The Blues Cellar

Nov 12, '07 6:46 PM
for everyone

This is to say "Congratulations" to the VisualGUI. My man finally decides to settle down (and gives his Mom a break). :o)

Back in the days when Napster was still free, I was quite enamored with Thanh Lam's voice (singing TCS' Một Cỏi Đi Về.) So I went searching for more of her work, and one of the sites Google returned was VISUALGUI.COM. (As a point of reference, this was also a time when I was really fed up with Viet music--you know, my old story of "nothing new but 3 chord music..."-- and was just getting into jazz.) What I found was intelligent discussion of both Viet music, TCS' music, AND jazz (and I had thought the 3 didn't meet.)

After commenting in replies to some of his posts, I found Donny and I to have similar likes and dislikes, especially regarding what we consider "good music." We both share a love for music in our own language, but are let down time and again by what's produced by the mainstream Viet music industry. Donny went one step further, setting very high standards for what constitutes "good, Vietnamese, music" AND standing by those standards. I thought to myself at the time, "I can deal with this guy!"

Before long, I (as well as most his readers) noticed the sutble reference to a certain chemical engineer, whom he respected (is enamored with? :o) ) enough to let translate his post AND then show it off. (Yeah, Donny, you can say I heard 'm bells way back when!) By chance, we also got a chance to hook up over bún mắm, and met said chemical engineer. My first impression of the two was, "Yup, bells are gonna be ringing!" :o)

And they are!

All the above is to say, lil' bro, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy (even though some of your former readers would severely disagree with me re. the "nice" part.) I am happy for you guys: there's really no greater happiness than that of a life shared (even over mì gói! :o) )

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10 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

1pinkgiraffe wrote on Nov 13, '07

Is this why I can't stand Viet music? The 3 chords? It always sounds so....melancholy...to the point that I can't stand to listen to it.

vballslife wrote on Nov 13, '07, edited on Nov 13, '07

Pink,

With the rare exceptions, the entire body of Viet music is all the same; you listen to one song, and will have heard them all. There are really no attempts on the mainstream Viet music industry to push beyond the familiar. Instead, it's all about making a buck off of that next CD/DVD, even if they have to dumb the music down.

The buying audience, of course, doesn't know any better, because that's all they know.

1pinkgiraffe wrote on Nov 14, '07

Anh Hai,
THANK YOU for the explanation!
And for a LONG time since college until even now, my friends said that I am 'mat goc' because I don't like Viet music...:) and I have always told them, "It doesn't make me feel good mentally, emotionally, psychologically, so how can I listen to something that would make me sick!? (while there are other alternatives)"

mnguyet wrote on Nov 14, '07

Sorry that I have to disagree with you guys on this subject. Regardless of what you explained above, I still think our Viet music has it's own beauty that no other languages can compare. I am very disappointed at you, esp. my bro Hai. As a founder of Quan Van, a group of Viet music lovers who are trying to promote Viet music, I found your comments are very disturbing. Perhaps from now on I should think twice about joining Quan Van in the future.

Pink, I believe you will like Viet music more if you really understand the meaning. In so many cases, young people don't like them bc they don't understand the words at all.

vballslife wrote on Nov 14, '07, edited on Nov 14, '07

Let's continue this discussion elsewhere. Sorry, Donny.