Pop singers rush to release new albums

HCM CITY — Many top singers are scrambling to release their traditional year-end album to mark the festive season and are receiving a warm welcome from fans.

Pop star Phuong Thanh released a solo album on Sunday, her first of the year, titled Nao Ai Co Biet (Nobody Knows). It has 10 romantic songs, all written by well-known composer Duc Tri.

"The album marks 10 years of collaboration between Tri and me," Thanh says.

The singer, who uses her melancholic voice to full effect, often sings about love and loneliness to strike a chord in listeners. She has never received professional training but managed to make her "God-gifted voice" unique.

"I try to immerse myself in the song to infuse them with feeling and spirit," she explains.

Her album was followed by Duc Tuan's Bay Gio… Bien Mua Dong (Now… Sea in Winter).

Tuan sings 10 romantic singles written by celebrated composer Duong Thu, the highlight being Xa Xam (Far Away) and O Lai Mua Dong (Stay with Winter).

Tuan is one of the few Vietnamese stars to sing classical and semi-classical music, not a popular genre among the youth.

"The album is my Christmas gift to fans," he says.

Last year he had won the Singer of the Year and Album of the Year awards at the prestigious annual Music Contribution Prize for his Music of the Night album in English and French.

Last week MV Productions released Cao Got (High Heels), an album featuring 15 songs starring well-known models and movie stars like Trang Nhung, Thao Nhi and Truc Diem.

Pop star My Le resorts to classical music for the first time in her latest album My Le in Symphony also released last week. Le's delicate style has won her acclaim among both young and older listeners.

Co Nhung Giac Mo (There're Dreams) released two weeks ago by upcoming singer Giang Hong Ngoc has also been well received. — VNS

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Year-end pop albums make their appearance

HCM CITY – Many top singers are scrambling to release their traditional year-end album to mark the festive season and are receiving a warm welcome from fans.

Pop star Phuong Thanh released a solo album on Sunday, her first of the year, titled Nao Ai Co Biet (Nobody Knows). It has 10 romantic songs, all written by well-known composer Duc Tri.

"The album marks 10 years of collaboration between Tri and me," Thanh says.

The singer, who uses her melancholic voice to full effect, often sings about love and loneliness to strike a chord in listeners. She has never received professional training but managed to make her "God-gifted voice" unique.

"I try to immerse myself in the song to infuse them with feeling and spirit," she explains.

Her album was followed by Duc Tuan's Bay Gio… Bien Mua Dong (Now… Sea in Winter).

Tuan sings 10 romantic singles written by celebrated composer Duong Thu, the highlight being Xa Xam (Far Away) and O Lai Mua Dong (Stay with Winter).

Tuan is one of the few Vietnamese stars to sing classical and semi-classical music, not a popular genre among the youth.

"The album is my Christmas gift to fans," he says.

Last year he had won the Singer of the Year and Album of the Year awards at the prestigious annual Music Contribution Prize for his Music of the Night album in English and French.

Last week MV Productions released Cao Got (High Heels), an album featuring 15 songs starring well-known models and movie stars like Trang Nhung, Thao Nhi, and Truc Diem.

Pop star My Le resorts to classical music for the first time in her latest album My Le in Symphony also released last week. Le's delicate style has won her acclaim among both young and older listeners.

Co Nhung Giac Mo (There're Dreams) released two weeks ago by upcoming singer Giang Hong Ngoc has also been well received.

"Ngoc's album Ruby 20 released last year has many sad songs," Tran Mai Dao, a fan of hers, says.

She says she prefers There're Dreams because of its several youthful melodies like Thien Duong Tinh Yeu (Paradise of Love) and Het Roi (It's Over)."

Albums by other pop singers like Pham Thanh Thao, Khanh Doan and Oversea Vietnamese Kannan Nguyen are nearing completion.

"We won't be worried about what music to hear during the festive season," a first-year student at the HCM City Open University says cheerfully. – VNS

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African trio plays the blues in HCMC

Roland Tchakounté (C) and his band

Blues singer Roland Tchakounté and his band will play in HCMC next month at the city’s Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square, District 1.

Roland Tchakounté learned drum, guitar, piano and harmonica before starting his career as a singer for local bands. He was addicted to the music of African American  singers such as James Brown, Wilson Picket, and Jimi Hendricks. He says John Lee Hooker was his biggest inspiration to play the blues. He plays a combination of Blues and a local Cameroon style of music with lyrics in his mother tongue Bamiléké. In 1999, Roland Tchakounté released his debut album titled Bred Bouh Shuga Blues.  

In 2005, together with guitarist Mick Ravassat, he released the second album called Abango and made tours to the U.S., Canada, and Belgium. In 2006, he met the drummer Mathias Bernheim and they made the band with three members.

In 2008, Tchakounté came to Hanoi and performed as the Roland Tchakounté Trio. Waka released this year was the next album. The highpoint of his career so far was playing songs from it at the New Morning club in Paris.

His latest album Blues Menessen that was released in May bares his soul with questions about life and human nature. Roland Tchakounté’s music is full of wild melodies, sadness and happiness, sometimes loneliness.

The tickets are available at the theater for VND100,000 and at VND50,000 for students. He will play on October 14 at the invitation of the Center for Culture in cooperation with France.

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Best-sellers released in audio

For the first time in Vietnam, 26 audio books featuring popular local and foreign titles have been released by a local publisher in HCMC this week.

An initiative of Phuong Nam Books, the publications target both chidren and adults who can now listen to their favourite stories and essays read out for them in their cars, homes and other places.

More importantly, the books will be of considerable help to people who are blind or suffer from other forms of impaired vision.

The titles include the world famous Chicken Soup books by Jack Canfield, works by Italian writer Edmondo de Amicis as well as famous novels and short stories by Tran Thuy Mai, Do Hong Ngoc, Nguyen Ngoc Tu, Pham Thi Ngoc Lien, Luu Thi Luong, Di Li and other Vietnamese authors.

About 40 musicians, singers and people with sonorous, emotional voices were invited to produce the audio books.

The company plans more audio books for children featuring fairy tales by Grimm, Andersen and Saint Exypery as well as works by To Hoai and Phung Quan.

It has also announced that the copyright for all its audio books will be given to the Audio Books Library two months after they are released. The library will then deliver the books to benefit the sight-impaired community nationwide, covering at least 84 schools and organisations.

Nguyen Huong Duong, director of the library, said that her library needs 30,000 tapes each year to fulfil the needs of blind children, but it only receives 1,000 titles and tapes at present.

Nguyen Thanh Thuy, director of Phuong Nam Books, and the main person behind the audio books production, also said that the company was negotiating with mobile phone service providers VinaPhone, Mobiphone, and Viettel to carry the audiobooks to a wider audience.

She also hopes the books will be popularised on the radio soon.

Meanwhile, the company has launched a contest to find people with attractive voices and talent to work on audio books that it plans to launch in the future.

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