Episode 18 - Hanoi
Eine Podcast-Serie

Eine Auswahl von Sounds aus der Community von Musikschaffenden und Klangkünstler*innen in Vietnam und in der vietnamesischen Diaspora, mit Kunstschaffenden aus dieser TIMEZONES-Episode. Kuratiert von LinhHafornow.
​​​​​​​
Geplante Veröffentlichung auf Spotify am 17. Januar 2024

[0:16] Ho Tram Anh
Sound is not tangible.

[0:36] Nhung Nguyen
Sound is, kinda abstract… but maybe, one can visualize them.

[1:05] Hoang Thu Thuy
Be ready to listen the sound. You spend a lot of energy. Even you don’t want to listen even, the sound still come to your ear.

[1:47] Nhung Nguyen
The more they observe, the more, the more time they pay attention, the better, the sharper their sense are. That’s kinda like a meditation exercise.

[2:15] Hoang Thu Thuy
Silence does not mean that we don’t hear anything.

[2:33] Ho Tram Anh
We’re having noise pollution, really, we’re having noise pollution everywhere.

[2:38] Hoang Thu Thuy
When you wake up, you wake from the sound from the street. My house is next to the street, so I can listen the traffic before I listen the other sounds I like.

[3:06] Ho Tram Anh
Hanoi is such a… (laughs) it’s a hot pot. It’s a zoo.

[3:37] Nhung Nguyen
The spirit of the city

[3:48] Ho Tram Anh
Many times, I’d just like to slow down.

[4:07] Hoang Thu Thuy
I am Thuy, I am sound engineer working for film and television.

[4:13] Ho Tram Anh
My name is Tram Anh, and I’m an interpreter and a musician. I have a passion for music and for listening to music as well.

[4:23] Nhung Nguyen
My name’s Nhung, and I’m a sound designer and composer. I’m based in Hanoi

[4:28] Ho Tram Anh
I believe that most of the good creative works have arisen out of the conflict to find one’s self, find the voice to express what’s in their hearts. Hanoi has given me the same thing, to question myself and to make me think. To take all of the chaotic things going around as materials and inspiration for me to make art. I try to lean myself toward a more nostalgic and more human side of the sonic landscape of Hanoi. So that’s what I’m going back to, but that being said I’m also influenced heavily by Western practices of making music. Whenever I try to make music it’s also the combination between those things.

[4:26] Hoang Thu Thuy
So the difference is go up to noisy than before. So for me as the sound engineer I am… more difficult, more challenged to capture the sound. Mostly we work for independent movie, creative movie. We are make a good quality because you are creative. You create in individual films. In the other side I am a teacher at the university.

[6:10] Nhung Nguyen
I think I work with a little bit of this and that. I work between performers, and artists belong to the visual and cinematic fields. Also curator and researchers, and translator if my work involved with researching. I live near a couple of lakes, so I like to record lakes myself. I do record a lot of traffic for work, for sound design work. Without the subconscious learning of the soundscape here I wouldn’t have become a sound designer myself. Sounds are the way I navigate the world.

[6:55] Nhung Nguyen
I think it means a lot to me, to… to be born in Hanoi, to have grown up here.

[7:05] Hoang Thu Thuy
I’ve been in Hanoi since 25 years. So, compare 25 years ago and now, it’s much different.

[7:23] Ho Tram Anh
The city’s landscape has changed drastically.

[7:29] Nhung Nguyen
It shapes my… my mind as a person, a creator.

[7:38] Ho Tram Anh
It’s not so much the place but the people associated with it that make the difference.

[7:51] Hoang Thu Thuy
You listen the sound from the door. You listen some people speak. You can listen the sound of the man who use a pipe for smoking.

[8:13] Ho Tram Anh
How is it that we’re living in the city and we’re not finding any fulfilment from… from this.

[8:32] Nhung Nguyen
After all my life living here, I would say that the city feels familiar and strange for me at the same time. Like, it feels familiar cause I grew up here, I got used to certain customs and the environment and the habits of people. But also, I, somehow I feel, a little bit like a stranger in my own home. Sometime the city change too fast. I couldn’t keep up with that.

[9:04] Hoang Thu Thuy
The first day I come to Hanoi I was impressed by the calm. Calm inside the way people living together. Like, you are in a very small village, and then you speak low but people can feel you and can clear to understand you. Now there’s construction everywhere, especially in the city. I, I feel more sound. More sound of, more activity sound than before. Actually, Hanoi, I don’t know where we can find a quiet environment. Even you see the peaceful lake, but the sound is not peaceful.

