Musical cosmopolitanism in late-colonial Hanoi

� Briain, Lon�n

Abstract

This article investigates how radio was used to amplify the reach of vernacular forms of musical cosmopolitanism in late-colonial Hanoi. Between 1948 and the early 1950s, the musicians of Việt Nhạc – the first all-Vietnamese ensemble to appear regularly on Radio Hanoi – performed a unique blend of popular chansons in Vietnamese and local folk styles live on air to a radio audience across French Indochina. These creative artists sounded out the final stages of French imperialism in the region and its associated forms of Western European-influenced musical cosmopolitanism; they also nurtured an attentive radio listenership who gradually shifted their ears to Sino-Soviet-influenced musical cosmopolitanism following independence. Drawing on archival records, radio guides and interview data, this research excavates the story of the Việt Nhạc ensemble from the uncomfortable crevice between colonial and postcolonial history. In retelling this story, the writing interrogates the relationship between cultural and political change at the end of an empire.

Citation

Ó Briain, L. (2018). Musical cosmopolitanism in late-colonial Hanoi. Ethnomusicology Forum, 27(3), 265-285. https://doi.org/10.1080/17411912.2018.1521728

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 5, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Oct 1, 2018
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Nov 21, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 2, 2020
• Journal: Ethnomusicology Forum
• Print ISSN: 1741-1912
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-1920
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 265-285
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17411912.2018.1521728
• Keywords: Vietnam, historical ethnomusicology, radio, colonialism, politics, cosmopolitanism
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1173321
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17411912.2018.1521728