VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese audiences were recently very angry at some singers who were detected to lip-sync in music shows. The new decree on art performance which will be issued in August, may ban lip-sync singers from performance.
Nguyen The Thanh, General Director of the Saigon Media Group, said that if administrative fines imposed on lip-sync is ineffective, the best way is banning these singers from shows.

Thanh stressed that even audio technicians and show organizers of the shows that have lip-sync singers must be fined.

There is a fact that broadcasters often request singers to lip-sync in big shows, which are broadcast on television, to ensure “sound quality”.

Singer Tung Duong said that lip-sync must be prevented because singers only have true feeling and are creative when they sing live. Creativeness is the root for their existence in the art cycles and to devote their talents.

Songwriter Tuan Khanh said: “Lipsync is crime and cheating to the audience. Why these people call themselves singers and dare to share stages with true performers?”

He said that broadcasters must bear responsibility for lip-sync because they lend a hand to singers to lip-sync. It is unnecessary to issue specific penalties on lipsync like China or South Korea, because law is made to prevent violation but once it fail to prevent violation, we have to find out the root of “crime” to fix it.

Singer Bao Lan said: “Broadcasters must partly take responsibility for lipsync but if singers refuse to lipsync, broadcasters must agree”.

Senior singer Siu Black was optimistic because it is difficult to solve lipsync in Vietnam when the number of lipsync singers is more than true singers.

According to the current regulations, performers who lip-sync will be fined from VND2 to VND5 million ($90-$200), which is much lower than singers’ earnings from a show. Since the regulation was issued in 2006, no singer has been fined, though many of them were detected to lip-sync.

In early May, young singer Quynh Nga was discovered to lip-sync when she dropped her microphone but her singing voice was still.

Two weeks later, a singer named Thu Thuy was also detected with lip-sync in the same case with Quynh Nga.

The audiences showed their anger over the cases and the lip-sync phenomenon on many online forums. They said that new singers appear every day because singing is now a lucrative job. Thanks to lipsync, singers can easily earn a lot of money, without real talent.

Many people said that the new decree on art performance, which will be released in August, will put an end to lip-sync, which is very popular in Vietnam at present. They said Vietnam should quickly issue the Law on Public Performance.

In South Korea, Senator Lee Myungsoo on May 13, submitted the draft Law on Public Performance to the Congress, which proposes that lip-sync performers will be fined at least $10,000 or sentenced one year in jail.

Man Chi