[10:10] Ho Tram Anh
Sonic wise, Hanoi has changed a lot. I mean, it was noisy in the past with all the public speakers going on. Those people who sell toys on the street would have like, the little melodies to attract the attention of children. Even the horns from ice cream vendors. Even for those who would sell bean curds, for example, they’re not going to use their own voice anymore, they’re going to use some pre-recorded tapes. All in all, it sounds cold to me.

[10:54] Hoang Thu Thuy
Before they speak directly. For example, people sell some, some sticky rice for every morning, they speak directly. Now they use a speaker, so it’s, the sound is louder.

[11:19] Ho Tram Anh
Sometimes you’d hear, in the morning, very early in the morning, some endearing children’s songs, or songs about Hanoi. It’s all become a melancholic memory in my brain now because they don’t, they don’t exist anymore.

[11:44] Nhung Nguyen
20 years ago it would be very different. When I grew up the soundscapes change. When my parents grew up they used to go on the tram a lot. And now we can only find the sound of tram in very old Vietnamese movie, and that’s something belong to the archive. I’m always curious about how the soundscape in the past would sound like, before all of this urbanization. I want to know what memories do people have about the sounds and also the music of the time. I think it would give more understanding between generations.

[12:38] Hoang Thu Thuy
The value of my life is the sharing with people. If we don’t share, if we don’t treat well people, what is the… what is the thing you wanted, you need. Also I love the feeling – work together, but also, share together.

[13:08] Ho Tram Anh
All in all, we still need connection. I want to be connected with people, but only when the connection is genuine. We’re sensitive, and if it doesn’t click – we know. Any connection, any friendship, and relationship would take work, but I think that this, this, this chemistry, this feeling this click is important.

[13:41] Nhung Nguyen
Communication is the key. Discussion, idea exchange. I think that foster the relationship.

[13:51] Ho Tram Anh
But it’s also important to get help. To team up. I do relate quite well with the collaborators that I’ve worked with. They are all genuine in their crafts. There’s this sense of quiet passion. What I’m trying to look for is a shared wavelength.

[14:25] Hoang Thu Thuy
You are respect the job of the other ones. I think if you really ready to listen people, that mean you have a really open mind to input all the different way of thinking.

[14:46] Nhung Nguyen
I’m trying to learn how to be more compassionate to people.

[15:09] Nhung Nguyen
Like many people I would need to overcome a lot of self-doubt. Sometimes I would like almost give up and say that I couldn’t do this anymore.

[15:25] Ho Tram Anh
I absolutely resented my voice until recently. Do you think that it’s more difficult to realize your musical practice as a woman? Does gender discrimination hinder you at all at any point in your musical practice?

[15:57] Nhung Nguyen
Discrimination. For female electronic artists in general. Record labels or promoters prefer to book male artists, and automatically refuse female artists.

[16:17] Ho Tram Anh
Confinement, conformity, arrogance, discrimination.

[16:33] Nhung Nguyen
I see no point continuing this, and sometimes, in some cases it appears in a very regular basis. I think the coping mechanism is giving me patience.

[16:58] Ho Tram Anh
Be fearless. Because if you can ignore the barriers, if you can ignore the fact that we’re discriminated against, if you could just move forward with, let’s say, a blind drive, we’re going to make it somehow. And it’s a long journey.

[17:20] Nhung Nguyen
The show must go on anyway.

[17:25] Hoang Thu Thuy
Some of my student is the woman, but they go to be an officer of different studio.

[17:39] Ho Tram Anh
Access to, to knowledge and to practice should be distributed evenly to people, especially women. The overall sense of this community, of this sonic landscape should be more inclusive. What we can try to do is to team up. To collaborate, to create this sort of shared movement that would allow us to stay strong together. To educate each other, to empower each other.

[18:33] Hoang Thu Thuy
There is a poem about Hanoi. When you listen these words you feel, ok, you are from far away and you can listen this sound, every single sound. And you feel like, calm and peaceful.

[19:15] Poem
Gió đưa cành trúc la đà,
Tiếng chuông Trấn Vũ, canh gà Thọ Xương.
Mịt mù khói tỏa ngàn sương,
Nhịp chày Yên Thái, mặt gương Tây Hồ.

© privat Tobias Paramore (tomes) ist Musikproduzent und Tontechniker aus Australien. Nach einem Abschluss an der Macquarie University in Sydney 2005 setzte er sein Studium am Koninklijke Conservatorium in Den Haag in den Niederlanden fort. Er hat als Performer, Techniker und Produzent an eigenen und anderen Projekten gearbeitet. Dabei nutzt er sowohl digitale als auch analoge Mittel der Signalverarbeitung. Bei zahlreichen internationalen Solo- und Duoauftritten an verschiedenen Locations hat er hauptsächlich elektronische Musik gespielt. Folgen Sie ihm auf Instagram, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Facebook oder Tumblr.

