Today, Dave the Traveling Music Man writes about the music in Vietnam, or the lack thereof….
Dave the Traveling Music Man doing his happy pose in front of the Saigon Central Post Office
Recently, I had the privilege to travel to Vietnam for a fast vacation. It took a long time to get there but was well worth it. Most of my time was spent in Ho Chi Minh City doing a lot of walking, sightseeing and just plain looking around.
While I was crossing the streets and fearing that I wouldn’t get run over by the sea of never-ending motorbikes, I kept my eyes open for any music around the area. I figured that a city like this would be flourishing with live music. To my surprise, I didn’t see all that much available.
I passed by a few places that advertised live jazz music. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to see it, but it seems to be out there somewhere. Another interesting thing that I noticed was that there weren’t any street musicians. I did manage to see one person on a corner playing an instrument that sounded like a slide guitar but that was about it.
Another place that I saw on my walk was a storefront that had a sign that said Woodstock Live Music. I’m sure that would have been a trip to behold! But once again, I didn’t go back later on to see if it was open and if there was in fact live music. I was probably asleep from the jetlag then.
I asked some of the local children what bands they liked. I got the usual suspects from them like Justin Beiber and Maroon 5. They had no idea who the Ramones or Blondie were.
We met many friendly schoolchildren during our run around the Saigon Zoo. More about this in Will Run For Mile’s post on our visit to the Zoo.
Even though the music scene wasn’t looking too prosperous, I did see a Music Conservatory.
HCMC Conservatory of Music
Also noteworthy to mention, was that I did see a few music stores on the block of the Conservatory. The music stores were mostly piano shops selling local brands. Having said that, I did manage to run into a music store that sold guitars, basses and electronic instruments. The salespeople were very nice and allowed me to play any instrument to my heart’s content (while Kathy waited outside wondering if I’d been abducted).
There is obviously an opera scene in Saigon as the Saigon Opera House (Ho Chi Minh Municipal Theater) was right near the Park Hyatt, where we stayed. However, it was closed when we tried to take a look inside.
Saigon Opera House (Ho Chi Minh Municipal Theater)
It would be interesting to hear your stories about your Vietnam music experiences. Any music I didn’t experience other than the pumped up disco type music in the local bars and stores and the society music in the lounges? Happy music travels!
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
I dropped into a Jazz bar in Saigon one evening a couple of years ago. The music was top top notch in my book with a very international crowd filling the place up.
The opera house was built by the French way back when, and to my knowledge is never used for operas anymore; there’s no local opera company. I’ve been to Saigon quite a few times and I think the answer to your question is: Nope. You may find the occasional jazz bar, and there’s one bar I recall in the Japanese district that’s famous for it’s music show (a few guitar players & singers), but I think that’s about it.
Hi Dave! Loved this post! I’m happy you’re writing trip reports as I love to read them, especially if they’re about local culture. Keep up the good work! =)
PS – in terms of music, I know rap is just starting to get popular there. There is an up and coming Asian Female/Vietnamese rapper that’s been getting popular. She goes by Suboi. She’s getting pretty up there, performing for Obama, SXSW and film festivals etc.