3 posts tagged “vietnam”

Speaking of Asians... See where this is going? You following me, Camera Guy?

*The title courtesy of Kate & Lara.

JAPAN
Hikaru Utada, or better known simply as Utada (official/myspace), is a massive Jpop singer from Japan. I'm not sure how popular she is in the US, but she seems popular with the anime crowd (her music's been used in Square Enix's games).

Her second album, This Is The One, released May 12^th, on Island Def Jam, sounds like more or less R&B.

The lead single, is "Come Back to Me", which I caught the music video for it during their promotional push in May (you could've also gotten the album for $5 too!). I was actually impressed with her English, it actually sounds like it was written and sung by a native English speaker (most Jpop songs seems to me like they throw in English words that sounds good, even if it doesn't make much sense in the song. Like South Park's interpretation.).

As far as the album is concern, it's very slick and, maybe just a little over produced? Take a listen to my favorite song, "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI" to see what I mean. I liked the lyrics, "FYI, we're gonna be up all night". You can interpret that how you like, but I can't see this cute/big-eyed girl being naughty.

HMONG
I don't think there is a country anymore, but the Hmong culture and language lives on. They descended from Southern China, and you can hear that influence in their language.

I was given a few albums by popular Hmong singers, Maiv Xyooj (myspace) and Tou Ly Vangkhue (myspace).

Since all their songs are all sung in Hmong (and I don't speak a word), I'll admit to not spending too much time listening and analyzing the music.

From listening to Xyooj's greatest hits album Best of Maiv Xyooj Collection, it sounds to me like pop music with traditional singing (the flutes and chimes help create that authentic sound). However, some of the recording sounds like it was recorded with 80s technology.... but it doesn't sound very new wave.

As for Vangkhue, his music is basically what you would call "soft rock". I was surprise to hear his Hmong version of the Bobby Vee classic song, "More Than I Can Say" (how come nobody ever covers Vee's "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes"?). Anyway, this version sounds like Hmong Karaoke: not quite as passionate with mellow guitar melodies.

VIETNAM
If you're Vietnamese or hang out with Vietnameses, you're probably familiar with the very popular music program called Paris By Night (official). They celebrated their 25^th anniversary last year, but the DVD version wasn't made available until earlier this year - in two parts.

Of course, I have a copy, as do all Vietnamese families across the world (although ironically the program is banned in Vietnam).

The same crew and staff have been doing this annual program for years that it seems flawless, but because 2008 marked such a special year for them, everyone seems under a lot of stress and pressure. There are moments on the DVD where one of the hosts goes backstage and talk to the crew handling the program (everything from makeup, to lights, to camera works, etc).

As for the performances, it's not live... but the performers do some great lip syncing. Some of the speech are hard for me to understand, especially if they're using a northern dialect (they like the "zz" sound vs the south with the "yy" sound).

If you don't speak Vietnamese, don't bother tracking down a copy, there are no subtitled version as far as I know. But if you're just into the culture and performances, then Paris By Night #94 and Paris By Night #95 have a lot to offer. There's a bit of everything, from comedy sketches, insane dresses, film (The Vertical Ray of the Sun), interviews, traditional Vietnamese music, modern dance/techno, to even cover of popular American tunes ("Bang Bang I Shot My Baby Down").

As you can see from the follow epic intro to #94: it's pretty ridiculous. Especially when they started lowering this woman sitting on the 25th logo, holding a globe. As if the girls in white dresses balancing candles weren't crazy enough!

Stick around until 70% into this "thank life and parents" song, and it becomes a techno/dance song!

I don't know if you knew, but we have three girls from Vietnam here at the house. To celebrate the new Chinese year (Tết), I took them to Target to spend some of their lì xì money. Lì xì is money you get in red envelopes from your elders. So the girls have never bought and paid for anything, so getting them to buy something was painful. And the checkout event ? Well it was pretty much uneventful, despite me making them do all the calculation for the 6% tax on their purchases.

Well, at home, we have been enjoying watching this video by Phong Lê lately called "Lấy Tiền Cho Gái". This is a pretty funny song about asking for money from God, so he can get some lovin'. The song consists of, what I believe was taken from traditional Vietnamese opera called Cải lương (about the man who climbed a ladder to ask "ông trời" for money), combined with some humorous and original rap.

Since many of you probably won't understand the song, I'll break it down for you:

The first date: The singer "accidentally" runs into some girl he thought he knew. He invites her on a date for lunch. The situation worsens when she another bowl of phở when she disapproved of her first phở đặc biệt - and he only has $20 (not enough to cover tip).

The second date: This part cleverly plays off màu (blood) and cháo (soup rice), as her two bloodsucker ugly girlfriends comes along on the date. They eat up a storm and, once again, drains his wallet.

The third date: We basically see our hero taking out his savings and Li Xi money to take her out one more time... and the punchline is that she has a boyfriend.

I suppose it would be really funny if you understood Vietnamese.


Well if you're curious about Phong Le, he seems to be part of a crew called 1o2 with fellow Vietnamese rappers and singers Khanh Nho, Tan Phuc, and Minh Duong, out of the Portland, Oregon, area. He also posts videos on his youtube account.

 12/26/2008 09:19:30  ♥ written by vu ()

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day - you gave it away!"

