Professor Tran Van Khe, known as the master of traditional Vietnamese music, died at the age of 94 on early June 24.

Professor Tran Van Khe (Photo: VNA)

He fought for his life for nearly a month in a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Professor Khe, a veteran musicologist, academician, writer and teacher, as well as performer of traditional music, died at Gia Dinh People's Hospital. He was suffering from various illnesses of the lungs, heart and kidney, doctors said.

Professor Khe was born in 1921 in My Tho province (now the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang).

He lived in Paris for more than 50 years and nurtured his love for Viet Nam's traditional music since a young age.

He was the first Vietnamese person to get a doctoral degree in musicology in France.

He became a professor at Sorbonne University in Paris, where he researched and taught traditional music, and was a honorary member of the International Music Council (UNESCO), and a corresponding member of the European Academy of the Sciences, Letters and Arts.

He dedicated himself to researching, promoting and honouring his country's music around the globe.

He came back to live in Viet Nam in 2004. All the documents that he collected during his numerous years of research of traditional music were packed into 460 parcels and shipped from France to Viet Nam. The documents are being preserved at the HCM City National Museum.

(Source: VNA)