#15, Ái Vân and Elvis Phương, “Bài Tango Cho Em”

In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, over two million Vietnamese fled their homeland.  Hundreds of thousands died at sea.  Those who survived resettled in more than 20 countries.  The largest number came to the United States, but many also went to France, Canada and Australia.  The Vietnamese diaspora reshaped Asian communities in many countries.  They diversified the communities, complicated immigrant narratives, opened new types of restaurants and developed new identities.  Most in the community also experienced trauma and required social services that were often unavailable in Asian American communities.  To make matters worse, resettled Vietnamese people were frequently the target of racial- and ethnically-motivated discrimination.

To help them survive in their new environments, many in the Vietnamese diaspora developed idealized visions of their homeland and yearned to return there some day.  A key component of these visions is South Vietnamese popular culture of the 1960s and early 1970s, particularly the sentimental love songs.  To serve the needs of the diaspora, community members with experience in the Vietnamese music industry started putting on concerts, and releasing cassettes, CDs and music videos that are sold at Vietnamese stores.  They contained pre-1975 songs, new songs in a similar style by diasporic composers, and songs about the experience of exile.  Eventually, what became most popular are direct-to-video musical variety shows released by Asia Entertainment and Thuy Nga Productions, which produces the Paris by Night series.

Over the past 15 years, the Vietnamese diasporic entertainment industry has faced increasing challenges.  The most fundamental is generational shift.  The number of people with direct experience of the Vietnam War and pre-1975 Vietnamese popular culture is fast dwindling, and their U.S.-born children and grandchildren often have different musical tastes.  Many also do not have the Vietnamese language skills to appreciate the lyrics.  Also important is the diasporic community’s changing relationship with Vietnam.  While many continue to disassociate themselves from anyone who has any relationship with the Vietnamese government, others are urging a more flexible approach.  This is a divide that production companies need to navigate carefully.  Finally, piracy has affected these corporations’ ability to survive.  In the next 15 years, there will undoubtedly be major changes to the Vietnamese diasporic entertainment industry.