VietNamNet Bridge – Almost no singer, even those from Quang Nam, sings modern music with the Quang accent because it is very hard to recognize specific sounds and words.

However, the amazing Anh Tuyet has managed to achieve it.

Maybe the experienced singer, who has been successful and well-known for 30 years, does have an advantage to already having a huge following but what makes her so unique.

 She has recorded seven songs in Quang accent, and those are of Bolero tune. The Quang singer wonders why there are Southern, Northern, and Hue accents, but there is no Quang accent.

To Tuyet, her home accent sounds somewhat ‘pitiful, lovely, salted, warm, and sincere just like the people from Quang Nam’.

 Some people in the Quang community living far away from home even have an inferiority complex with their home accent. “I feel very sad because they are not proud of it,” she confided.

 Therefore, she said that she would like to do something to honor the Quang accent, where …“There is no rain yet, but it is wet”, “No sooner had you sipped the peach wine than you got drunk.” And she said that singing with the Quang accent is for the Quang people, for those who need to understand the Quang dialect, for those who love the voice, for those who have special sentiments for the region, and even for the one who are simply in love with… a Quang person.”

 She said that long ago, while she was studying in Hue Music Conservatory (from 1979), whenever hearing her voice, her classmates from Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Hue, Nha Trang…  commented that the Quang accent sounded like a bird singing, and was very hard to apprehend. They used to parody her voice to make fun of her.

She has a message to people whose origin is Quang Nam: “We can’t blame others who parody our accent, but we, the Quang people, should not make fun of our beloved voice. We must find ways to honor our accent and make others like it and hence respect the Quang accent.”

So far, devotees have been familiar with Tuyet through many genres of Vietnamese music and she has been successful in all. For nearly 20 years, she has sung assorted musical styles: romantic, lyrical, opulent, especially Van Cao’s music.

In 1993, she was invited to perform in a Van Cao musical show. It is said that he shed tears of joy because there was someone who could perform his songs so well as such. Tuyet’s melodious and very refined singing voice covers a wide vocal range and musical diversity which is quite suitable for the “ancient” musical style.

Composer Trinh Cong Son once shed tears while listening to her singing the song Duong xa van dam (A thousand-mile road).

As for Vietnam’s modern music, she has contributed and now by singing in the Quang accent in Bolero tune, Tuyet has walked away from mainstream music. Without listening to her singing, it’s hard to imagine how beautifully the Quang accent could be in such harmony with Bolero tune.

 Bolero tune’s origin is in Spain, strongly developed in Cuba and from there has spread worldwide. Bolero tune is characterized by romantic, deep, blue, and earnest consonance, but not as effervescent and scorching as many other Latin American melodies.

 No matter how musical nuances change in compliance with culture, and no matter what the indigenous society is to be, Bolero tune still preserves its feeling in the lyrics. It is the same for Bolero tune in Vietnam. It includes stories of real life and love narrated in simple lyrics, in melodies close to Vietnamese innermost feelings, and written in clear, rustic and sincere words and quite real.

It is the voice in rhymes and real life language. The floridness, if any, in Bolero songs is also not academic language either. It only rises and falls just like in folk songs, folk verses, and speech. Thanks to that precise expression, Bolero tune has created an original “musical library” showing every corner of life.

 Bolero tune has entered our society and appears in all festivities. On the pavements along Nhieu Loc Canal (HCMC), there are several different groups with a guitar to entertain passers-by. Most members of those groups are middle-aged, but there are also youngsters. And it seems that almost anyone can drone out some Bolero songs. Some Bolero clubs have also been founded by those who love this musical genre.

 So far, many people have thought that Bolero tune belongs to ‘maids’ music’. However, Bolero tune is simple, but not popular music,” Tuyet observed. “It seems that Bolero was born for us,” she added. But Bolero and the Quang accent have no common points; it is hard to sing this with a somewhat heavy and rough accent. If there is something in common, perhaps it is mere rusticity.

Tuyet has recorded a number of Bolero songs in her Quang accent, such as Sadness in a garret, The train at dusk, Forest train, You should leave as it will rain, Lonely love, I wait for you to return, In memory of evening rain, besides songs with a Northern accent.

 She said that she had those songs recorded at “Minh Ken” studio in Danang with the support and musical arrangement by Ngoc Minh, the owner of the studio. This musician played all kinds of musical instruments to accompany her although he could not see anything with his eyes.

Anh Tuyet said that she chose Danang to record those songs because this city was on the way she returned to visit her home town. Furthermore, the life pace here was peaceful and quiet, not as busy as HCMC. She also said that her project of “Singing in the Quang accent” has been started for three months, but more recordings have to be done or retaken and mixed for a new album consisting of two discs, one would be by her regular voice, and the other by her genuine Quang accent.

Particularly, the song “In memory of evening rain” by Duy Yen and Quoc Ky, in the Quang accent - while not completed yet, she sent them to some of her friends for comments, and then they uploaded it to
You Tube.

 While songs are performed by an opulent, technical and somewhat sorrowful Northern accent, those sung by the Quang accent sound so simple and lovely. On You Tube, the songs in the Quang accent have been listened to and commented by many people. Most commentators express their surprise. One named Le Quang Duc said: “That is really special. It turns out that such an opulent song can be performed delicately by the coarse and rough Quang accent.”

  In the near future, Tuyet says she will “launch a movement to sing in the Quang accent” on the topics about mothers, love for homeland, love, even if not many people welcome her album in the Quang accent.
She also said the album will be released in November.

VietNamNet/SGT