© privat Nhung Nguyen lebt als aufstrebende vietnamesische Klangkünstlerin zurzeit in Hanoi. Dort erkundet sie ein breites Spektrum experimenteller ästhetischer Ausdrucksformen wie Ambient Drone, Elektroakustik, Noise und Musique Concrète. Seit 2014 arbeitet Nhung unter dem Namen Sound Awakener. Weitere klavierbetonte Filmmusikprojekte laufen unter ihrem richtigen Namen. Sie hat mit internationalen Labels wie Time Released Sound (USA), Unknown Tones Records (USA), Soft (Frankreich), Flaming Pines (Großbritannien), Fluid Audio (Großbritannien) oder Syrphe (Deutschland) gearbeitet. Darüber hinaus übernimmt Nhung Kompositionen und Sounddesign für Theater, Film und Videokunst. Folgen Sie ihr auf ihrer Website, Instagram, X oder Vimeo.

© privat Ho Tram Anh arbeitet in Hanoi als selbstständige Musikerin/Songwriterin an verschiedenen Projekten. Tram Anhs Kompositionen sind von Harmoniewechseln in der Melodieführung und räumlichen, atmosphärischen Klängen mit Einflüssen aus Ambient und Klassik bestimmt (ihr Hauptinstrument ist das Klavier). Folgen Sie ihr auf ihrer Website, Instagram, Facebook, SoundCloud oder Bandcamp.

© privat Hoang Thu Thuy arbeitet seit 23 Jahren als Tonmeisterin, Sounddesignerin und Mischerin. Nachdem sie die Sekundarschule in ihrer Heimatstadt Vinh City (Provinz Nghe An) beendet hatte, studierte sie an der Hanoi Academy of Theater and Cinema (SKDA), wo sie 2000 einen Abschluss als Tontechnikerin für Film und Fernsehen machte. Seitdem ist sie als Dozentin für Filmton tätig. Folgen Sie ihr auf Facebook.

© privat LinhHafornow ist der Künstlerinnenname von Linh Hà, die sich als selbstständige Kunstschaffende in Hanoi auf Klangkunst, Live-Performances und akustisches Storytelling spezialisiert. Mit Hilfe von Sounds und Musik will sie einen akustischen Raum für ihre eigene Form des Storytellings kreieren, die primär von Klangnarrativen geprägt ist. Linh Hà hat eine persönliche, ehrliche und emotionale Herangehensweise an Musik. In ihren Werken treffen traditionelle vietnamesische Gesangstechniken auf Analogsynthesizer und verschiedene Samples. Durch die Kombination dieser Elemente schafft sie ein intimes, aber auch konfrontatives Hörerlebnis. Aktuell interessiert sie sich vor allem für das Zusammenspiel Natur/Mensch | Mensch/Mensch (Zugehörigkeit, kollektive Erinnerung) | nicht-menschliche/menschliche Beziehungen & Gegenwart.

Im Mittelpunkt von Linh Hàs neuesten Projekten standen Live-Improvisation (CHẠM mit der Harfenistin Esther Swift, 2022), Heilung (SILHOUETTE mit der bildenden Künstlerin Heather Lander, 2021) sowie die Archivierung (persönlicher) Geschichten aus Ostdeutschland und Vietnam (#dchmvrbndgcnnctn mit der Produzentin AGF, 2021). Ihre Musik/Stimme war in Má Sài Gòn zu hören – einem Film über das universelle Verlangen der Menschheit nach Liebe, Akzeptanz, Verbindung und Zugehörigkeit aus Perspektive der LGBTQ+-Community. Linh Hà möchte mehr Bewusstsein für die Kultur des Zuhörens schaffen – insbesondere innerhalb der modernen vietnamesischen Gesellschaft.

Ihre Werke waren hier zu sehen: Biennale Sonica 2022 (Glasgow), Cryptic Presents 2020 (Glasgow), Blind Signal 2019 (Berlin), LUCfest 2018 (Taiwan), FAMLAB x Seaphony 2019 (Vietnam), Jai Thep 2018, 2019, 2020 (Thailand), VCCA, Heritage Space (Vietnam). Für ihre Projekte erhielt sie Unterstützung durch das Goethe-Institut, den British Council, Cryptic (Glasgow), FAMLAB, Phu Sa Lab, VCCA und Blind Signal (Berlin). Darüber hinaus schreibt sie Musik für das Elektronik-Projekt Tiny Giant, mit dem sie in Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Südkorea, Deutschland, Belgien und Australien aufgetreten ist. Wenn sie keine Musik macht, gibt sie Deutsch- oder Vietnamesisch-Kurse oder plant Veranstaltungen für Live-/Elektronik-Musik in Zentralvietnam.

Folgen Sie Linh auf ihrer Website, SoundCloud, Facebook oder Instagram.