iờưC euhT ohC gnòhP (sgniddeW roF detneR mooR) - M. Hao (1957)

(đọc báo Thời Mới)

 

Họ thảo luận đời sống cũ, đời sống mới ghê quá. Nếu phen này họ cưới "đời sống cũ" thì mình có phải chuyển hưởng không nhỉ?

(reading the New Times newspaper)

They discuss the old life, the new life awfully so much. If these days they wed in the "old life" way then we'll have change our direction, right?

nguồn: Thời mới 20 tháng 10 1957

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam sought to eliminate expensive, ostentatious weddings. They wanted to direct the wealth allotted to celebrations to the government's more pressing needs - constructing socialism and uniting the country. This cartoon was just on tiny intervention to try to change social customs and mores.

Grand Arrivage (Great Arrival) (Sản phẩm mới nhất) - (1926)

Des dernières nouveautés de la Cie Gramophone, Disques de danses nouvelles, Charleston, Bleue [sic], Samba, Shunmy [sic], Humpa [?], Fox-trot, et., etc...

Les dernières chansons et opérettes

Opéra: Chanté par nos plus grands artistes

Grand choix de disques de: violon, violoncelle, guitares hawaiennes

ÉTABLISSEMENTS INDOPHONO

48, Bd. Paul Bert - HAIPHONG

58, Rue Paul Bert - HANOI

The latest releases from the Gramophone Company: New dance records, Charleston, Blues, Samba, Shimmy, Rumba[?], Foxtrot, etc.

The latest songs and operettas

Opera: Sung by our greatest artists

A large selection of records featuring: violin, cello, Hawaiian guitars

Những bản phát hành mới nhất của ​​Công ty Gramophone: Các đĩa hát khiêu vũ mới, Charleston, Blues, Samba, Shimmy, Rumba (?), Foxtrot, v.v.

Những bài hát và ca kịch mới nhất

Nhạc Ôpếra: Được trình bày bởi các nghệ sĩ vĩ đại nhất của chúng ta

Tuyển tập lớn các đĩa hát với các đàn: violin, cello, Hạ Uy Cầm

source: Courrier d'Haiphong 31 octobre 1926

The French colonists of Tonkin was the primary audience for the Haiphong Courier newspaper. Opera and light opera were their favored entertainment. Globally the 1920s were known as the "jazz age" and jazz was likewise an essential part of the musical life of French Indochina. The jazz of that time was dance music. This Établissement Indophono company with locations in Hanoi and Haiphong featured recordings of jazz dances like the Charleston, shimmy, blues and foxtrot. The Hawaiian guitar would become an important Vietnamese musical instrument in the coming decades.

Hát bóng máy xây (Cinématographe) - Mai Nham (1899)

Sàigòn phía chợ dựa bên đường,

Saigon, market side along the road
Rạp lá gầy nên một hý trường;

A thatched theater constructed as a stage
Chuông dậy vang tai người rộn-rực,

Bells resound in our ears, noisily
Đèn chong chói mặt chúng chàng-ràng;

Blinding lamps, their faces suspended in time;
Dọi hình nhơn-vật dường như sống,

Casting character's images as if they're alive,
Nghe tiếng đầu-không (1) cũng dị thường;

Seeing an isolated head was also unusual;
Tay khéo tài hay bày cuộc lạ,

Skilled hands or an oddity displayed
Ước trông ai nấy thấy cho tường.
I wish all could see to make this clear.

(1) Tuy đầu có mình ẩn trong màng, mà phép thuật mà con mắt khó biết được; còn cái tợ một chưn vẽ cũng khôn thấy được. Thiệt là khéo, thiệt là hay

(1) Even though head had a body on the screen, but some magic made the eyes hard to see; yet the support on one leg was hard to see. Quite skillful, quite wonderful.

nguồn: Nam Kỳ 8 tháng 6 1899

France was at the forefront of motion picture technology and movies came very early to Vietnam. A thatched hut in Saigon was set up to demonstrate the technology which would have been quite novel anywhere in the world. (Cinemas did not exist yet). It's no surprise that this poet was astounded and stupefied.