Viétri (Việt Trì) On nous écrit (1902)

La musique du 18e Colonial est muette depuis longtemps déjà, en raison des nombreux musiciens rapatriés. Fort heureusement, quelques élèves ont été formés, et la musique, la fanfare plutôt, reprendra prochainement ses concerts du jeudi et du dimanche.

Le Lieutenant-Colonel Pourrat, qui parait être un bon chef et un excellent homme, demande l'indulgence pour les musiciens. Il peut être certain que tous ici seront trop heureux de cet agrément pour critiquer ceux qui leur procurent un instant de plaisir.

Toute la population civile se plait d'ailleurs à remercier le Lieutenant-Colonel de son amabilité, n'ayant pas été gàtée sous ce rapport par les chefs de jadis, ceux qui commandèrent avant l'arrivée du 10e.

Việt Trì. Somebody has written to us:

The band of the 18th Colonial [Battalion] has been silent for a long time, due to the large number of musicians who have been repatriated. It's very fortunate that a few students have been trained, and the enemble, or rather the brass band, will soon resume its Thursday and Sunday concerts.

Lieutenant-Colonel Pourrat, who appears to be a good leader and an excellent man, asks us to be indulgent with the musicians. He's perhaps certain that everyone here will be too pleased with this entertainment to criticize those who give them these pleasurable moments.

The entire civilian population is moreover pleased to thank the Lieutenant-Colonel for his kindness, having not been spoiled by their relationship to previous commanders, those who led the regiment before the arrival of the 10th (battalion).

Ban nhạc Trung đoàn Thuộc địa18 đã im một thời gian khá lâu, bởi vì một lớn các nhạc công được hồi hương. Rất may mắn là một vài người học được đào tạo, và ban nhạc, hay đúng hơn là ban nhạc kèn đồng, sẽ sớm tiếp tục các buổi hòa nhạc vào thứ Năm và Chủ nhật.

Trung tá Pourrat, dường như là một nhà lãnh đạo rất tốt và một người đàn ông xuất sắc, xin quí thính giả thông cảm. Ông chắc chắn rằng mọi người ở đây sẽ quá vui mừng với món giải trí này đến nỗi không có ý kiến ​​gì chỉ trích những người đã đem cho họ niềm vui này.

Toàn thể dân cũng vui mừng cảm ơn Trung tá vì lòng tốt của ông, bởi vì họ đã không được đối xử tử tế như vậy bởi các chỉ huy trước đây, những người đã lãnh đạo trung đoàn trước khi Trung đoàn số 10 đến.

source: Courrier d'Haiphong 25 octobre 1902.

In 1902, Việt Trì might not have been much more than a French commercial and military outpost. It benefitted from a clear river route to Hà Nội and the Tonkin Gulf. The 18th Colonial Battalion stationed there must have numbered around 500 soldiers, perhaps as few as 300 - I couldn't say for sure how many. There were also French civilians living there, probably engaged in commerce. But there may have been spouses and children as well. Vietnamese families had to be nearby -- minimally the French would have had the need for interpreters and laborers. Vietnamese and Chinese merchants had to be present along with rice farmers and fishermen.

It was normal for a colonial military unit to have a "musique" or a "fanfare." A fanfare denote a brass band - an ensemble of brass instruments and likely some percussion. Brass instruments work best because they are loud and they are less susceptible to damage in a tropical environment. Wooden instruments like woodwinds and strings expand and contract according to the temperature and humidity. Additionally, wind instruments have pads and springs that could be damaged in inclement weather.

The sturdiness and loud volume of these instruments help to project the power of empire. It was a form of cultural conquest at the bell of a trumpet, so to speak. The music may have been incomprehensible to local residents, but it had to get their attention, even if it were resented as a manifestation of unwanted invaders. The melodic motifs of fanfare music eventually inspired Vietnamese patriotic marches in the 1940s.

The mystery in this piece is who the "students" are? They are most likely members of the battalion without previous musical experience. But could musicians have been recruited from within the community?

It might be difficult to detect the urgency behind recruiting a full complement of musicians. In 1902 there was no radio and sound recordings had yet to be introduced to French Indochina. If you wanted to hear music, somebody had to perform music. In Việt Trì, a European would be largely cut off from the elements of a normal life, including music. The twice weekly military band performances would be a welcome musical taste of home.

M... Café Fin Trà Ấm (M... Filtered Coffee, Tea By The Pot) - ?? (1977)

Thứ tư 23 / 2

[9 giờ sáng]

Đừng bỏ em một mình ..... trời lạnh quá ... Trời lạnh.

