A quiet Ho Chi Minh City during social distancing. (Photo: Le Sa Long) The song, which has received more than 200,000 views on social media, wasperformed by American Kyo York, who came to Vietnam in 2009 to teach Englishand ended up becoming a popular singer in Vietnam. He considers Ho Chi MinhCity his second home, the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reported.
“Love Sai Gon
Where children are longing for school
Love Sai Gon
Where many are longing for home.”
Those are the first lines from “Sai Gon thuong”, which Kyo York sang with allhis heart. During the current outbreak of COVID-19 in HCM City or Sai Gon asits former name, Kyo’s neighborhood is in the high-risk area, so he’shomebound. Having witnessed the serious complications of the pandemic in hissecond homeland, he wanted to use his voice to soothe people’s souls and boosttheir spirit to fight COVID-19.
“I’ve witnessed people lose their loved ones here in Vietnam and America. Myfather was infected with COVID-19 in 2020. I felt it, I know what it’s like tohave somebody you love be infected with COVID-19. As a musician, I reallybelieve in the power of music, and I think that was the energy that Imanifested to create this song to give back to the community, so they can feelsome warmth in their souls”, he said.
Written by songwriter Khuc Dao Minh, “Sai Gon thuong” has an influence ofSouthern Vietnamese folk music, which is not easy to pull off even for someVietnamese singers. It took Kyo roughly two weeks to prepare to record thesong, helped by colleagues and his previous experience with different types ofVietnamese folk music.
“I’ve been very fortunate to sing all different styles of Vietnamese music,like Quan ho Bac Ninh, dan ca Nam Bo, and so many other types of traditionalmusic. I think it’s so amazing for a country that is so small and yet so richin musical cultures. When I initially heard this song, I was like ‘I’m gonnascrew this up!’, but then I chose to just dive in and do the best that I can tosing the song”, Kyo confided.
After the practice came the recording. Because of social distancing, Kyocouldn’t record the song or film the music video in a studio, so he did it athome using his smartphone! He would start recording after 6pm when the cityturned really quiet and there was not too much background noise. He managed toset up corners of his house to do the video recording and get the lightingright to record himself.
The American singer got some help from his sound engineer, his backingvocalist, the video editors, and particularly painter Le Sa Long, who agreed tolet the video feature his collection of works about HCM City during the currentsocial distancing period. Displayed during Kyo’s music video are 40 paintingsof moments – some heart-breaking, some heart-warming – such as hundreds ofpeople on motorbikes leaving the city for their home village, young children ontheir way to quarantine camps, rice ATMs, and zero-cent takeaway food stalls.
Long even spent one night painting a portrait of Kyo, which appears in thefinal shot of the video as a thank-you to the singer. “I’ve always consideredKyo a foreign singer with a Vietnamese heart, so I was overjoyed when he askedif he could feature my artwork in his music video," Long said.
"It’s a beautiful combination: the song’s folk-pop melody, Kyo’s soft,emotional voice, and pictures showing what a hard time our dear HCM City isgoing through. The music video touched my heart deeply”, Long noted.
Kyo said he cried while recording the song. The emotional and positive feedbackfrom listeners and viewers makes him feel his effort has really paid off. Heshared “It’s a really challenging series of events to get the final product. Ithink that makes the product all that more valuable in my eyes. I’ve lived herefor nine years and for me, this place is very personal. I think it’s soimportant at this point in time to take the word ‘thuong’ (love) in ‘Sai Gonthuong’ seriously. Love each other, love yourself, take care of yourself andyour family.”
“Sai Gon thuong” was created under the auspices of a foundation with the samename operated by the Tourism-Vietnam Studies Faculty of Nguyen Tat ThanhUniversity to support disadvantaged students during and after COVID-19. Kyohoped that money raised by the song will help students realize their dreams,and that the song will continue to help HCM City recover and grow after the pandemic./.
VNA
