That is, in Western-style music and not traditional music. There are many tragic stories in cải lương. For example, Chuyện Tình Lan và Điệp has been compared to the story of Shakespeare. Truth be told, I’ve never found the romance of Lan and Điệp to be like Romeo and Juliet at all (and vice versa), but it’s another discussion for another time.
Continue reading “The most Romeo-and-Juliet song in Vietnamese music”
I ended my last post stating that the album Tiếng Hát Chế Linh 1 (1972) is a masterpiece of Vietnamese bolero. Not only there isn’t a single bad song, but also outstanding are at least three-quarters of the songs, including all six that Chế Linh wrote or co-wrote under the name Tú Nhi. Let me tackle one more tune from this album, partially because of the song itself and partially because of a recording by Trường Vũ that may have surpassed Chế Linh’s original recording.
Continue reading “Vietnamese bolero and the pain of love: Đoạn tái bút”
Source: University of Nebraska Medical Center website
I made the following compilation from the online program of the annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies. This year commemorates the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. At least two panels include the half-century mark in their titles, and several others reference it in their abstract. The annual meeting of the Vietnam Studies Group is scheduled for March 14 (Friday) at 7:00 PM.
A friend from grad school recently posted about his visit to the “Fashioned by Sargent” exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. It led me to look up a few volumes on my bookshelves. It’s been years since I read or reread these books, all bought before grad school. It was enough of a delight to reopen these books that I have thanked him for the post.
Continue reading “John Singer Sargent: fall & revival”
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