(Tệ trạng thanh niên ngồi các quán cà-phê nghe nhạc vàng trong lúc đa số đồng bào đi lao động)

Thursday February 23

[clock reads 9 AM]

Don't leave me all alone ..... it's too cold ... it's cold.

(The bad situation of youth sitting in cafés listening to yellow music when the majority of the compatriots are laboring).

nguồn: Tin Sáng 27 tháng 7 1977

I presume that this cartoon depicted something that approximated real life in Saigon in 1977. Student cafés playing sad love songs were common before April 1975. Afterwards all of that music, categorized as nhạc vàng or yellow music, was banned, much of it destroyed. The police surely cracked down on places like this one, but who know how effective the crackdowns were?

M café means "Em café" - "em" here meaning an endearing word for a girlfriend. See the hearts on the placard - this was a place for couples to hang out. Filtered coffee and tea were low level luxuries. I love the potted plant in the back giving the place a slight touch of elegance. That elegance is negated by the trash that these irresponsible, self-absorbed youth tossed on to the floor.

"Đừng bỏ em một mình" was a very popular song from 1969 written by Phạm Duy, a very respected and prolific songwriter. I always associate this song with the singer Lệ Thu.

This Youtube video is approaching 7 million views. It is a very representative song of the Republic of Vietnam -- the cartoonist made a good choice. Phạm Duy received the highest level of vilification by the communist government. He had left the resistance in the early 1950s, collaborated with the CIA for a time and was one of the most famous Vietnamese outside of Vietnam.

The important figure in this image is the poor laborer in the lower right hand corner. He's trembling! He's so innocent that he's embarrassed at the sight of couples enjoying themselves, enjoying each other's company.

More likely the concern comes from this music that is coming dangerously close to entering his consciousness and crushing his soul. In a recent article I explain how nhạc vàng was viewed as a both a cause of, and a reflection of societal dissatisfaction, that it both accompanied and promoted delinquent behavior.  Failing to heed the call to help construct the nation was a form of delinquency.

Cartoons like this point out actual behavior in society and serve as a method to encourage people to police each other and themselves and not engage in this unacceptable behavior -- i.e., not indulge in this unacceptable, illegal, dangerous music.

Quầy rau cải giá chính thức (Vegetable Stand Official Price) - ?? (1977)

Quầy rau cải giá chính thức

Cải chưa về.

--------

Mai vô! Mai dô! Rau cải Đà Lạt tươi rói mới về đây

Vegetable stand official price

Greens haven't arrived

--------

Come tomorrow! Come morrow! Fresh Đà Lạt vegetables will be here

 

nguồn: Tin Sáng 27 tháng 2 1977

The three women at the left are "mậu dịch" - approved traders getting their product from the government. 

The woman at the right is "hàng chui" or black market.

The approved traders have no produce to sell, possibly because the black market woman has cornered the market. 

While the cartoon is meant to show disapproval of the fat and happy black marketeer, it also demonstrates the implausibility of a government controlled market delivering the products that people want and need. You can try to control the market and fix the price, but if nobody delivers the product at the government's price, the government has nothing to sell and there is nothing for people to buy.

Au jour la jour... musique (From Day To Day... Music) - (1930)

Relisez les propos du directeur de la station de Radiophonie, propos que nous avons reproduits hier avec quelque plaisir. "La majorité des éventuels clients de nos concerts radiophoniques ont demandé des auditions de belle musique, voire de musique classique... A peine fera-t-on un jour de jazz par semaine..."

Un jour de dancing par semaine... Puis par mois... Regardez dans nos salles de danse. Ce sont toujours les mêmes danseurs. Ne disons pas que c'est le déchet. A Saigon, ils ont une excuse: il y a si peu de distractions!

Reread the remarks of the radio station director, words that we reproduced yesterday with some pleasure. "The majority of potential listeners to our radio concerts have requested performances of beautiful music, even classical music... Barely will one day of jazz be made in a week..." 

One day of dancing a week... Then once a month... Look in our dance halls. It's always the same dancers. Let's not say it's a waste. In Saigon, they have an excuse: there are so few distractions!

Saïgon républicain July 12, 1930

During the earliest days of broadcasting in Saigon much of the programming was live. The station featuring a quintet that provided radio concerts of classical and light classical music - the "concerts radiophoniques."

Jazz music in that context was essentially dance music (often "hot" dance music) or just the popular songs of that time. Professional musicians often worked in both worlds. The author providing commentary notes that there was a dedicated, even fanatical, audience for this dance music, but that it was limited to the same people who turned out every night at the dance halls. This was the excuse given for the author's preference for hearing classical music on the airwaves instead of jazz.

