TV shows give singers a shot at fame

HCM City (VNA) – New TV shows featuring Vietnamese singers and bands attracting thousands of fans are not a rare sight in the industry.

"There is a boom in music shows in the country,” said Thuy Trang, a music critic in HCM City.

Audiences attending concerts that are broadcast weekly on channels of leading television stations such as VTV and Hồ Chí Minh Television (HTV) can easily see that Vietnamese songs and singers are winning the hearts of fans who once preferred western music.

And the crowds of young audiences show how enthusiastic the public has responded to local music.

Last year, the TV show The Remix Hoa Am Anh Sang (Remix), launched on HTV, began to offer the latest trends in electronic dance music.

The show features not just singers but also disc jockeys (DJs) who create a seamless selection of tracks from one recording to the next.

During the show, singers and their dance groups perform several song remixes in commercially popular genres, such as techno, house, rap, hip-hop and light rock.

This year, the show’s final round attracted more than 5,000 audiences to the city’s Military Zone 7 stadium.

Nearly half of the audience has had to stand during performances because the stadium has only 3,000 seats.

The winner was Noo Phuoc Thinh, a young singer who began his career by performing pop and ballads in 2009.

“I was not a star until I performed in The Remix-Hoa Am Anh Sang,” said Thinh, 27, who worked with producer DJ Slim V to shift his style to R&B and dance.

At the concert, young singers such as Son Tung-MTP, Dong Nhi, Giang Hong Ngoc and Toc Tien will also have a chance to popularise their names and songs.

The show is among three music programmes nominated for the 2016 Devotion Awards, a prestigious music prize launched annually by the Vietnam News Agency’s The Thao & Van Hoa (Sports & Culture) newspaper.

The shows titled Giai Dieu Tu Hao (Proudly Vietnamese Melodies) and Vang Trang Co Nhac (Traditional Songs) were launched on VTV1 and HTV7 in 2014, and attracted more than 1,000 people for each live monthly broadcast.

Both programmes feature patriotic and traditional music.

"The concerts are well prepared. That is one reason audiences like these professional programmes," said Huynh Giao, a fan of HTV from Dong Nai Province.

"While pop and dance tunes dominate the market, a cai luong (reformed opera) show like Vang Trang Co Nhac meets our demands," he said.

Vang Trang Co Nhac is staged at Dam Sen Park in District 11, featuring dozens of extracts from popular cai luong plays in praise of the country, its history and culture. Many of the extracts are recognised as canons of cai luong theatre.

The show has attracted cai luong stars like Le Thuy, Minh Vuong, Thanh Ngan and Thoai My, who have spent years to preserve their art.

Through the programme, which is broadcast live on HTV7, more people in poor and remote areas now have access to entertainment and learning.

Trang said that the shows’ producers had spent large sums of money for sound and light systems as well as advertisements to attract younger audiences.

“Production costs are high, but organisers can still make profits. Profits come from ticket sales and sponsors who want their names displayed at performances,” she said.

The demand for entertainment is increasing. Show business profits are expected to rise as shows become more competitive in the future, offering excellent opportunities for impresarios.-VNA