HÀ NỘI – A decade after rising to fame in the "Sao Mai – Rendezvous" national song contest, singer Hà Anh Tuấn will celebrate his birthday with his first concert this month.

Entitled Café-in-Concert, the show will be held in both Hà Nội and HCM City.

The concert in Hà Nội, which will be held on his birthday on December 17, is titled Nâu Nóng. It  refers to a favourite drink of Hanoian people – hot coffee with condensed milk. The show in HCM City is named after their local favourite: Sữa Đá (iced coffee with condensed milk).

The singer said, “When I was a boy, I was very curious about the black-coloured drink that my father often enjoyed with satisfaction. My mother told me that I would be able to drink it when I grew up.”

Many years later, Tuấn had his first cup of coffee when he met composer Thanh Phương to discuss his album 3 Ngày Hát (3 Days of Singing).

“I didn’t expect that I become a coffee ‘addict’ on that day,” the 32-year-old singer said.

“People mention both helpful and harmful values of coffee. For me,  I regard coffee as a friend who is always willing to share [quietly] my inner thoughts and emotions – joy or sadness. Coffee is a legal ‘drug’. With my up-coming concerts, I hope my music will become a kind of possitive ‘drug’ for my audience,” he said.        

After few years of not seeing each other, Tuấn and his “former rival” in the Sao Mai – Rendezvous contest, singer Phương Linh, will team up again to perform together at the up-coming Café-in-Concert.

“We used to be a great duo on the stage as well as good friends in the real life. However, for a few reasons, we couldn’t maintain the harmony in our relationship and caused misunderstanding between us. For a long time, Linh even didn’t want to see me, and she denied all my invitations to join me on the stage,” Tuấn revealed about his former partner, who also has built up her fame since the singing contest.

“Linh is the only one who, once I share the stage with, I can reach full of emotion and energy. That’s why I’m happy to have her on stage for my upcoming shows,” he added.

Tuấn also has invited other close friends to perform.

Diva Hồng Nhung and beloved songstress Thu Phương from the US will join him on his birthday concert.

Winner of Vietnam Idol 2010 Uyên Linh, singer Lưu Hương Giang and her composer Hồ Hoài Anh, who has also written hits for Tuấn, will be on the stage in HCM City on Decenber 22.  

Part of the ticket proceeds from the Nâu Nóng concert in Hà Nội will be donated to the Power On scholarship programme to support 50 excellent students in poverty across the country. The scholarships will be given at the free-entry show in HCM City, which will attract about 2,000 young audience.

Alongside the two concerts, Tuấn also presented the show See Sing Share comprising 10 acoustic songs on his Youtube channel - Hà Anh Tuấn Official.

During a decade of singing , Tuấn has released six solo albums, of which the Café Sáng (Morning Café, 2007), and Saigon Radio (2009) received raving responses from both critics and audiences. He also recorded two albums with his “stage lover” Phương Linh.

The former chemistry student of Germany’s Darmstadt Technical University has conquered audiences with his emotional and romantic voice and a street-wise style. – VNS