Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe

♬ Độc Tấu Lục Huyền Cầm

Đinh Văn Dậm was born in 1929 in Bình Đăng – now known as Binh Hưng – Vietnam. At the age of 3, he became blind due to smallpox. His parents changed his name to Văn Vĩ after the Chinese herbalist that was treating him for smallpox gave him the nickname.

As early as seven years old, he was playing the đàn nhị but soon after switched to guitar. By the time he was sixteen, he was performing regularly in opera troupes – as well as Saigon’s nightclubs.

During an opening performance of Bên Cầu Vọng Thê by his opera troupe, lead actor Hùng Cường failed to sing a verse. He accused Văn Vĩ of deliberately disrupting him and used a sword to puncture the speaker of his amplifier and kicked it to pieces, loudly insulting and threatening to hit Văn Vĩ. As a result, Văn Vĩ hired a bodyguard named Nguyễn Mỹ – who Hùng Cường physically kicked off the stage at another performance. Eventually Hùng Cường was forced to apologize to Văn Vĩ he and bought him a new amplifier.

167.466 on Continental of South Vietnam. No release date listed

This sounds basically like traditional Vietnamese music. Reminds me of Ca Tru music and stuff like that. Interesting.

Comment by nannus October 31, 2024 @ 1:19 pm

In tonal languages, the text of the lyrics will often determine the melody of the music (in combination with a musical scale). I don’t know if this is true in Vietnamese music, but I wonder if maybe some poem is in the background of this. Or maybe some traditional songs that are well known to people familiar with them.

Comment by nannus October 31, 2024 @ 1:24 pm