1st Edition

Popular Music of Vietnam The Politics of Remembering, the Economics of Forgetting

By Dale A. Olsen Copyright 2008
    308 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    Based on the author’s research in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and other urban areas in Vietnam, this study of contemporary Vietnamese popular music explores the ways globalization and free market economics have influenced the music and subcultures of Vietnamese youth, focusing on the conflict between the politics of remembering, nurtured by the Vietnamese Communist government, and the politics of forgetting driven by the capitalist interests of the music industry.

    Vietnamese youth at the end of the second and beginning of the third millennium are influenced by the challenges generated by a number of seemingly opposite ideologies and realities, such as "the past" versus "the present," socialism versus capitalism, and cultural traditionalism versus globalization. Vietnam has undergone a radical demographic shift with a very pronounced youth movement, and consequently, Vietnamese popular culture has been radically reshaped by a young population coming of age in the twenty-first century. As Olsen reveals, the way Vietnamese young people cope with these opposing and contrasting forces is often expressed in their active and passive music making.

    List of Figures.  Forward Nguyen T. Phong.  Acknowledgements  1. Prelude  2. Cultural and Political Settings for Vietnam’s Popular Music  3. Vietnamese Pop Music Stars and the Bumpy Road to Stardom  4. Vietnamese Rock, Pop-Rock, and Pop Music Bands  5. Vietnamese Songwriters, Social Issues, and Government Persuasion  6. Performance Venues for (Mostly) Live Popular Music  7. Disseminating Popular Music: Pop and Rock Music Concerts, Festivals, and Shows  8. Disseminating Popular Music: Audio and Video Recordings  9. Vietnamese Karaoke: Place, Pleasure, Politics, and Profit  10. Conclusion: The Politics and Economics of Popular Music in Vietnam.  Notes.  Glossary.  Bibliography.  Index

    Biography

    Dale A. Olsen is distinguished Research Professor of Ethnomusicology at Florida State University. His major publications include Music of the Warao of Venezuela: Song People of the Rain Forest; Music of El Dorado: The Ethnomusicology of Ancient South American Cultures; The Chrysanthemum and the Song: Music, Memory, and Identity in the South American Japanese Diaspora; The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 2 (co-edited with Daniel Sheehy); and The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music (co-edited with Daniel Sheehy).

    "this book should serve as a model for younger ethnomusicologists pursuing study of popular music... Highly recommended." --CHOICE