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Voices of Vietnam: A Century of Radio, Red Music, and Revolution traces the history of radio music ensembles that reconfigured Vietnam's cultural, social, and political landscape over a century. Author Lonán Ó Briain draws on a year of ethnographic fieldwork at the VOV studios (2016-17), interviews with radio employees and listeners, historical recordings and broadcasts, and archival research in Vietnam, France, and the United States.
List of contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction: On Radio, Red Music, and Revolution
- Defining Red Music
- A Continuous Revolution
- Radio and Voice
- Social History of Sound Reproduction
- Ethnographic and Archival Research
- Structure of the Book
- Note on Language and Music
- Chapter 1: Sound, Technology, and Culture in French Indochina
- Cultural Colonialism in French Indochina
- Trading Instruments, Scores, and Recordings
- The Gramophone as a Lifestyle Choice
- Radio as a Technology of the Future
- Public Radio in French Indochina
- The Radio Club of Northern Indochina
- Instability under Japanese Occupation
- Local Clubs with Global Perspectives
- Chapter 2: Battle of the Airwaves during the First Indochina War
- Producing the Declaration of Independence
- Viet Minh Clandestine Radio in the Mountains
- Making Music for the Masses
- Cosmopolitan Styles on Radio Hanoi
- Inventing Traditions for the Vietnamese
- Forgotten Musicians of the Vi?t Nh?c Ensemble
- Viet Minh Radio becomes the Official Voice of Vietnam
- Chapter 3: Songs of the Golden Age in the Democratic Republic
- Radio Infrastructure in the DRV
- Recording, Broadcasting, and Receiving Signals
- VOV Directives and Programming Traditions
- Iconic Voices, Musicians, and Singers
- Local and International Tours
- Reification of Gender Roles
- Men as Administrators and Composers
- Women as Mothers and Martyrs
- Children as Nephews and Nieces
- Listening and Responding in the South
- Music for the Liberation of Saigon, April 30, 1975
- Sonic Reterritorialization of the Socialist State
- Chapter 4: National Radio in the Reform Era
- Post-War Unification of the Musical Media
- Challenges and Opportunities in the Reform Era
- VOV3: A Place for Music
- Programming the Minorities on Air
- Curating the Past: The VOV Sound Centre and its Archives
- History of the VOV Soun d Centre
- Engaging with the Archives
- Forecasting the Future: Listener-Centred Productions
- Surveying the Musical Preferences of Audiences
- Responding to Audience Demand
- Revolutionizing the Medium, Regurgitating the Message
- Chapter 5: Studio Production in Contemporary Vietnam
- The Politics of Intangible Cultural Heritage
- Representing the Nation with Traditional Music
- In the Rehearsal Hall, July 12, 2016
- In the Recording Studio, July 15, 2016
- Redefining the Nation with New Music
- In the Rehearsal Hall, July 13, 2016
- In the Recording Studio, July 14, 2016
- Post-Production and Dissemination
- Reproducing the Homeland in the Late-Reform Era
- Conclusion: Nostalgia for the Past, Hope for the Future
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Interviews
- Index
About the author
Lonán Ó Briain is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Nottingham. He is the author or editor of several books, including Musical Minorities: The Sounds of Hmong Ethnicity in Northern Vietnam.
Summary
On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh read out the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence over a makeshift wired loudspeaker system to thousands of listeners in Hanoi. Five days later, Ho's Viet Minh forces set up a clandestine radio station using equipment brought to Southeast Asia by colonial traders. The revolutionaries garnered support for their coalition on air by interspersing political narratives with red music (nhạc đỏ). Voice of Vietnam Radio (VOV) grew from these communist and colonial foundations to become one of the largest producers of music in contemporary Vietnam.
In this first comprehensive English-language study on the history of radio music in mainland Southeast Asia, Lonán Ó Briain examines the broadcast voices that reconfigured Vietnam's cultural, social, and political landscape over a century. Ó Briain draws on a year of ethnographic fieldwork at the VOV studios (2016-17), interviews with radio employees and listeners, historical recordings and broadcasts, and archival research in Vietnam, France, and the United States. From the Indochinese radio clubs of the 1920s to the 75th anniversary celebrations of the VOV in 2020, Voices of Vietnam: A Century of Radio, Red Music, and Revolution offers a fresh perspective on this turbulent period by demonstrating how music production and sound reproduction are integral to the unyielding process of state formation.
Additional text
Voices of Vietnam is a significant contribution to Southeast Asian and Vietnamese studies and ethnomusicology, as well as the bourgeoning field of radio studies.
