Without a modern stage or cumbersome decorations, the ‘Street music’ programme held at the western end of the Rong (Dragon) Bridge and Nhu Nguyet Street in Hai Chau District for many years always brings the audience feelings of comfort and excitement. All those factors harmoniously blend together to create a unique community culture, which has been constantly cultivated.

‘Street Music’ programme is one of the rare professional performance stages, attracting many artists and singers to serve growing public demand for music. Photo: K.H

Music blurs all boundaries

Street music is an open space, without the barricades commonly found in variety shows or the somewhat aloof standard of academic art shows in theaters. With the show ‘Street Music’, the artist performs on open-air podiums, which are simply erected with a height of less than 1m. To serve the audience, the organisers prepare small rows of mobile plastic chairs, but usually, the number of seats is not always enough because the audience is often larger than expected.

Ready-made seats are often given to children, the elderly and pregnant women whilst the rest of the audience chooses to stand in different positions to watch the performance. The outdoor stage attracts a large audience but there is almost no jostling or disorder as everyone focuses on letting go of emotions to enjoy a true music night.

After enjoying street music shows on the banks of the Han River, many viewers shared the same complement, the beauty of Street Music is the openness and diversity in performance styles, from folk to traditional music, from Vietnamese to foreign music. Therefore, every audience has the opportunity to get chills with music according to their favourite music tastes.

“I love street music and often take my kids to live shows on the weekends. In addition to being updated with new and trending music knowledge, I also know more works that are "hot trend" referred by large numbers of young people. But the most favourite are still the concerts where the artists perform the cover versions of famous songs, which have been associated with many people of the past generations. Every time I listen to it again, I'm still really touched,”, said Le Thi Hoang Thanh, 40, in Hai Chau District.

Introduced to Viet Nam in 2000 with exciting programmes in the northern and southern regions of the country, street music has opened up a space to enjoy colourful and highly entertaining music, and especially, it harmoniously combines the simplicity and intimacy of the artist with the audience in an open stage.

In Da Nang, in the memory of many young artists and singers, street music started in Da Nang in early 2005 and extended the way it operates naturally. It continued like this until 2011, when the Street Music programme was organised by the Da Nang Festival and Events Centre under the city's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (known as the Department of Culture and Sports.

With the ‘Street music programme, cultural and artistic activities on the street have been raised to a professional level from being spontaneous to become a unique, vibrant and close-to-public cultural and entertainment event and act as an important ‘satellite’, supporting major cultural events organised by the city such as the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival and ‘Summer rendezvous’. It can be said that the ‘Street music’ programme has contributed to building Da Nang into a city of events, serving both local residents and visitors. Since then, the programme has been maintained regularly twice a month, on the 2^nd and 4^th week of the month.

Participating in the street music show 3-4 years ago, the Du Ca band is a familiar face at many shows with high-quality performances, contributing to bringing to the public lively and young music parties that meet the diversified tastes of the audience, especially young audiences with ‘hot hits’.

Artist Vuong Ngoc Ai, the leader of the Du Ca band recalled, from the 2000s to around 2013, the cultural, artistic and street entertainment movement flourished in Da Nang. With an open mind, the performances attracted the participation of a large number of young people, contributing to promoting the singing movement as well as creating art spaces for music lovers to enjoy and relax.

Currently, the group has 10 members, 8 members of whom are musicians and singers who are permanently participating in the ‘Street music’ show. After making a good impression on the audience, now the group Du Ca is a regular member of the show.

Mr. Nguyen Chi Trung, the Head of Events and Cultural Cooperation Office of the Da Nang Festival and Events Centre said that said that street music is a special programme, taking the spirit of entertainment, popularity and improvisation as the center, making a difference from other music performances. There, with only simple and rustic musical instruments, the artist performed songs with youthful, gentle yet equally-vibrant melodies.

Themes are built flexibly from time to time. Performance genres are also diverse such as singing, hip-hop and modern dance. The programme is highly- interactive when it always spends a certain amount of time for singers to interact with the audience, and also, music lovers can register to make their own performances here.

Preserving spiritual food for locals and visitors

Street music is a public entertainment activity serving residents and visitors to the city and it has existed for the longest time so far, with funding mainly from the State budget and financial donations from the community, With more than 10 years of being maintained, ‘Street music’ is one of the rare professional music stages that has affirmed its prestige and high community character.

This is also a large playground for artists, professional and semi-professional bands, art troupes and student dance groups in Da Nang and its neighbouring provinces to show their talents, and at the same time, enthusiasts capable of performing musical instruments have the opportunity to stand on stage.

With the appearance and long-term maintenance, ‘Street music’ is like a "midwife" for bands, music groups or young artists to have an official stage to show their singing talent, contribute to the formation and maintenance of a culture of enjoying music that is much loved by many people and tourists.

With more than a decade of existence, the ‘Street music’ programme has shaped the identity and place in the contemporary art culture of the city. In order to enhance the attractiveness of the programme, in the past few years, the organisers have invited more foreign artists living and working in Da Nang. The content of the programme is changed by number and is more and more suitable to the tastes of the audience.

However, after more than a decade of being maintained, the ‘Street music’ programme is facing some difficulties, especially funding to maintain a regular organisation. While the budget is still limited, the socialisation faces many difficulties, making it difficult to ensure that the programme is held with a more frequent frequency, in line with the original goals.

Besides, the music groups in Da Nang are still not diverse, so it is still difficult to organise a long-term programme, especially in terms of novelty and unique content. As the programme is held outdoors, the weather factor also causes many obstacles, affecting the frequency as well as the programme organisation plan. Investment in upgrading the programme to a higher level is more than a practical need.

Currently, with its confirmed attraction and prestige, the ‘Street music’ is still well-received by the audience, and the participating artists still retain their enthusiasm as in the early days. The organisers of the ‘Street music’ programme will continue to make efforts to maintain the quality of the music and a number of performance nights, expanding new venues with a new, softer, more rustic style.

Also, heed will be paid to expanding the types of participants, strengthen cooperation with organisations and individuals, especially foreigners living and working in Da Nang who have the ability to perform art in a bid to diversify programme content.

Reporting by KHANH HOA - Translating by A.THU