The crowd’s cheers and applause and the sound of guitars and drums caught everyone’s attention on the pedestrian street around Hoan Kiem Lake, a historical place famous for its peaceful beauty but now crowded.
Kayla, one of the tourists from America who joined the audience, told The Hanoi Times: “It’s different from the States. I am surprised that there is no lead singer, but the people around are singing loudly. I am lucky to be in Hanoi on the first day and already enjoy the vibes here”.
| The atmosphere is lively and vibrant. Photos: Duca community of Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street |
Kayla is one of many visitors who stumble upon the Duca Community of Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street’s Saturday night performance in Hanoi’s pedestrian streets around Hoan Kiem Lake, which have a fascinating history.
Every weekend when the street lights come on, locals and foreigners gather here to enjoy traditional food and activities. Music lovers gather near Huc Bridge to join a high-energy performance by the Duca Community of Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street – a unique band that plays for people to sing along. The improvised performance has no lead singer, only the audience.
The band begins the improvised concert with soft and slow ballads before building to an intense mash-up at the end.
While the ballads are playing, flashlights from the audience’s phones are turned on, and people are singing along to the chorus. It builds to a crescendo as the band plays mash-ups, and people dance and sing around, drawing more and more people in and creating a lively and vibrant atmosphere.
“When the melody plays, you unconsciously dance to the rhythm, and it is hard to resist,” Mai Huong, a 20-year-old audience member, told The Hanoi Times.
The band was founded in 2018, and its name is quite long: Duca Community of Hoan Kiem Lake Walking Street, with the purpose of simply relaxing after working days. However, due to the welcome and support of young people who love music, it has been maintained until now.
The current size of the band is 20 people, including the manager, who is in charge of creating the song list and organizing the performances every weekend.
| Members of the band. |
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The band’s song selection criteria are pretty strict because not all songs are suitable for acoustic guitar, and they lack the amenities to perform like other professional bands. Since the target audience is young people, they will mainly focus on mashups and the most popular songs often sung at parties to break up the atmosphere, such as Last autumn (Thu cuoi), My grandparents (Ong ba anh), and April is your lie.
The band recruits members with a passion for music and artistic ability.
Performing regularly every weekend is not easy, as it depends on each member’s schedule, general discipline, and the different hobbies of males and females. However, everyone always tries to overcome difficulties and help others improve their skills.
Phan Thi Hong Minh, a group member, said: “In general, everyone in the group is very sociable and always helps each other to improve themselves and achieve the goal of building a strong music group.”
“The biggest difference between this group and the others is simplicity, closeness, and intimacy rather than musical expertise,” she added.
In general, this kind of music will help people relieve stress after a busy week and motivate the passion of Hanoi’s young people for music.
Duong Dinh Bach, the band’s leader, hopes that the locality will create more conditions for the emergence of many similar bands to spread this trend. At the same time, he also hopes that the group’s performance will attract foreign audiences, thus contributing to introducing a part of Vietnamese culture to the world and making a good impression on international friends.
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