Born in 1946 in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam, he came from a family of prominent musicians conversant in musical genres that span the Vietnamese musical spectrum from theatrical to chamber music, folk songs to Buddhist chants.
He was a traditionally-trained musician who had studied with village artisans from the age of five. At the age of 13, he took up Vietnamese theatre music and went on to perform professionally both Cai luong (reformed theatre) and Hat boi (classical theatre) styles.
He also studied with tribal musicians and learned to perform on some musical instruments, such as bamboo tubes, Hiho (bundle flutes) and T’rung (bamboo xylophone).
In 1973, he both studied and promoted Vietnamese traditional music in Japan.
He first stayed in France in 1974, where he performed frequently and got a doctoral degree in ethnomusicology from the Sorbonne University in 1982.
He then resettled in the United States and was invited to give lectures at many famous universities and conservatories in Canada , the UK , Japan , China , South Korea , Singapore , Taiwan , etc.
