Lieutenant Đỗ Tố Hoa teaches vocals at the Military University of Culture and Arts. Photos courtesy of the artist

Culture Vulture ask soprano Đỗ Tố Hoa about her latest album Hát giữa trùng khơi or Singing among the Waves. This is also the first digital album that you can listen to through Sportify broadcast in more than 240 countries and territories with the songs heard in remote countries including Burkina Faso and Guadeloupe.

Could you talk about this latest album, why singing in the ocean?

This album is keeping my promise to myself and my fellow companions on our working trip to the Spratly Islands earlier in April this year. I would like to convey my sincere thanks to my companions during this special trip, who shared with me memorable moments when we were seasick and tried our best until we reached the shore safely. Those days shall forever be my cherished memories.

This is my way to make the memories forever engraved in my work, and make it a valuable artistic assist not only for me, but also to spread a positive message to the public, I believe it's the job of me as an artiste.

This is my first premiere of an album, the first press conference to launch this album in its maiden voyage. I hope you will find it worth your while.

What does Trường Sa mean to you?

This is not my first time to the Spratlys, it's the second. My first trip was 12 years ago, when I was still a student at the Military University of Culture and Arts. It was a long trip of 17 days at sea. It was the first time I experienced what hardship was because before then, I was just living at home with my parents. I learned so much from that trip. There was not enough water, no electricity, no form of connection at all. I went for 17 days straight without getting online or connected to my family. For an 18-year-old, I shared the hardship with my fellow soldiers on the islands we visited, I felt their homesickness as well as their determination to overcome the physical and materialistic hardship to fulfill their duties.

It totally got me when I got to lay the flower wreath unto the sea to pay tribute to the 64 officers and soldiers who died on the job protecting our sovereign at sea in 1988. I was very touched and impressed with the trip. I could only recovered totally half a year later.

I feel grateful to my alma mater, the Military University of Culture and Arts, where I got to experience our job first hand. For me, it's an honour to grow up and get trained in the military circles.

12 years has been long enough to sink in the initial emotions and renew them when I stepped on the islands again last April, performed my songs, and fulfilled my duties to give back to our fellow soldiers, who have been at work defending our country.

After my first trip, and studying vocals at my college, I got a scholarship to study for seven years in China. When I got home, there were many competitions, many invitations to perform and my schedule was very tight. But I put them all aside for the trip back to the Spratlys in April.

When we boarded the ship this time, a new and modern vessel, I felt we would be much better than last time. The worst impression was still the feeling of seasick, I could see so many other men falling seasick before my eyes.

We got to go to the big Trường Sa island, some stone island and on the DK1 Platform.

What moved you most during this trip?

When we got to DK1 Platform, we were saved a large space on the second floor to perform for the people who worked there and those not on duty at the moment.

We were given the best possible conditions to perform our songs and dances. After I sang my songs, my supervisor called me to walk up to the top of the platform, "You will see something historic."

When I got up, in the mid of summer at over 40 degree Celcius, I saw a soldier standing on his guard duty for hours under full gear in his iron helmet. My heart skipped a beat. At first he told us to go away, as it's too hot up there, "You need to protect your voice and your health, go into the shade," he told me.

But nothing could stop me then. During my long voyage, overcoming my seasickness and my physical fatigue, I have to present my gift to this soldier. I pulled my breath together and sang him a song Nhà em ở lưng đồi or My home was on the hill slope. If he was not allowed to be downstairs for the performance, then I would go up to sing him a song. He looked touched, but as a soldier, he could control his emotions well. When we started to leave and I turned around, I caught him shed a tear in his eyes.

This is a song I have included in this album, Singing among the Waves. VNS