Vietnamese audience is very responsive”.

A long line of responsive fans showed up for “Sungha Jung live in Vietnam” 2016. Lots of them brought along their own guitars for their idol to autograph. Nguyen Tuan Minh, a high-school student from Hanoi said:“I’ve studied guitar for 1 year, and I followed the fingerstyle guitar genre after 6 months. This is a new and special genre, which is different from all others. Sungha is my model and my motivation to keep on practicing.”

Sungha Jung is most well-known for his fingerstyle guitar covers and originals (source: officialykmusic.com)

During the 2-hour concert, Sungha performed a number of beautiful songs, including original songs from his last album and his about-to-be-released album, and new covers also. The audience was transfixed by one musician on stage producing the sound of a whole band. They seemed hypnotized by Sungha, whose hands and fingers moved exceptionally smoothly between the notes and rhythms. For two hours, there were only music and long applause in the auditorium of the Youth Theatre. Vu Thu Giang from Hanoi expressed her feelings after watching Sungha perform:“I find his live performances much more beautiful than his records. Watching the artist on stage feels more intimate than watching him on the computer screen. I prefer his original songs, as his true feelings are exposed more than in the covers.”

Sungha’s music mesmerizes everyone who hears it for the first time. All the way from Norway, Ole Archer expressed his admiration:“I hadn’t listened to him before I read that he was coming to Vietnam. Then I started to listen to him. It was very pleasant, nice and very interesting music. It’s also interesting to see how he plays, not only listen to him.”