CAMA Festival – the
largest annual music festival in Hanoi will take place this May, with the
presence of ten foreign and local bands. All profits raised by the festival
will be donated to the Fauna and Flora International (FFI)’s endangered primate
protection program in northern Vietnam.

Performing on the
main stage will be P.K.14 (China), Okamoto’s (Japan), The Standards (Thailand),
Ball Park Music (Australia), 6789 (HCM City, Vietnam), Rosewood (Hanoi,
Vietnam), Recycle (Hanoi, Vietnam), Gibbon Suburbia (Hanoi, Vietnam), Phuong
Dang (Hanoi, Vietnam) and Commens (Hanoi, Vietnam).

Performing on the
electronic stage will include CAMA Sound System, Tri Minh (Vietnam), DJ Jase
(HCM City/Australia), DJ Slippy (Japan), DJ Polo (France), Vu Nhat Tan
(Vietnam), DJ Vaughan (UK), DJ Cache and Stoker’s Delight.

Flagged by Time
Magazine as one of the top 5 bands to watch in Asia, and one of SPIN’s top
picks at SXSW 2010, P.K.14 are the undisputed leaders of China’s new
wave, the raw, beating heart of a new generation of rock revolutionaries. Since
forming in Nanjing back in 1997, the band has
recorded four albums, played innumerable live shows around China and the world, and influenced almost every
act to emerge from Beijing’s
grimy underbelly over the past five years.

Vietnam’s first true electronic artist, Tri Minh
started his career in the early 90s as a jazz musician, graduating with a
degree in composing from the Hanoi Conservatory of Music. After a period of
improvising with jazz, Tri Minh began to expand his creative palette, moving
into the new world of electronica.

Since 1999, Tri
Minh has composed and performed as a solo electronic artist, playing around Vietnam
and the world. Known for both his work as a top-notch minimalist DJ and
avant-garde musician and sound artist, Tri Minh merges electronic programming
and instrumentation with traditional Vietnamese music both in musical
performances and in combination with modern installations and performances.

Psychedelic garage
rock sensation, Okamoto’s, are some of Japan’s fastest rising stars.
Young, dynamic and uncompromising, the band has forged a name for themselves
over the last 3 years based on their intense stage shows and brash, raw sound.
One of the hardest working acts on the Japanese scene (playing 100 shows in
2009 alone), the four 19-year-olds from Shinjuku, Tokyo, have already begun to
make a big name for themselves internationally, touring the US, Australia and
Hong Kong to rave reviews from fans and media alike.

Stalwarts of the
vibrant Bangkok
live music scene, The Standards have been wowing audiences with their signature
Brit-Thai fusion sound for over 3 years. Made up of London boy Matt Smith on
vocals, Paul Smith on lead guitar, and Bangkok natives Sithikorn
“Mac” Likitvorachai on bass, Ayu Charuburana on drums and Manasnit
Setthawong on keyboard, The Standards have developed a firm reputation as one
of the region’s must-see live acts. With their riotous live shows attracting a
cult-like following at home in Thailand and inspiring bookings in the
Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and now Vietnam, The Standards are an act
firmly making their mark on the burgeoning Southeast Asian rock circuit.

Ball Park
MusicDarlings of the Australian indie scene, six-headed musical juggernaut Ball
Park Music is an act on the up and up. With their unique pop recipe, full of
sliding trombones and heart-breaking folk, jangly guitars and honky-tonk piano,
the band has been winning hearts and minds down under with a slew of
alternative radio hits and live performances alongside the likes of
Philadelphia Grand Jury, Cloud Control, Deep Sea Arcade, Boy & Bear, Hungry
Kids of Hungary and even Radiohead. Starting 2011 with a coveted slot at the
Big Day Out - Australia’s biggest rock festival – and a nod from national
broadcaster Triple J as one of the hottest acts to watch in the country, Ball
Park Music are now preparing to make their Asian debut in Hanoi at the upcoming
CAMA Festival 5.

6789 may struggle
to defy categorization, but their diverse influences and enthusiastic stage
shows have fast won them a devoted fan base over the last year in their native HCM City.
Melding funk, reggae, ska and more, the four members of 6789 – Way (drums),
Janel (acoustic guitar), Dunk (electric guitar) and Phuong (bass) – without
doubt, make for one of Vietnam’s
most original new acts.

Rising from the
ashes of local rock/numetal bands Buratinox and SmallFire, Hanoi
alternative rockers Rosewood have gone on to become one of Vietnam’s leading live acts.
Building a reputation for hard-hitting live performances, Vũ Hà (lead guitar),
Nam Thắng (bass), Trung Kiên (drum) and Vũ Nhật Linh (vocals, guitar) have won
fans around the nation with their performances at rock showcases including Rockstorm
and the Tiger Translate Metropolis events around Vietnam in 2010.

