Ha Noi

I've spent the last few days following Vu Nhat Tan around in Ha Noi. He is very generous with his time and at the same time incredibly focused on music. He is trying to give me a sense of the contemporary music scene in Vietnam, which is concentrated in Ha Noi.

DJ Night 12/1/2007
sponsored by Goethe-Institut Vietnam and Heineken

this guy was my favorite. xhin from singapore. i don't know much about DJing, but his transitions and buildups were quite moving.
the other djs playing were:
DJ Kruse (vietnam)
Tri Minh (vietnam)
rubber ink (phillipines)
Raysoo (malaysia)
hans nieswandt (germany)
DJ Eks (vietnam)
sweet susie & montana (austria)








vu nhat tan surrounded by girls. typical

Tri Minh, Nhat Tan's friend/DJ organized the event. They are trying to organize an international contemporary music festival next year together.


Band Rehearsal
Nhat Tan also plays in a band. But he sort of views this project as an extra source of income to support other work that he is more interested in artistically. They played for a "Fashion and Entrepenuers" conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Ho Tay. Typically, they make about $250 a night, split between the 5 of them, so $50/person. They play 1-4 times a month at different venues. I tagged along for a rehearsal/sound check.






The band consists of a guitar (composer), keyboard (nhat tan), dan tranh, 2 singers, and percussion. I wasn't very impressed with the actual pieces they played (one used the same two chords as the opening of Britney Spears' "Hit me baby one more time" in a different rhythm-- not sure if that was intentional, but it sure as hell distracted me). The singers' vocal technique was pretty insane though, I have to admit. The dan tranh player (Nguyen Thanh Thuy) was very good.






European Music Festival 2007 in Vietnam
sponsored by the European Union and the Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism


While Nhat Tan's was performing at the Sheraton, his friend Hien took me to see the closing act of this year's European Music Festival, Denmark based band Moi Caprice, at the Nha Hat Tuoi Tre (Youth Theatre). The band was alright, not bad. But it surprised me that they were the closing act. The audience sure loved them-- they were dancing on chairs and called the band back for an encore.




Hanging out with Hien and friends after the concert at this hip little coffeehouse la place next to St. Joseph Cathedral. Hien got hit on by this Spanish guy working in rural development who saw her at the concert. He was so obviously interested, it was almost endearing. I got to practice my spanish-vietnamese-english interpretation skills a bit.


St. Joseph Cathedral


rainy Ha Noi night