Having a date with Nguyen Duc Cuong in a quiet corner of a café, it is hard to believe this young man is one of the idols of Vietnamese music fans today. As opposed to his cocksure attitude on stage, the young man sitting in front of me is a rather easy going, humble looking chap.

With a passion for playing guitar, Cuong chose to major in guitar at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music, now renamed the National Academy of Music. Soon afterwards Cuong and his friends formed a boy-band called Net nhac moi, which means ‘New music’. But as talented students of music, this was no manufactured band. Cuong and his pals wrote their own songs with Cuong as the chief composer.

The band performed on small stages in bars, cafés and restaurants. Thanks to their prodigious talent and determination, Net nhac moi slowly garnered a large following while the boys honed their craft. They scooped the highest prize at the Contest for Student Boybands in 2001 as well as numerous other awards through various media channels.

But in 2005 the band announced they had decided to call it quits and concentrate on their solo careers. It was Cuong who quickly stepped into limelight again. On two occasions he has dazzled audiences at the Bai hat Viet contest (Vietnamese song contest) with his new style and was declared to be a new phenomenon in modern showbiz. He won two awards for “best innovative song” for Nong nan Hanoi (My beloved Hanoi) in 2007 and The best pop song for Em trong mat toi (Your beauty in my eyes) in 2008.

In terms of style, Cuong shows great versatility, citing R’n’B and world music amongst his influences. And despite the fact that he is part of the “8X generation”, Cuong loves to write about the ancient beauty of Hanoi and has already shown a sharp eye for detail as well as maturity in his lyrics. “Love is an endless subject in music and poetry, and it is not only about love between men and women,” says Cuong.

“The song Nong nan Ha Noi expressed my sentiment for Bat Bao tea shop on the pavement here in Hanoi, where I can enjoy my free time quietly. “Thanks to that tea shop, I could observe all the movement of life while still realising the simple and endearing factors of Hanoi’s developing process. There are many famous songs about Hanoi’s authentic look, but I write in a different way.

Feeling and loving Hanoi in my own way…” This ancient capital has been an endless inspiration for poets and composers throughout the centuries and now it appears Cuong is the latest artist to capture the city’s lyrical beauty. Cuong lyrics certainly capture the city’s movement with vivid description and poetic grace. The results are enchanting. I am not even from Hanoi but listening to Nong nan Ha Noi stirs my emotions every time.

According to Cuong, a song can not be deemed successful without entering the audience’s heart. That is the measure of a song and something he thinks long and hard about executing. At the end of the day, Cuong see himself as a composer and lyricist. He believes performing on the stage is not his strength and now he spends as much time as he can writing and recording in his studio on Ton Duc Thang street.

He has also started to work as a producer for emerging singers and he has received offers from film studios to write soundtracks. This young artist has already penned 50 songs but it appears he has only just got started.

VietNamNet/Time-out