Singer Tung Duong’s newest album, Li Ti (Tiny), earned him the title of Album of
the Year at the Cong Hien (Devotion) awards ceremony last week, winning the
votes of 100 culture and music critics. The album has also received high praise
from audiences.

Double Devotion: Tung Duong (left) duos with diva Thanh Lam at a liveshow last year. Duong is the only artist this year to scoop two major Devotion awards, Album of the Year and Singer of the Year. (Photo: VNS)

Released last
December, Li Ti combines elements of Western electronic music, classical music
and Vietnamese traditional music. Although Duong began nurturing the idea for
the album in 2008, he waited until a year later, when he heard an album produced
by overseas Vietnamese composer Nguyen Cong Phuong Nam, to begin work on it.

“I suddenly realised
that Nam and I could form a good partnership as I found we share common opinions
on music,” said Duong. “He was the one I needed to turn my musical ideas into
reality.”

Aiming for an
international quality production, Duong decided to record the album in Germany,
where Nam lives. Duong can’t remember how many times he had to fly back and
forth between Viet Nam and Germany to record the album.

Duong’s third solo
album, Li Ti features six songs written by Luu Ha An, Sa Huynh and Nguyen Xinh
Xo, and two instrumentals by Nam. Vietnamese DJ Tri Minh and German DJ Sebastian
Parch, as well as members of the Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn, played key roles
in creating the unique mix of music for Li Ti.

“We wanted people who
would nurture the idea to create a new album that sounds different from any
other in Viet Nam, something modern but still presenting distinctly Vietnamese
melodies,” Duong said.

However, Duong said,
his production team had to struggle to realise his vision.

“Distinct Vietnamese
melodies and symphony. Our biggest challenge was how to combine such totally
different types of music,” he said.

However, Duong seems
to harvest success with any type of music at which he tries his hand. The album
received positive reviews immediately after it was released.

“It’s worth listening
to the CD, in which Tung Duong is able to show his unique and beautiful voice,
accompanied by electronic and traditional Vietnamese instruments,” wrote a
reviewer in the newspaper Tuoi Tre. “The album is able to evoke the listeners’
emotion with its cinematic qualities. It’s like a movie soundtrack.”

“Unlike his previous
albums, which were presented in an over-enthusiastic manner, Li Ti comes across
in a smooth way that is able to attract listeners from the first track,” said
the website VnExpress.

A graduate of the
National Academy of Music, Duong is experienced in different types of music,
including jazz, folk and pop.

“It doesn’t matter
what type of music I sing,” he said. “I just think that it is a means to
diversify my voice.”

Duong, a Ha Noi
native, shot to fame in 2004, when he won the singing contest Sao Mai Diem Hen
(Morning Star – Rendezvous), quickly becoming one of the country’s top singers.
His album Nhung O Mau Lap Phuong (The Coloured Cubes) won the Devotion award in
2007, and the new CD includes remixes of his hits Con Co (The Stork) and Dong Ho
Treo Tuong (Wall Clock), which respectively won the Song of the Year prizes in
the Bai Hat Viet (Vietnamese Song) competitions in 2007 and 2008.

Last year, Duong
performed in the live show Yeu (Love) with diva Thanh Lam, a mini tour in
Germany, the Con Duong Am Nhac (Music Road) programme and several show’s
celebrating Ha Noi’s millennium.

This year, he scooped
two major Devotion awards, Album of the Year and Singer of the Year, beating out
such big names as Lam, Viet Nam Idol 2010 Uyen Linh, Ha Anh Tuan and Duc Tuan
for the latter honour.

At the recent Devotion
awards ceremony, Duong was quite emotional and almost couldn’t speak after he
was announced as the winner of the award because “every single artist hopes to
be honoured by this award. My happiness seems to be double as I have won the
title for a second time”.

But he also
acknowledges the pressure he feels. “I will now have to escape from my own
shadow”, Duong said.

Duong is now in France
for a concert tour and will return to Ha Noi for a show featuring Composer of
the Year Le Cat Trong Ly later this month.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News