The five-member band Saigon Soul Revival will host FAMLAB Open Session, a programme showcasing Vietnamese contemporary music and film, on May 10 in HCM City. Photo courtesy of the band

HCM CITY – The FAMLAB Open Session, a programme showcasing Vietnamese contemporary music and film, will be held on May 10 in HCM City.

The session will be hosted by Saigon Soul Revival, a five-member band of musicians from France, Denmark and the Republic of Cyprus, and a Vietnamese vocalist.

The band will perform well-known Vietnamese music during the 1960s and 1970s.

The band’s collaborator, Jan Hagenkoetter, the producer behind Saigon Supersound project on old Vietnamese music, will join the group for a discussion about popular Vietnamese songs and talks and decades-old compositions which have never been recorded.

Saigon Soul Revival, formed in 2016, aims to preserve and recreate Western-influenced Vietnamese music in the 1960s and 1970s. They have applied new arrangements and interpretations for old Vietnamese songs.

The band has performed numerous shows in various venues across the country.

They rose to fame after taking part in the TV music reality show Ban Nhạc Việt (Vietnamese Band) organised by Việt Nam Television in 2017.

Famous composer Đức Trí, who was the band’s coach in the show, said: “Despite members coming from different countries, Saigon Soul Revival performs music in a very Vietnamese style.”

FAMLAB Open Session was initiated by the British Council in Việt Nam last November to introduce and discover contemporary Vietnamese music and film. It aims to connect the artists and audiences through open rehearsals and discussions.

The performance by Saigon Soul Revival will start at 7:30 pm at Café Người Sài Gòn (Saigonese Café) on 9 Thái Văn Lung Street in District 1.

Participants can register for the show at https://bit.ly/SSR1005. -- VNS