by Thu Anh

New TV shows featuring Vietnamese singers and bands attracting thousands of fans are not a rare sight in the industry.

"There is a boom in music shows in the country,” said Thùy Trang, a music critic in HCM City.

Audiences attending concerts that are broadcast weekly on channels of leading television stations such as VTV and Hồ Chí Minh Television (HTV) can easily see that Vietnamese songs and singers are winning the hearts of fans who once preferred western music. 

And the crowds of young audiences show how enthusiastic the public has responded to local music. 

Last year, the TV show The Remix Hòa Âm Ánh Sáng (Remix), launched on HTV, began to offer the latest trends in electronic dance music

The show features not just singers but also disc jockeys (DJs) who create a seamless selection of tracks from one recording to the next.

During the show, singers and their dance groups perform several song remixes in commercially popular genres, such as techno, house, rap, hip-hop and light rock.

This year, the show’s final round attracted more than 5,000 audiences to the city’s Military Zone 7 stadium.

Nearly half of the audience has had to stand during performances because the stadium has only 3,000 seats.

The winner was Noo Phước Thịnh, a young singer who began his career by performing pop and ballads in 2009.  

“I was not a star until I performed in The Remix-Hòa Âm Ánh Sáng,” said Thịnh, 27, who worked with producer DJ Slim V to shift his style to R&B and dance. 

At the concert, young singers such as Sơn Tùng-MTP, Đông Nhi, Giang Hồng Ngọc and Tóc Tiên will also have a chance to popularise their names and songs.

The show is among three music programmes nominated for the 2016 Devotion Awards, a prestigious music prize launched annually by the Vietnam News Agency’s Thể Thao & Văn Hóa (Sports & Culture) newspaper.   

The shows titled Giai Điệu Tự Hào (Proudly Vietnamese Melodies) and Vầng Trăng Cổ Nhạc (Traditional Songs) were launched on VTV1 and HTV7 in 2014, and attracted more than 1,000 people for each live monthly broadcast.

Both programmes feature patriotic and traditional music.

"The concerts are well prepared. That is one reason audiences like these professional programmes," said Huỳnh Giao, a fan of HTV from Đồng Nai Province.  

"While pop and dance tunes dominate the market, a cải lương  (reformed opera) show like Vầng Trăng Cổ Nhạc meets our demands," he said.  

Vầng Trăng Cổ Nhạc is staged at Đầm Sen Park in District 11, featuring dozens of extracts from popular cải lương plays in praise of the country, its history and culture. Many of the extracts are recognised as canons of cải lương theatre.   

The show has attracted cải lương stars like Lệ Thuỷ, Minh Vương, Thanh Ngân and Thoại Mỹ, who have spent years to preserve their art.

Through the programme, which is broadcast live on HTV7, more people in poor and remote areas now have access to entertainment and learning.  

Trang said that the shows’ producers had spent large sums of money for sound and light systems as well as advertisements to attract younger audiences.

“Production costs are high, but organisers can still make profits. Profits come from ticket sales and sponsors who want their names displayed at performances,” she said. 

The demand for entertainment is increasing. Show business profits are expected to rise as shows become more competitive in the future, offering excellent opportunities for impresarios. -- VNS