"Choses vues" (Những gì nhìn thấy) - Ng. Ch. (1937)

Je recrutais les ouvriers, prenais les acteurs de théâtre, engageais les chanteuses... Croyez-vous, reprit mon interlocuteur avec un bon sourire, qu'on vienne à l'Exposition pour admirer la belle voix de vos acteurs ou les beaux yeux de vos cantatrices? Chez nous on aime ce qui est étranger, ce qui est exotique. Vos acteurs et chanteuses ont fait l'Exposition de Lyon. Ils nous sont connus. Nous allons, cette fois, régaler nos visiteurs de la musique annamite qu'on n'a jamais entendue jusqu'ici en France. Et vous verrez que vos musiciens, dont vous avez tort de sous-estimer le talent, feront là-bas figure de virtuoses et seront applaudis a l'égal des plus grands artistes du monde...

 
Mais revenons à l'Exposition de Bordeaux. Au cours de sa visite au village, Mme Sarah Bernhard s'intéressa vivement, comme beaucoup d'autres visiteurs, à nos exposants avec leurs objets incrustés de nacre, leurs broderies at aussi... leur musique...

 
A l'issue de sa visite, elle remit à M. Gravier 500 francs pour "être distribués aux Annamites"! Cinq cents francs étaient, pour nos pauvres ouvriers une fortune et ceux-ci parlèrent longtemps après, entre eux, du geste généreux de leur grâcieuse visiteuse.

Ng. Ch., "Choses vues," L'Effort 17 septembre 1937

I recruited laborers, hired actors, and engaged singers... Can you believe, my interlocutor continued with a warm smile, that people will come to the Exposition to admire the beautiful voices of your actors or the lovely eyes of your opera singers? In our land we love the foreign, the exotic. Your actors and singers performed at the Lyon Exposition. We know them. This time we will delight our visitors with Annamite music that hasn't been heard before in France. And you'll see that your musicians, whose talent you wrongly underestimate, will be considered virtuosos there and will be applauded alongside the world's greatest artists...

But let's return to the Bordeaux Exposition. During her visit to the village, Madame Sarah Bernhardt took a lively interest, like many other visitors, in our exhibitors with their mother-of-pearl inlaid objects, their embroidery, and also... their music...

At the end of her visit, she gave Mr. Gravier 500 francs "to be distributed among the Annamites"! Five hundred francs was a fortune for our poor workers, and they spoke among themselves for a long time afterward of the generous gesture of their gracious visitor.

Tôi đã tuyển công nhân, thuê diễn viên, mời ca sĩ… Người đối thoại của tôi tiếp tục với một nụ cười ấm áp: “Ông thực sự nghĩ rằng mọi người sẽ đến Triển lãm để chiêm ngưỡng giọng hát tuyệt vời của các diễn viên của ông hay đôi mắt đẹp của các ca sĩ opera của ông sao? Chúng tôi yêu thích những gì ngoại lai, những gì kỳ lạ. Các diễn viên và ca sĩ của ông đã từng biểu diễn tại Triển lãm Lyon. Chúng tôi biết họ. Lần này, chúng tôi sẽ chiêu đãi khách tham quan bằng âm nhạc An Nam, thứ âm nhạc chưa từng được nghe thấy ở Pháp trước đây.

Và ông sẽ thấy rằng các nhạc sĩ của ông, những người mà ông đã sai khi đánh giá thấp tài năng của họ, sẽ được coi là những nghệ sĩ bậc thầy ở đó và sẽ được tán thưởng cùng với những nghệ sĩ vĩ đại nhất trên thế giới…”

Nhưng hãy quay lại với Triển lãm Bordeaux. Trong chuyến thăm làng, bà Sarah Bernhardt, như nhiều khách khác, rất quan tâm đến các nhà triển lãm chúng tôi, chiêm ngưỡng những vật phẩm khảm xà cừ, những sản phẩm thêu, và cả… âm nhạc của họ…

Cuối chuyến thăm, bà đã tặng ông Gravier 500 franc “để phân phát cho người dân An Nam”! Năm trăm franc là một khoản tiền lớn đối với những người công nhân nghèo của chúng tôi, và sau đó, họ còn bàn tán rất lâu về cử chỉ hào phóng của vị khách tốt bụng.

This passage refers to colonial expositions held in Lyon (1894) and Bordeaux (1895). Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was a legendary actress, of the most famous of all time.