VietNamNet Bridge – “I can now sing Bonjour Vietnam much better than I used to,” Vietnamese-Belgian singer Pham Quynh Anh, who has arrived in her parents’ homeland for the first time, told the media in HCM City yesterday.

Vietnamese-Belgian singer Pham Quynh Anh.

“I am touched that the story I talk about in my song can live on thanks to the people who love it. More importantly, I am connected to them thanks to that song.”

After the warm reception she has received from people and the media here, she said, “I feel very assured here, just like being home.”

There may be many places for her to visit in the country during her 10-day trip - she is set to go to Ha Noi and Ha Long Bay - but a surprise destination is the school where her mother studied.

She plans to take back to her mother, images and even emotions from the school.

At the Eurocham dinner, she will sing Bonjour Vietnam as well as other popular songs. She will be joined by Vietnamese pop stars Hong Nhung and Duc Tuan and the European Cool Swing Express Band.

Though Anh herself will sing just one Vietnamese song, she has promised to come back to Viet Nam for a longer trip next year and sing more Vietnamese songs.

Anh said she is writing songs with Marc Lavoine, French composer, singer and writer of Bonjour Vietnam, and preparing for her next album, which will be released next year. She is trying many songs about Viet Nam and Asia, which are expected to be in the album.

Bonjour Vietnam has been making waves in Vietnamese communities all over the world since being posted on the internet in 2006.

Born in 1987, Anh began playing the guitar and learning music and singing at the Academy of Mons in Belgium at a young age.

In 2000 she won first prize at the contest Pour la Gloire (For the Glory), organised by the RTBF, Belgium’s official French-language public broadcaster. In 2002 she signed a contract with Universal.

(Source: Viet Nam News)