crossovers from Vietnam,Singapore,Thailand..

Trikont V.A. : Hò ! #1 -roady music from Vietnam 2000" (VIE,?)**°°

The Austrian label owners travelled to Vietnam to discover and record enthusiastically expressions of mostly street musicians perhaps while having an excuse to track down traditional Vietnamese folk music. Some songs, love songs mostly are rooted in folk but part of popular entertainment. I like especially the “Bonanza” cover with its Vietnamese flavour. Also these have their particular charm, with bands playing partly electric, or playing a free instrumental choice in between two acts, like a country and western interpretation. Also great are the tracks with 'dan bau', which is an electrified traditional string instrument, accompanied by rhythm box or keyboard playing recognisable instrumental covers (like "Rider In The Sky" or "Chinese Song"). Also we hear funeral music by a brass and percussion group, playing hardly tuned and enraged against the street noise and motor cycle traffic ("Deathcombo"), or in a mourning kind of entertainment ("Totensong"). Some street musicians really can express a vivid energy against the noise, with megaphone or electrified guitar. A few tracks are bluesy. One guy called VC Hooker plays an unusual bluesy electric guitar improvisation with Vietnamese singing ("VC's blues"). We have also Ferry Duo playing Vietnamese bluesy music with handpercussion, megaphone, amplified guitar ("fnl's blues"), or The SRV Opera singers who sing solo or with more singers, and a few acoustic barbeque songs accompanied by acoustic guitar. Another guy, Dylan Thanh, has beside his entertaining repertoire his own songs in slightly American singersongwriter style with acoustic guitar, with a sweet accent and its own approach, modestly expressing his honest expressions amidst the whole stream of things ("Balanced voice songs"). A fine CD which overwhelms you with impressions as if one really is in Saigon experiencing this creativity amidst a surviving of the fittest energy of a big Asian city.

Other audio : Dan Bau Vietnam : "Rider In The Sky" , Dead Men's Orchestra : "Totencombo", Eo Sinh & Namh Hao : "VC Love Song", Thu Hien : "Hoa Cau Vuon Trau"

Info : http://www.trikont.de/english/artist/e_ho.html

Other review : http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/roady.htm

& http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxix/2000.01.14/ae/p13various.html

& http://www.klang-records.co.uk/klang/world/world.html

& http://ricebowljournals.com/cgi-...

& (with audio) http://www.cdconnection.com/bin/nph-search?part=1012341