The Monsoon Music Festival, dubbed the first ever "Made in Vietnam"event of its kind, presented a curtain riser in Hanoi on October 2 thatthoroughly whetted the appetite of an audience with high expectations.
Vietnamesecomposer Quoc Trung (who initiated the event), Danish keyboardistMartin Hedin, and a group of quan ho (love duet) artists left severalmembers of the audience raving about the experience.
The folkartists, in the traditional four-flap dress, sang the folk tune Moi Trau(Offer the Betel) to electro music created by Trung and Hedin.
"It'sa very beautiful opening, to listen and to watch. Trung is really asound magician," said Hoang Xa, a fifty-something IT engineer.
Standing by Xa was his friend, Le Van Hoa, who could not hide his excitement.
"Iam really impressed by this act, which proves that composer Trung hascome a long way from his previous international music show Duong Xa VanDam (Thousand-Mile Way) nearly 10 years ago.
"More importantly,by combining folk tunes and electro music, he has brought new vitalityto Vietnamese traditional music, which will help draw young people whomostly not keen on all kinds of traditional music," he said.
Xa and Hoa were among the few middle-aged people in a crowd of thousands of youngsters.
Havinglived abroad for 30 years, Xa said it was great to re-experience theexcitement he used to feel when attending concerts by famous singersmany years ago.
"It is like going back to the days when I was a young student," he said.
"I'ma very open-minded person. I can enjoy all kinds of music, whether itis dance music, electro music or rock – genres that many people thinkare only fit for young people."
Young tourist couple Michal Borovsky and Zohar Museri of Israel danced to the music, backpacks still on their shoulders.
"Whenwe were walking yesterday, we saw a ticket desk for the festival anddecided to get them because we are a bit curious about Vietnamese music,something that we have not yet had a chance to listen," said Borovsky.
For Tran Hoang Thanh Thao and other members of an "all women club", the festival offered a special evening of fun.
"Weheaded straight here from our offices, hamburgers and drinks in ourbags. We are very excited about enjoying the music as well as our ‘galsonly meeting'. We don't mind that our husbands have to stay home andtake care of our children tonight. It's just for one night," Thao said.
Unlike Thao, Giao Anh – a student of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities – was by herself.
Shewas already excited by the warming-up performances of DJ Tuan Kruise,rapper Kimmese and DJ Hoang Touliver as well DJ Lulu Rouge of Denmark,dancing non-stop.
Lying down sweaty on the grass and looking upthe sky as she spoke to Vietnam News, Anh said she has bought the comboticket for all three nights.
"No word can describe how excited Iam at the moment. Nothing but music can help me express my truepersonality, a bit rebellious and quirky."
Australian Jenny Feltham said the festival was "maybe the biggest-scale music event" she has seen in Hanoi.
"It is like other music festivals that I've attended before in Australia," she said.
Feltham felt one difference was the relatively small number of food stalls at such a big event.
Theopening night also featured performances by Vietnamese divas Tran ThuHa, Hong Nhung and Thanh Lam, the all-women band Nam Dong Ke (TheStave), folk music band 9Bach from the UK, and electro rock band CarparkNorth from Denmark.
On October 3-4, the festival will presentVietnamese rock band Ngu Cung (Pentatonic), English-Argentineanguitarist Dominic Miller who has performed with Sting, Belgian artistBenjamin Schoos, Korean rocker Yi Sung-yol, and DJ Van Cliff from Japan.
Both days, music will play non-stop from 4-11pm.-VNA
Vietnamesecomposer Quoc Trung (who initiated the event), Danish keyboardistMartin Hedin, and a group of quan ho (love duet) artists left severalmembers of the audience raving about the experience.
The folkartists, in the traditional four-flap dress, sang the folk tune Moi Trau(Offer the Betel) to electro music created by Trung and Hedin.
"It'sa very beautiful opening, to listen and to watch. Trung is really asound magician," said Hoang Xa, a fifty-something IT engineer.
Standing by Xa was his friend, Le Van Hoa, who could not hide his excitement.
"Iam really impressed by this act, which proves that composer Trung hascome a long way from his previous international music show Duong Xa VanDam (Thousand-Mile Way) nearly 10 years ago.
"More importantly,by combining folk tunes and electro music, he has brought new vitalityto Vietnamese traditional music, which will help draw young people whomostly not keen on all kinds of traditional music," he said.
Xa and Hoa were among the few middle-aged people in a crowd of thousands of youngsters.
Havinglived abroad for 30 years, Xa said it was great to re-experience theexcitement he used to feel when attending concerts by famous singersmany years ago.
"It is like going back to the days when I was a young student," he said.
"I'ma very open-minded person. I can enjoy all kinds of music, whether itis dance music, electro music or rock – genres that many people thinkare only fit for young people."
Young tourist couple Michal Borovsky and Zohar Museri of Israel danced to the music, backpacks still on their shoulders.
"Whenwe were walking yesterday, we saw a ticket desk for the festival anddecided to get them because we are a bit curious about Vietnamese music,something that we have not yet had a chance to listen," said Borovsky.
For Tran Hoang Thanh Thao and other members of an "all women club", the festival offered a special evening of fun.
"Weheaded straight here from our offices, hamburgers and drinks in ourbags. We are very excited about enjoying the music as well as our ‘galsonly meeting'. We don't mind that our husbands have to stay home andtake care of our children tonight. It's just for one night," Thao said.
Unlike Thao, Giao Anh – a student of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities – was by herself.
Shewas already excited by the warming-up performances of DJ Tuan Kruise,rapper Kimmese and DJ Hoang Touliver as well DJ Lulu Rouge of Denmark,dancing non-stop.
Lying down sweaty on the grass and looking upthe sky as she spoke to Vietnam News, Anh said she has bought the comboticket for all three nights.
"No word can describe how excited Iam at the moment. Nothing but music can help me express my truepersonality, a bit rebellious and quirky."
Australian Jenny Feltham said the festival was "maybe the biggest-scale music event" she has seen in Hanoi.
"It is like other music festivals that I've attended before in Australia," she said.
Feltham felt one difference was the relatively small number of food stalls at such a big event.
Theopening night also featured performances by Vietnamese divas Tran ThuHa, Hong Nhung and Thanh Lam, the all-women band Nam Dong Ke (TheStave), folk music band 9Bach from the UK, and electro rock band CarparkNorth from Denmark.
On October 3-4, the festival will presentVietnamese rock band Ngu Cung (Pentatonic), English-Argentineanguitarist Dominic Miller who has performed with Sting, Belgian artistBenjamin Schoos, Korean rocker Yi Sung-yol, and DJ Van Cliff from Japan.
Both days, music will play non-stop from 4-11pm.-VNA