One of the leading
talents on Hanoi’s young rock scene, Recycle are a hard-hitting alternative
metal act made up of Nguyễn Việt Dũng a.k.a Joon (vocalist), Tăng Xuân Kiên
a.k.a Cun (bassist), Nguyễn Thanh Liêm (guitarists) and Hoàng Phú Tùng
(drummer). Choosing Alternative Metal as their kind of music, Re-Cycle always
brings a different sound among the others. Full of youth, enthusiasm and skill,
they attract lots of attention during their performance. They have released 2
EPs, 2 MV and audiences find “The Promise”, “Paranoid” and
“Get over” their most well known songs.

An audience
favorite at the 3rd CAMA Festival in 2009, the boys have since gone on to
release 2 original EPs, 2 music videos, and win ever more fans with their
passionate stage shows and distinctly Vietnamese brand of heavy rock.

Gibbon Suburbia’s
eclectic, electric, heavy layered arboreal sound sits on a sonic bed of solid
hard rock, drawing inspiration from hardcore, protopunk, garage and progressive
rock with a generous dash of psychedelic grunge-instrumental experimentalism.

Commens - Hanoi’s newest electronic rock act consists of California transplants
Ryan Chittick, Lilly Nguyen and Taylor Cavale. Commens draws upon electronic
music, krautrock, post rock, minimalism and maximalism, blending sequenced
electronics, synthesizers, and live drumming.

Chittick and Nguyen
have musical roots in the San Francisco music
scene playing shows in clubs, warehouses and basements and touring the US and Europe with bands such as Warbler, Experimental Dental School
and Kid 606.

Phuong Dang, 22,
Vietnamese, beautiful, bilingual, quirky, baroqueish, at times theatrical, soul
piercing and honest, is an elegant pianist with powerful vocals. Recent
performances have literally left the audience in awe of this must-see homegrown
talent.

One of Vietnam’s
leading electronic artists and producers, Vu Nhat Tan has forged a name for
himself as a DJ and composer of experimental music. From orchestral works to
chamber and piano music to cutting-edge electro and multimedia performances.

Studying in Vietnam, Germany
and the US, Tan has
performed around Asia, Europe and the United States and received a host
of honors from the Vietnam Composers Association,  as well as First Prize in the prestigious
Saint-German-en-Laye competition. A hands-down hit at last year’s CAMA
Festival, Tan returns to the festival with his uniquely Vietnamese take on
electronica in 2011.

DJ JASE (The Beats
Saigon) - Pioneering Vietnamese bass DJ, Jase has been pushing the bass heavy
sound in Vietnam
since 2007. Part of Sydney’s infamous Foreign Dub crew and founder and driving
force of HCM City’s The Beats (who have themselves brought over 30
international acts to Vietnam), Jase is a long-time CAMA collaborator who has
developed an enviable reputation with audiences in Hanoi and around Vietnam. A
self-taught DJ, Jase’s style is electric, spinning everything from hip hop to
reggae, funk, drum’n’bass, dubstep, abstract beats, and even vintage Vietnamese
rock.

Born in Paris, DJ Polo is a Hanoi
dance floor favourite. A CAMA Sound system resident he has played some amazing
sets with Akil the MC (Jurrasic5), Tha Trickaz, and many more. His set includes
Electro, dub and house.

Australia’s DJ Cache started out in the basement of a
friend’s house with a hefty vinyl collection of Trance, Techno, Big Beat and
Jungle. In 2001 he moved to London,
England, where
he witnessed just how influential the DJ movement had become. He started
collecting vinyl and soon became hooked on where music could take you. Today
his major influences are from the organic rhythms of Quantic, the playful jazz
wobble of Mr Scruff, the pounding dubstep of Bassnectar and the prolific pop,
indie, and dancehall of remixer/producer Diplo.

Prior to relocating
to Hanoi, DJ Cache was a resident of X&Y Bar (Voted #1 music venue in
Australia 2010) as well as making a slew of other special guest appearances
throughout Australia.

UK
import Vaughan
has never failed to get a dance floor packed - and we mean never. A long-time
proponent of good-non-commercial beats, Vaughan
is one of the minds behind the Electronic Hanoi parties and continues to
deliver quality tracks wherever he plays.

DJ Slippy is the
exception that proves the rule. Despite flying in from Japan just to perform at
CAMA Festival 5, Slippy is an original long-term Hanoi resident with a long
history of waking up to a half eaten trung vit lon on the train to HCMC. Expect
a taste of hitherto un-Hanoied tracks from Mr. Slithery himself.

The festival will
start at 1 pm, Saturday, May 28 at 19-21 Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi.

Tickets are
available at:

Al Fresco’s: 23L
Hai Bà Trưng; 108K1 Láng Hạ; 98 Xuân Diệu; A37 Phố Hoàng Ngân; 19 Nhà Thờ

Boo Skate Shops: 38
Lê Đại Hành; 84 Hàng Điếu; 24D Tạ Hiền

Highway4
Restaurants: 3 Hàng Tre; 25 Bát Sứ; 54 Mai Hắc Đế; 575 Kim Mã

Puku: Tống Duy Tân
(cooking street)

The House of SÆ¡n
Tinh: 31 Xuân Diệu

FFI Head Ofice: 340
Nghi Tàm

PV