Vietnamese exiled music, also called Vietnamese diasporic music, refers to the Vietnamese music brought overseas, especially to the United States and France by the forced migration of Vietnamese artists after the Fall of Saigon in 1975.
Background
Origin
This branch of music was generated from the yellow music in Vietnam. Yellow music (nhạc vàng) refers to music produced in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, named in opposition to red music (nhạc đỏ) endorsed by the socialist government of North Vietnam during the era of the Vietnamese War. Oftentimes, yellow music is also referred to as new music (tân nhạc), or sugary music (nhạc sến). These terms are reserved for songs that could be considered popular music, as opposed to ritual (like chầu văn), classical or folk music.Nguyen, M. (2012). Love is yellow in Vietnamese popular music. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1-66. Most yellow music has been associated with the bolero genre.
The term continues to be used by Communist officials in Vietnam to describe songs that they find too sentimental, for example, love songs, that "lead people into a state of suffering over love, the opposite of the ideal happiness that people expect to find in it."To V. (1976). Nhac vang la gi? [What is yellow music?]. Van hoa nghe thuat [Culture and Art], 5, p. 45 For Communist revolutionaries, the term "yellow music" has always had a pejorative meaning. However, some music sellers in Saigon, used it as a positive term, stamping "yellow music" on their tape and records to identify the sentimental music they were peddling.To, 1976, p. 43
Pre-1975 modern music in Vietnam
Vietnamese modern music (tân nhạc) began with the French arrival in the early 19th century. Initial French music came through the church and then the military right after their colonization of Hanoi in 1873.Gibbs, J. (1998) Nhac Tien Chien: The origins of Vietnamese popular song. Things Asian. The new French disseminations of popular songs were made even more popular by talking movies and ballroom dancing. Young people particularly found the new style of music attractive.Gibbs, J. (1996). A musical instrument workshop in Hanoi. Experimental Musical Instruments, 12(1). Primary musical activities in Hanoi before the 1930s included traditional theatre, reformed theatre, and songs by beggars who performed near train and bus stations.Gibbs, 1996 By the mid-1930s, Vietnamese started to compose songs in their native language using French melodies. The lyrics were usually quite different from the French versions, but it became prevailing among the people in Vietnam. Later, the Vietnamese began to write their own songs as well. It is thought that the modern Vietnamese song originated from one of these early composers, Nguyen Van Tuyen, a native student of Huế at the Philharmonic Society of Saigon, who first performed his songs there in 1937. By 1938, he was also touring in Hanoi and other cities with great reviews.Gibbs, 1998
There were a number of Vietnamese composers and singers who were inspired to follow the French styles. From that on, pre-war music was developed, which is still widely listened by Vietnamese today.Nguyen, D. T. & Bandara, J. S. (1996). Emigration pressure and structural change: Viet Nam. UNDP Technical Support Services. Bangkok: Griffith University & Queensland: Australia Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. The form of music included marching songs, love songs as well as songs about resistance and independence from France. Generally speaking, musicians and performers in particular often held low status in Vietnamese society.Valverde, K. L. C. (2003). Making Vietnamese music transnational: Sounds of home, resistance and change. Amerasia Journal, 29(1), 29-49. Although pre-war music supposedly ended by 1946 or 1947, some songs were written as late as 1954 are still attributed to this genre. The legacy of music is that it is still heard on the stages across Vietnam and even the United States some decades later.
Vietnamese modern history of diaspora
A fair number of Vietnamese people left their homeland before the 20th century. The largest exodus came with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when 125,000 Vietnamese fled South Vietnam; by 1999, approximately 1.75 million Vietnamese resettled in Eastern and Western countries. The U.S. took 900,000 Vietnamese migrants while Canada, Australia and France accepted over 500,000.Valverde, K. L. C. (2002). Making transnational Viet Nam: Vietnamese American community-Viet Nam linkages through money, music and modems. Vietnamese music. ProQuest Information and Learning Company, 1-338. Moreover, 250,000 Vietnamese were permanently settled in China and another 100,000 left for other countries. At the end of 2000, there were approximately 2.7 million Vietnamese living in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide, including more than one million in the United States.Ho Chi Minh City sees investment rush by overseas Vietnamese. (2000). Viet Nam News Agency.
The global Vietnamese diasporic population numbered approximately 500,000 in 1975. This number increased to about one million in 1990 and two million in 2000. Because the Vietnamese market has been relatively small, the sales of Vietnamese overseas music were much less than the mainstream in the industry. As ethnic minorities, it is considered a success for a recording to sell 15,000 units.Valverde, 2002 However, when the market was more mature, profits were counted in the millions and allowed for the employment of a large number of performers, composers and producers. By 1995, over 30 music record companies occupied the area of Westminster and Garden Grove, California known as "Little Saigon".Marosi, R. (August 8, 2000). Vietnam's musical invasion; the popularity of new songs from the homeland has widened a political and cultural EH vide between young people and older generations who see it as mere propaganda. Los Angeles Times.
The fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, or the Liberation of Saigon, was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (also known as the Viet Cong) on 30 April 1975. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period to the formal reunification of Vietnam into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Starting from 1975, popular music in South Vietnam, known as yellow music, was prohibited by the new socialist government, with those caught listening to it punished, and their music confiscated, due to the belief that it contained "ideas that were not good, not healthy, that required criticism."To, 1976, p. 44
In the circumstance, some artists in the music industry, such as Trinh Cong Son, kept staying in Vietnam, while others decided to leave, such as Pham Duy. The departure of many artists from Vietnam in May 1975 was the start point of Vietnamese exile music. Following the migration, yellow music has been modified for adapting to the foreign context. Therefore, its nature has been transformed, and it has developed towards music pertaining to the diaspora, which still retains certain characteristics inherited from its original culture, that can be discovered from the themes of music, as a means to show the attention of diasporic Vietnamese to their country of origin (See Appendix 1 and 2 for themes and links of songs).
20th Century: In Diaspora
Overseas Vietnamese artists
Among exiled Vietnamese composers, Pham Duy remained the best-known composer. His songs written before 1975 represent 90% of cassettes and CDs produced abroad.Tran, Q. H (2001). Vietnamese music in exile since 1975 and musical life in Vietnam since perestroika. The World of Music 43(2), 103-112. All singers have had at least one song written by Pham Duy in their repertoire. His songs, written since 1978 on the situation of exile and on life deprived of freedom in Vietnam, have received a good response. Since 1985, he has composed less but rather has written Vietnamese lyrics for western pop songs. In the year of 2000, he was allowed to return to Vietnam for one month to see his native country for the first time after 25 years of exile.
On the other hand, a new generation of young composers has been born abroad. For example, in the United States, Nguyet Anh (known only since 1980), Viet Dzung, Chau Dinh An, Phan Kien, Huynh Cong Anh, and Khuc Lan all belong to the Hung Ca movement. They have written songs on themes of struggle and resistance: Duy Quang on problems of exile; Le Uyen Phuong on boat people; Ha Thuc Sinh on penitentiary conditions in Vietnam; and Due Huy on love.Tran, 2001 Together, they have all written thousands of new songs on present problems, on their aspirations, on the resistance. Many musicians have continued to work thanks to official receptions, tours, and recordings on cassettes (until 1988), then on CDs (since 1990) and laser discs (for karaoke since 1995) and DVDs (since 1999). Pop groups known in Saigon, such as CBC, Dreamers (children of the composer Pham Duy), Up Tight (children of the musician Lu Lien), Crazy Dogs (children of the actor Viet Hung), Family Love in the United States, and Blue Jet in France continued to play abroad until 1990. New pop groups have been formed by young musicians to answer the needs of cabarets and dances held for Vietnamese in the United States, France, Canada, and Australia. Among singers known in Vietnam, Khanh Ly, who was best known for her frequent cooperation with a famous Vietnamese composer Trinh Cong Son, continued to be a Vietnamese idol of popular songs among the Vietnamese community abroad despite less publications of CDs, cassettes, and videos since 1995. She frequently gave performances, presenting on the market of music until 1995. Khanh Ly has appeared on many stages in countries where the exiled Vietnamese live. Few new compositions were included in the repertoire of singers, maybe because the old pieces encouraged the exiled Vietnamese to go through their hardship of life. Moreover, several productions houses have appeared in the United States and publish a great number of cassettes and CDs. There have been three big houses of productions, Paris By Night Thuy Nga Productions (PBN), Trung Tam Asia and Kim Loi.
Some of the early music producers in the United States owned music businesses in Viet Nam before the fall of Saigon. For example, Tung Giang who produced works by famous singers like Khanh Ha and Khanh Ly continued with his work when he arrived in the United States. He was able to record on 16 track, which was an improvement from the 4 track available in Vietnam. The early years of resettlement music served as a time of preservation since the objective at this time was to make quality copies of pre-1975 music.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, those with experience in the music industry of Vietnam redeveloped their business in the U.S. One strategy to increase their market was merging with other small music companies. In this period, Thuy Nga Productions made their branch in France. When living in Vietnam, they had access to a studio owned by Thuy Nga. Once rooted in France, Thuy Nga's husband, Mr To Van Lai, a former professor in Vietnam, participated in the building of their first music house. With a better sense of the diasporic market, Lai created a division of Thuy Nga called Paris By Night, which produced videos of Vietnamese diasporic shows.
Post-1975 Vietnamese diasporic music in the United States