The music of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam) was the soundtrack of my childhood. My parents came of age in the RVN and came to the US with my sibling and me in tow in the early 1980s. Listening to period recordings reminded them of being young in Saigon before the difficulties of the postwar years and, most likely, the responsibilities of parenthood. I remember my parents buying cassette tapes from a Vietnamese store in Seattle’s Little Saigon neighborhood that was a bookstore, music store, and video store all rolled into one. My mother always had a tape on during her marathon cooking sessions on the weekend. My father worked in electronic repair at the time and used the tapes to test his stereos and cassette players, and we could sometimes hear music blaring from his makeshift workshop in the basement. By the time I was old enough to form memories, they had already amassed what seemed like a huge collection. Later, my mother incorporated music in the weekend language-class that she taught in our home. I particularly remember her having my classmates and me practice dictation by listening to the same song over and over again. I imagine it was also good for listening comprehension. But what I remember most was that the classes with music were exceptionally fun, and now as a professor I like to incorporate music in my courses to make the history come to life for my students.
I also remember that it became much harder for my parents to find period recordings at some point in the 1990s. Instead of the old cassette tapes, the store in Little Saigon now sold CDs with recordings produced overseas. The music sounded different. The new recordings didn’t have the warmth and intimacy of the classic version, and they sounded sort of cold, plastic, and machine-like. I don’t have enough background in music to explain the difference, but I knew they weren’t the same.
So I was delighted when Saigon Rock & Soul: Classic Tracks 1968-1974 came out in 2010 with remastered period recordings by various artists from the RVN. Then came the three-volume Saigon Supersound (2017-2022) and Magical Nights: Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul (2021), which exclusively featured the singer Phương Tâm. And before long, period recordings started popping up on YouTube showcasing diverse styles and artists. That old store in Little Saigon has long closed, but access to the music of the RVN is easier than ever. In this irregular series that I’ve entitled, “Memorable Music,” I offer original translations of Vietnamese song lyrics. Unfortunately, I have no training in music and have very little to say about artists and genres. But I will include historical background when possible and explain my thoughts on the challenges of translating difficult song lyrics. Virtually all of the music will be from the RVN because of my historical expertise in the period and my cultural familiarity with that music in particular.
Image source: https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C6%A1n_Ca_%28b%C4%83ng_nh%E1%BA%A1c%29