Pop star Hong Nhung and Quang Dung in the live show “Because we need each other” in August 2007 in HCM City

VietNamNet Bridge – The teams of available music directors have never been enough for the bustling music market in Vietnam but the lack of directors has become a crisis as a large number of live shows are planned for late 2007 and early 2008.

Let’s have a look at upcoming big live shows to get an idea of the crisis of directors:

November 29: Lam of the Past of pop star Thanh Lam at Hoa Binh Theatre, HCM City, directed by Pham Hoang Nam

December 20: Blue Wave Ten Years at Lan Anh Stage, HCM City, not seeking a director yet

December 31: The Day without You of singer Dam Vinh Hung at Military Zone 7 Stadium, HCM City, directed by Huynh Phuc Dien

January 3, 4, 5, 6, 2008: Charming Vietnam 19 at Hoa Binh Theatre, directed by Huynh Phuc Dien

January 10, 2008: Yellow Apricot at Hoa Binh Theatre, directed by Pham Hoang Nam

The refrain, Nam and Dien

The names Pham Hoang Nam and Huynh Phuc Dien were mentioned as directors of almost all big live shows in 2007: Charming Vietnam 17 and 18 by Huynh Phuc Dien, Tears for You and Because We Need Each Others by Pham Hoang Nam.

As Dien and Nam directed most of the shows, audiences can easily see some similar things in these shows.

Director Viet Tu ought to have directed two live shows for Hien Thuc (planned in August 2007) and Ho Ngoc Ha (scheduled for November 25) but these shows have been cancelled.

Even with Viet Tu, the trio of Nam-Dien-Tu cannot deal with the scarcity of music directors at present. Recently Huynh Phuc Dien had to refuse some live shows because of health problems, which makes the crisis even more serious.

Many but still insufficient

After music show directors Tat My Loan and Doan Khoa said goodbye to this job – they created the new position for music directors along with Charming Vietnam, one of the biggest annual live shows in Vietnam for several years – the crisis of music directors began.

Some new names Anh Khanh, Duong Thao, Dinh Anh Dung, Pham Viet Thanh, Nguyen Quang Dung, Nguyen Nam have appeared as music show directors but none of them have proven themselves as real music directors.

Their main jobs clearly appear in their music live shows. If one is a choreographer, his live shows have many dance items. If one is a cinema director or cameraman, his live shows have big screens with video clips.

Even the most talented music directors at present prove this trend. Huynh Phuc Dien is a stage director so his live shows have excellent stage decorations.

As the top cameraman of Vietnam at present, Pham Hoang Nam is good at light arrangement while Viet Tu, the number-one director at national VTV station, has a passion for contemporary arts (installation art, performance art, art-video). Stage arrangement in the contemporary art style is the advantage of Tu.

These three directors have become outstanding because they don’t consider music direction as a left-handed job and they have their own groups.

However, music fans still have to wait to see music stages which are truly music stages.

(Source: Tuoi Tre)