French artist Jean Houzard (left) introduces his comic Non Stop Vinahouse to visitors at the exhibition - Photo: MINH DANG
On the evening of March 7, the French Institute in Ho Chi Minh City opened an exhibition introducing the Non Stop Vinahouse comic book project by artist Jean Houzard at Idecaf (31 Thai Van Lung, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City).
With a very "Vietnamese" sounding name, Non Stop Vinahouse is a comic book project that blends fiction and documentary elements, aiming to highlight Vinahouse, a typical liberal music genre of Vietnam.
In recent years, Vinahouse has become very popular with young people in Vietnam. This music genre is everywhere and it is easy to hear Vinahouse music at parties, clubs or restaurants. Vinahouse is also known as dance music, used to refer to the House music genre that originated in the United States in the 70s of the 20th century. With its own characteristics created by fast tempo, strong beats in the low range created by the pounding bass drum, with a 4/4 rhythm that is repeated regularly many times, House can immediately "stick" its characteristic sounds and rhythms into the listener's mind like an addictive thing that they cannot forget - Photo: MINH DANG
Because of its "addictive" power, Vinahouse has spread strongly and immediately attracted French artist Jean Houzard, and at the same time inspired him to create the first 10 pages of the comic series Non Stop Vinahouse . Sharing at the opening ceremony, Houzard said that for Westerners, Vinahouse is very new and this is the right material for him to exploit in his new work. He explored many bars across Vietnam to listen to Vinahouse and found a way to approach the public closely - Photo: MINH DANG
Houzard's story is about two characters, Antoine and Mathilde, a young French couple who travel to Ho Chi Minh City. While exploring the city, Antoine falls in love with a strange genre of music: Vinahouse. Antoine is hooked like a fish, he cannot get the vibrant melody of this strange new music out of his head. Gradually, Antoine embarks on a journey to find Vinahouse in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. In the story we are reading, the character Antoine is so obsessed with Vinahouse that he cannot sleep, and in the middle of the night has to go online to find out what Vinahouse is. The story is translated into very humorous Vietnamese - Photo: MINH DANG
The exhibition attracted a large number of visitors. Talking to Tuoi Tre Online , Matthias Fortune, a French stage director, said that this was the first time he had listened to Vinahouse and he really liked it. "This kind of music makes me stop thinking about anything and just let myself go with the melody," Fortune said - Photo: MINH DANG
Author Jean Houzard told Tuoi Tre Online that it took him 2-3 weeks to come up with ideas for the story, and 10 days to sketch out the characters. Houzard hopes that after the exhibition ends (from March 7 to 17), a publisher will agree to publish the story - Photo: MINH DANG
Jean Houzard's Non Stop Vinahouse comic book project is part of the artist-in-residence program at Villa Saigon. During his stay in Vietnam, Jean Houzard hopes to explore more deeply the distinctive aspects of Vinahouse's vibrant musical style: the blossoming of new cultural practices, the adaptation to space by Vietnamese youth, the constant changes of the dynamic city (HCMC) and more broadly, Vietnamese culture reaching out to the world through music and art - Photo: MINH DANG
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