A top Vietnamese singer, Ha Tran, has unveiled her latest music project — the indie rock album Ban Nguyen (To the Core), after nearly a decade since the first idea about the project flashed in her mind.

The idea for the project came from when the songstress received compositions from two young songwriters, Dominik Nghia Do (lyric) and Hoang Quan (music), who claimed that their songs were completely suitable for the singer.

"I was in doubt about the composing ability of two young and unknown men. However, I was wrong. All their tunes are very beautiful," Ha recalled about the time when she first met Nghia Do and Hoang Quan.

Ha was pregnant at the time and was aware that the project would require a lot of time and labour so the singer had to temporarily set aside her intention to carry out the project.

"It's been almost a decade, which is long enough for me to challenge the patience of the two young songwriters as well for myself to know exactly how I want to develop the project," she said.

When Ha sang the very first melodies of those songs, she knew they definitely were for her.

"I am quite choosy in selecting songs for myself. As you can see, all the songs that I've ever sung contain philosophical lyrics. Songs by Nghia Do and Hoang Quan have satisfied my ‘standard' as they also bear philosophical meanings," Ha added.

As the diva lives currently in the US, she had to fly between the two countries to implement the project.

She unveiled the first part of the project in October 2014 by launching the single To the Core, consisting of two songs Mat Na (The Mask) and Dem (Night). She also rocked the stage of the Monsoon Music Festival in Ha Noi with those songs, winning applause from thousands of festival goers.

It's the positive feedback from the audience that urged Ha and her team to keep going with the project by recording the other songs in a professional studio. The album's orchestra was very simple with only three instrument players: guitar, bass guitar and drum.

Ten songs of the newly launched To the Core bear the wildness of the northwestern mountainous area as lyric writer Quan's comes from this region.

According to Ha Tran, her ego in music has been exposed inside out — "through rock and through To the Core".

Audience can enjoy the album free on www.bannguyen.vn. The CD To the Core will be official released on January 26. The songs will also be available on itunes in the end of this month.

Along with the launch of To the Core, Ha Tran also has released the animation music video Dem (Night), which was produced by a group of Vietnamese animation artists. 

VNS