Bob Dylan concert to start with Vietnamese songs
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The much-awaited Bob Dylan Live in Vietnam concert will be set in motion by legendary Vietnamese composer Trinh Cong Son’s songs to mark the latter’s 10th death anniversary.
Rod Quinton, the show’s spokesman, told a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City last Saturday that Trinh Cong Son and the American great were very similar.
They are both gifted poets and artists, said Quinton, who is the general director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Saigon Sound System which will handle sound for the concert.
Trinh Cong Son’s younger sister, Trinh Vinh Trinh agreed. She said 40 years ago, another famous American folk singer Joan Baez dubbed her brother “Bob Dylan of Vietnam” for his anti-war songs.
“Both of them were nearly at the same age and had the same passion for writing anti-war songs,” Trinh told the conference, adding that a concert bringing together Trinh Cong Son and Bob Dylan was indeed a rare treat.
As planned, Bob Dylan will appear at an 8,000-plus-seat stadium at RMIT University in Ho Chi Minh City on April 10.
The concert will feature some of his classics, including “Masters of War”, “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin,” which were the anthems of the counter-culture movement in the 1960s in the US.
The organizers said Dylan chose to perform at a university campus in Vietnam because both he and Trinh Cong Son used to perform at universities to protest the Vietnam War.
Dylan has also requested that all audiences, VIPs included, will sit on green grass.
Well-known local singers and artists including saxophonist Tran Manh Tuan will perform Trinh Cong Son’s songs.
Born in 1941, Bob Dylan has been a towering figure in music for over 5 decades. He has been honored with numerous awards, including several Grammies as well as an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
Time Magazine ranks him among 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
His counterpart, Trinh Cong Son wrote more than 600 songs in his lifetime and is considered one of the most prolific songwriters in modern Vietnamese music.
The concert is being organized by Saigon Sound System, Thanh Nien Media Corp and Trinh Cong Son’s family. General admission tickets are available at US$50 and a VIP package costs $120. Visit www.bobdylan.com for pre-sale information, www.thaiticketmajor.com for international reservation, and www.saigonsoundsystem.com for reservation in Vietnam. Tickets can also be booked in Ho Chi Minh City at Juice (49 Mac Thi Buoi, D1), The Boathouse (40 Lily Rd, APSC Compound, 36 Thao Dien, D2) and Boomarang (The Crescent, Phu My Hung, District 7). |
