Unique amateur bands in Vinh City

(Baonghean) - Creating a platform for themselves, or bringing music closer to everyday life, is what the influential amateur bands in Vinh City are currently aspiring to.

I had the opportunity to hear Truong Xuan Thuy's Bossa band play the instrumental piece "Besame Mucho" in a café in the ancient city on a rainy day. In the murmuring atmosphere of the rain, only about 10 customers were present to enjoy the performance, and they felt as if they were reliving the feelings of youth, of their vibrant springtime. In that moment of music, the musicians and the audience became one, as if vibrating on the same frequency, sharing the same emotions.

The Bose Bass band performed at a charity event to support flood victims in Central Vietnam.

When I asked Thuy if they were all graduates of the instrumental music department of a music school, she replied: "The Bossa band has four members, and all four are amateurs in terms of musical instrument skills. We practiced together because we liked each other. Over time, friends got to know us and invited us to perform at events and programs, playing instrumental pieces or accompanying singers at tea rooms."

When talking about amateur bands in Vinh City, everyone knows the young couple Hoang Son and Phuong Linh, with Phuong Linh's Piano Company and her band, Army Pub. Their connection stemmed from a shared passion for music, and their band is comprised of members from diverse professions: Canh Hoang, an architect, plays drums; Hoang Luu, a recent graduate of Hue University of Economics, plays bass guitar; and Thai Phu, a fitness trainer with an amazing bolero singing voice.

As for Phuong Linh, the multi-talented member of the band and a keeboat singer, she also possesses a mezzo-soprano voice and reached the finals of Ido 2012. She was also invited to participate in the Asian Voice competition. However, she has never received any professional music education; it's simply a passion. From a young age, her parents encouraged her to pursue music as a way to express her feelings through the black and white keys. Later, after graduating from a foreign language university, Linh considered changing direction, viewing music as just a side job, "I'll play if I like it, I'll sing if I like it"...

The band Hoang Son and Phuong Linh blend seamlessly into contemporary music with diverse and vibrant styles, reflecting real life while maintaining a high level of professionalism. Besides the weekly Saturday night performances contracted by cafes, charity events and musical occasions would be incomplete without the blues, jazz, and romantic pop ballads of Arm Pub.

The couple Phuong Linh and Hoang Son performed at the "Sea and Me" concert held at the end of July.

We must also mention other amateur bands that are performing and operating very professionally in the city, such as the Sonata band and the Vinh University youth band. These bands also strive to create professional spaces for themselves, spaces where the performers and the audience find a common emotional connection, and where listeners and audience members find the most professional music listening experience. However, these bands still want to have truly professional performance venues because, according to them, not every cafe wants to sign a long-term contract, and not every time of year has charitable exchange programs to provide them with a platform.

The music program featuring bands like "The Sea and Me," co-organized by journalists and music groups in the city at the end of July, was an opportunity for sound engineers in Vinh to showcase their talents, compete, and for the audience to enjoy professional sound and rich, appreciative music.

According to Hoang Son, he and the band will try to create their own spaces by organizing their own stages to perform only their music and works weekly, attracting audiences with the unique style that Army Pub is building. The group will also organize a birthday celebration concert to give the band members a chance to shine, express themselves, and give their all.

As for Xuan Thuy, the leader of Bossa band, his cherished dream is to have a venue, a space for classic music that he himself builds. Then, the band will have many opportunities to perform, and anyone who wants to hear the music and immerse themselves in the atmosphere of classic music can come to Thuy's space and experience it.

These aspirations have been realized by Sotana Cafe, which has managed to gather many bands from the city, both professional and amateur. However, bringing together all of them is beyond the cafe's capacity. Owner Nguyen Thi Thom stated: "Besides the main band that the cafe has a long-term contract with, we mostly only contract with a few well-known singers or amateur singers who have influence and good voices. Gathering many bands would be very difficult, both financially and in terms of organizing and 'setting the tone' for the cafe's music."

Therefore, creating a platform for themselves, or bringing music closer to everyday life, is what the influential amateur bands in the city are currently striving for. Their hope is to bring the most authentic, everyday-sounding music to music lovers in Vinh City.

Thanh Nga