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From: Trude Bennett <tabennet@email.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:44 AM
To: Vsg@u.washington.edu, ryanharvey@riseup.net
American song-writer/activist looking for information about tunnel
performers and other music of the resistance during the American invasion.
Hello friends. I am a song-writer and activist wanting to write a brief
article about the music surrounding resistance to the American invasion. I read recently about musicians and performers traveling the tunnel systems performing for the guerrillas, but only a brief paragraph. I put a small, 4-times a year publication about music and politics, especially activist musicians using their music alongside social and political movements.
In the U.S. we only hear about the music coming from England and America
against the war, but never of the music of Vietnam and Laos against it, or surrounding the social movements of the time.
So I am looking for any information about music/performance in the tunnels, or around any other musical/performance elements during the
American War.
Thanks and peace.
Ryan Harvey
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From: Stephen Denney <sdenney@ocf.berkeley.edu>
Date: Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:54 AM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Cc: ryanharvey@riseup.net
Aside from the musicians and performers travelling with PAVN and NLF soldiers there was also Trinh Cong Son, whose ballads are generally considered anti-war. And there was an anti-war movement in the south. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, which is now banned in the country, was a major force in this peace movement.
- Steve Denney
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From: ryan nelson <sociolgst@yahoo.com>
Date: 2008/5/28
To: vsg@u.washington.edu, ryanharvey@riseup.net
Not able to find any data on tunnel singers; however, enjoy a wealth of sources on Trinh Cong Son and others.
For info on Trinh Cong Son, the widely heard but banned by the South Vietnamese government poet-musician whom wrote about the plight of Vietnamese people during the U.S. (American) War and folk queen Joan Baez labeled the Vietnamese Bob Dylan, view
Kamm, Henry. Dragon ascending: Vietnam and the Vietnamese. 1996. Arcade. p 196+.
Jamieson, Neil L. Understanding Vietnam. 1995. Univ. of Cal. p 326+.
Broughton, Simon et al. World Music: The Rough Guide. 2000. Rough Guides. p 267.
Rosenthal, Benjamin S. “The Vietnamese ‘Middle Ground.’” Congressional Record. Oct. 3, 1969. p 2.
< http://www.virtual.vietnam.ttu.edu/cgi-bin/starfetch.exe?3CjlsuF0uGJhhLOee128@Oighg1auNc08zwuyT5CGuE5Ps6rrUdR18Mzs41rpk0SW.@7htFhj@zeAAgySpvisND5o3fJlklrXlq2wyZzhzM/2131412026.pdf >.
(Mentions Nguyen Cao Ky’s cracking down against youth dissent figures such as Trinh)
For a brief story about how Xuan Hong, a [N.L.F.] singer, defined a protest song, and the criteria differences between VN and U.S. protest songs, view Rodnitzky, Jerry L et al. Feminist Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of a Feminist Counterculture. 1999. Greenwood. p 69.
< http://books.google.com/books?id=OAjEQXg1gHAC&pg=PA69&dq=viet+cong+music&lr=&as_brr=3&sig=rCV2elmEm40kGkWT5_0z_x3XZhs >.
For info on the N.L.F.’s use of protest music to indoctrinate, view Capps, Walter H. The Vietnam Reader. 1991. Routledge. p 241.
Would be interested in reading your article once finished, Ryan.
Peace
Ryan Nelson
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From: Molly O'Connell <meh145@columbia.edu>
Date: 2008/5/28
To: sociolgst@yahoo.com, vsg@u.washington.edu
Xuan Hong (Nguyen Xuan Hong) was not a singer, but a composer. He wrote several famous revolutionary songs (eg Tieng Chay Tren Soc Bombo, Mua Xuan Tren TP. HCM, Mua Xuan Ben Cua So, Xuan Chien Khu, Bai Ca May Ao and Chiec Khan Tay), and died in 1996. In Vietnam, his style is not defined as that of 'protest music,' but instead as part of the classical revolutionary style (ie nhac truyen thong cach mang, not nhac phan chien). He is known for his choral arrangements and focus on optimistic themes.
The google link does not provide footnotes, so I could not check the author's reference. However, I imagine Rodnitzky is referring to this Xuan Hong.
Regards,
Molly
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From: Hoang t. Dieu-Hien <dieuhien@u.washington.edu>
Date: 2008/5/28
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>, ryanharvey@riseup.net
I was told by friends who lived in the North during the war that any music that was not revolutionary was banned. So, nhac truyen thong cach mang, or nhac do (red music), was all that could be heard those times in the North.
Some nhac phan chien, as we knew it in the South, were banned in the North also. Trinh Cong Son's music, which is on the melancholy side, even the nhac phan chien, was considered too maudlin (uy mi). I would like fellow Saigonese to confirm or correct me, but I would not classify Trinh Cong Son's music as "protest music". Anti-war, yes, but not protest. "Day ma di" would be more of a protest song, or other rousing songs that Saigon students would sing while marching or demonstrating against the war or the Saigon government.
Peace,
Hien
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From: Stephen Denney <sdenney@ocf.berkeley.edu>
Date: Wed, May 28, 2008 at 5:58 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Cc: ryanharvey@riseup.net
To what extent were Trinh Cong Son's songs banned or censored in the south during the war years? I remember young Vietnamese friends of mine in the late 70s who would listen to his music as sung by Khanh Ly. After 1975 there was a major campaign launched to eradicate all "decadent and reactionary" cultural influences in the country, which included "yellow music".
- Steve Denney
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From: Nhu Miller <trantnhu@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, May 28, 2008 at 9:49 PM
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Trinh Cong Son did not fare well with the government after 1975 and
abandoned song writing. He was the greeter at his siblings' restaurant
and became a mediocre still life painter -- which ironically made him
a wealthy man. Viet Kieu enthusiastically bought his paintings and he
was able to buy a well appointed villa on Duy Tan (the new name
escapes me for the moment: is it Pham Ngoc Thach or Pham Ngoc
Thao St?) The last years of his life, he lived well, even though he hardly
ate, he continued to subsist on alcohol and air. He died of a liver
ailment, perhaps cirrhosis, that was probably linked to alcohol.
I went to a sold out Trinh Cong Son concert in Ha noi last year -- and he seems
fully rehabilitated, if not accepted.
T.T.Nhu
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