Photographer Le Thanh Hai is determined to export high-quality Vietnamese music to foreign audiences

Determined to bring Vietnamese music to foreign audiences, one man has made it his mission to improve the quality of local albums.

“I want to show the world that Vietnamese music isn’t as bad as they think,” said Hai, a photographer who has produced the country’s first “hi-end” album.

Though it just hit stores last month, Bong toi ly cafe (Shadow in the Dark) is already winning over local critics.

“Excellent editing and harmonizing techniques. Wonderfully spontaneous. Analog recording and mastering that meets hi-end standards,” raved one critic from the Vietnamese Television and Electronics Association’s magazine, Consumers’ Electronics.

The album, a jazzy collection of popular Vietnamese songs, was recorded using analog technology.

Bong toi ly cafe was showcased at the Hiend Show 2008 at HCMC’s Continental Hotel in September and includes six instrumental tracks and two Vietnamese songs sung in English.

Hai says local albums are often recorded using digital techniques that allow a song to be recorded line by line and fine-tuned by a computer until the sound is “perfect.”

“With analog, performers can’t make a single mistake because if they do, the whole thing has to be re-recorded again.”

Hai says that even in developed music markets, hi-end albums aren’t common as the technology is expensive and difficult to master.

It took Hai and his team five months to produce Bong toi ly cafe, three months longer than the time usually needed to make an album digitally.

Hai’s aim is to help export Vietnamese music to foreign audiences.

“In order to do so, not only must our songs be excellent, but our recording and editing must be perfect as well,” he said.

Hai also chose to record a selection of old-time Vietnamese favorites including Tinh nghe sy (Feelings) by Doan Chuan-Tu Linh and Thuo ay co em (When We were Together) by Huynh Anh as “pop music nowadays isn’t very good,” he said.

“There are too many cheap, fast-cooking songs in the local music market right now that give foreigners a misunderstanding of Vietnamese music.”

Hai said before he embarked on his unprecedented project, which cost him a great deal of money, some of his friends doubted whether he would succeed.

Some people thought he was being arrogant and just wanted to show off, he said.

But pianist Vu Trong Hieu, the harmony technician for the album, has always had faith in Hai’s abilities.

“To create a hi-end album, you must have knowledge in both music and mastering technology,” Hieu said. “Hai is the one.”

Filipino singer Arlene Estrella, who sings two songs in English by Duong Thu on the album, said the experience of singing on a Vietnamese-made album of such high quality was incredible.

“It gave me a chance to approach and understand Vietnamese culture through its songs,” she said.

For his part, songwriter Duong Thu loves the idea of having his songs translated – Bong toi ly cafe (Shadow in the Dark) and Em di qua toi (You Passed My Way) – into English and recording them in a jazz style.

“It feels like their souls are alive in a new form,” he said.

Hai said Bong toi ly cafe is only the beginning of a series of other hi-end albums he has in mind. “Each one will represent different musical genres,” he said.

Reported by Phuong Anh