At the turn of the 20th century, with French colonialism well under way in Vietnam and the age of motion pictures just beginning, Saigon – and much of the rest of the country – became a subject of great interest in France.
The 1900 Universal Exhibition of Paris showcased, among other things, the wax recordings of Leon Azoulay, who documented music from Vietnam and several other French colonies. These clips were recently digitized by France’s Center for Ethnomusicology Research (CREM) and made available online.
The song below, recorded in Paris in 1900*, features a female singer from Saigon performing a popular love song from that era.
According to Australian musician Nguyen Le-Tuyen, who is also a lecturer at the Australian National University, this recording is particularly noteworthy for its location, as there are few recordings of southern Vietnamese music from that time period, reports Australian radio channel SBS.
Indeed, many of the recordings featured in CREM’s archives from the 1900 Universal Exhibition are taken from northern Vietnam, however this song gives insight into the sounds of southern music at the turn of the 20th century.
According to The Thao & Van Hoa, the archival recording refers to the singer as a “tragic actor”, suggesting that she was involved in the theater. The title of the song is “Dan Ca Tinh Yeu”, reports the news outlet.
Have a listen below:
Recording via CREM.
*An earlier version of this article misstated that Azoulay traveled to Indochina to make his recordings. This sound clip was recorded in Paris in 1900.
[Photo via CREM]
