Music industry stakeholders are engaged in a race to release new albums for the upcoming holiday season, but those with more experience are likely to do better in the market.

Hanoi musician and song writer Do Bao has worked with pop star Tran Thu Ha to record "Canh Cung" (The Bow) with 12 songs, and the CD has been a big hit, distributors say.

The album was recorded at HomeStudio, owned by Ha who lives in California. Its post-production was completed in Boston by a group of professional staff.

More than 2,000 CDs sold out in the very first week after the album was released two months ago.

Though the CD offers little innovation, it has left a strong impression on fans simply for its romantic flavour.

While Ha's previous contemporary music albums were widely credited with making her career what it is today, "Canh Cung" changes pace with a classical taste.

Many fans are delighted that Ha has finally returned to her original voice after years of trying to differentiate herself by singing in a nasal voice.

After enjoying "Canh Cung", many fans have said that Ha's singing sounds natural and pure without vocal gymnastics.

Two other albums that have made their mark are "Doc Dao" (Only Path) and "Yeu" (Love) by Tung Duong, dubbed as "divo of Vietnam", and the "Nam Dong Ke" (The Musical Staff) band respectively. Both albums were released late last month.

Duong recorded "Doc Dao" in France. The album, his biggest music project with Vietnamese-French musician/producer Nguyen Le, features 10 songs in world jazz style, mostly composed by Sa Huynh and Luu Ha An.

"To embolden my musical personality is not the main purpose of the album. It can be said that Le and I have challenged ourselves to present another angle of Vietnamese music to the world. Our music is a blending of traditional folk tunes with modern world music," he confided.

Duong also sang "Anh Trang Khuya" (Late Night Moonlight), a work by his producer, Vietnamese-French musician/producer Nguyen Le. Duong's voice on the recordings is powerful but velvety and accompanied by several Vietnamese traditional instruments.

"Yeu", a collection of seven sonds and three sound tracks with elecronic music, marks the return of "Nam Dong Ke" hand since they released heir third album in 2007. The band's Bao Lan, Lan Huong and Thuy Linh said they had invested a lot of time in perfecting their singing.

"We hope to offer a quality production to the music market," said Lan, who created and mixed all songs for the album.

For the final season of the year, when many fans purchase new albums, producers and singers know they have to surprise their fans with something new or unusual to spur sales.-VNA