Ho Quynh Huong in Diamond Noir

Record makers

Perhaps pop star Ho Quynh Huong is the only singer daring enough to declare that she will also record two different albums per year.

She has indeed made good her promise. After releasing Star of Love and 14M-2222 in January 2006, Ho Quynh Huong debuted two different albums, Non Stop and Diamond Noir, at the end of April 2007.

“I want to satisfy both types of audiences at the same time: discriminating audiences who are willing to give new experiments a chance, as well as general listeners of common commercial music,” she said.

There are also singers who record two or more albums at the same time without such official and unequivocal announcements as Ho Quynh Huong’s. In 2006, for instance, Dan Truong released four albums simultaneously in order to catch as much public attention as possible before his large-scale live show to commemorate his 10-year singing career.

And some singers are starting to think about an even more impressive way to attract attention than merely releasing many albums in a year. It is to organise more than one large-scale live show annually.

Dam Vinh Hung is an example. In 2007, this singer will have two multi-billion dong live shows for two different types of audiences, old-style and contemporary music lovers. Each of the shows will be performed for at least three nights in both the north and south.

Forging ahead

In Vietnam, singers can’t live by selling albums alone. It is because newly released albums are quickly counterfeited by smugglers, and album producers often suffer much loss as a result.

Vietnamese singers support themselves by wandering everywhere to perform: from big stages to small gatherings; from cities to rural towns; from Vietnam to other countries. So it occurs to them to diversify their styles to satisfy such diverse audiences.

Yet, whether singers who record different types of albums simultaneously succeed or not is not certain. Most of the “twin” albums so far haven’t left any permanent mark on the public’s heart.

Yet, famous Vietnamese musicians such as Tu Huy and Thanh Tung have been very successful with their “twin” albums. Alone and Sleepless Heart by Thanh Tung, for instance, are still considered two of the best albums of contemporary pop.

These two albums were made according to an international trend: they are collections of different kinds of songs written by the musician at different periods in his career. Another popular way of the world to make twin albums is to record a CD to accompany a VCD or a DVD.

The themes and songs of such two albums are often the same. Pop star My Linh with the very successful CD-VCD album My Linh’s Voice is considered the pioneer in this effort.

“n in 1” is considered a new way of recording albums in Vietnam, which is very much a Vietnamese invention. Cam Ly, for example, has made 3 “n in 1” albums, each of which includes a CD, a DVD and a VCD karaoke.

According to recording companies, “n in 1” are difficult to counterfeit and attractive to buyers who pay a lower price for them than if they buy several separate products. And through “n in 1” albums, singers can “attack” audiences on all fronts: listening, watching and karaoking.

(Source: Tuoi Tre)