That very next day, well that's today. In honor of the day after Christmas, Cover Lover presents: "Last Christmas"!

Wham!'s "Last Christmas" song is possibly one of the best Christmas pop song. Released in 1984, it dominated the charts and is still very popular even today (especially in Japan and Southeast Asia). Re-issues after re-issues, song is one of the best-selling single in UK chart history.

All that success lead the music publisher Dick James Music, to sue George Michael for plagiarism for the song "Can't Smile Without You". If you listen to the song by The Carpenters from their 1976 album, A Kind of Hush, it does bear a heavy resemblance - and eventually the matter was settled out of court.

Britt Nicole-Last Christmas

Twelve Girls Band - Last Christmas

I've previously already mentioned Britt Nicole and Twelve Girls Band's version, so be sure to check them out. I will comment that "12 Girls" is a misnomer, that there is actually 13 girls in the band. I have thought about it later and realized that the Chinese are very superstitious about luck and numbers. 12 is lucky, while 13 is not.

Anyway, here are some more covers:

CRAZY FROG www.jamba.de Crazy Frog - Last Christmas As much as I admire and love British culture, I could not understand their love for that Crazy Frog (Europe's love for the Crazy Frog sent him to #1 in the charts - simply by selling ring tones!) If you've never heard of Crazy Frog, it sounds to me that they just remix music by other people and through the brilliant marketing of an animated frog. Thankfully the craze never made it over to the States, and if it does, I'll bet you that Americans will complain about the Frog's penis. If you were wondering about the woman singing on Crazy Frog's housey "Last Christmas", it is by singer Nicole Bolley.	ASHLEY TISDALE ashleytisdale.com ♥ ashleymusic.com Ashley Tisdale-Last Christmas Like many other modern girl pop singers, Ashley Tisdale came out of the Disney school of music... or better known as High School Musical. Hate it or not, it's hard to ignore the impact of HSM on popular culture. In 2006, Tisdale decided to release her studio recording of "Last Christmas" for Warner Brothers Music. The song was eventually released only as a one-track radio promo, and only available as a digital download. However, if physical CD is your thing, you'll find the song as a B-Side on her He Said She Said EP. If you get a chance to listen to the sort-of-whiney version of "Last Christmas", it doesn't really add much to the song. It's definitely more modern and pop.
I'M SO LOOK YOU myspace.com ♥ imsolookyou.blogspot.com I'm So Look You-Last Christmas I'm So Look You is from Japan, I think mostly driven by DJ Muranao. I couldn't make any sense of her myspace or blogspot, as it's mostly written in Japanese, so I can't really tell you much about her. She seems like a young woman with a talent for mixing. Anyway, she recently remixed "Last Christmas", adding a little jingle bells, "Joy to the World", violas, synth, and techno beats to the original song. The vocals are modified enough that you might not recognize that it's George Michaels. She'll be DJing in the Nagoya area, check it out: 12/24/08  domina "パジャマ de オジャマ de KISS!!" 12/31/08  club buddha & R-base cafe "年越しパーティー☆" 01/10/09 GOLDEN CHILD CAFE 01/14/09  SARU 01/24/09  club EDITS "藤澤志保 Release Tour" 01/29/09  domina "HEIDI" 02/01/09 club EDITS "TRASH" 03/13/09 club buddha "LOVE LIFE MUSIC!!!"	HILARY DUFF hilaryduff.com ♥ myspace.com Hilary Duff - Last Christmas Hilary Duff is probably best known as Lizzie McGuire (yet another Disney child star). She ventured into music obviously, and from her first real studio album is actually a holiday album called Santa Claus Lane, released in 2002. The title is a fictional street, as originally referenced in the 1947 song "Here Comes Santa Claus" and probably inspired the poppy "Santa Claus Lane" song on the album. No surprise, but I don't think Duff wrote any of the songs on the album, they were either written for her or established songs. Some of the covers I did recognize is Paul McCarthy's "" and Wham's "Last Christmas". Incidentally, the "chicawah" sound effects on "Last Christmas" made Duff's version very cheesy. The quirky effects are also applied to other songs on her album. Someone should've stopped the mixer/producer from over doing it.
BILLIE billie-piper.net (unofficial) Billie - Last Christmas 1 comment Billie Paul Piper or better known simply as "Billie" is a British singer and actress. Unlike her teen pop contemporaries, she's not of the Disney music school. However, they're all pretty much interchangeable, aren't they? She dabbled in music, but have only managed to released two albums (strangely securing a "Greatest Hits" album based on the two previous studio albums) and seems to have taken more into acting. Currently, she's better known for playing Rose Tyler next to the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who (2005 to 2006), where she's won numerous awards for "Best Actress" to GQ's "Woman of the Year".	DAM VINH HUNG damvinhhung.ws ♥ myspace.com Dam Vinh Hung-Last Christmas Dam Vinh Hung is a pop singer from Vietnam. It must be hard to be a singer or actor in Vietnam because the state of things in the region is that everything is bootlegged and you can forget about money and royalties from legitimate sales of your records or DVDs. It's gotten to a point that people prefer the bootlegs due to the attractive dirt cheap prices. Anyway, the cover song is sung entirely in Vietnamese and contain the opening dialogue. I'm probably mis-translating it, but he said something to the extent of: My love, do you remember me? I know you don't love me anymore.