A musical show dealing with the fading of tradition as urbanisation approaches will be staged in Hanoi on April 4 and 5.

Titled Arrival Cities, the work is a joint project between band The Six Tones and Swedish artist Jorgen Dahlqvist who made a documentary from recordings and interviews with people in transition zones in the city.

The work was inspired by Canadian journalist Doug Saunders, who discusses 21st century migration in his book entitled Arrival Cities (2010). Building on research on five continents, his book chronicles the final shift of human populations from rural to urban areas, which Saunders argues is the most important development of the 21st century.

Arrival Cities is built around the life of Luu Ngoc Nam, an actor and costume maker in traditional Tuong theatre.

In Arrival Cities, the homesickness and tension between traditions he experiences as he moves around the country becomes the source of inspiration.

The Six Tones is a group that plays traditional Vietnamese music in hybrid settings for Western stringed instruments and traditional Vietnamese instruments. Members also improvise in traditional and experimental Western idioms and also commission new works in collaboration with artists in Asia and other parts of the world.

The band includes two Vietnamese, Nguyen Thanh Thuy, who plays dan tranh, and Ngo Tra My, who plays dan bau (monochord), and the Swedish guitarist Stefan Ostersjo, who also plays other stringed instruments.-VNA