Ai Ve Song Tuong - Thien Phu

Ever since I was a little kid, I've loved this song.  Despite the fact that I hadn't really gotten into Vietnamese music just yet, from as long as I remember I had always been enchanted by this song's melody.  Of course, I really had no idea what this song was about as a child, but I do recall that somehow I had managed to know the lyrics by heart and would sing along to it every time I heard it.  Well, I must confess that I was only able to sing along to the lyrics verbatim.  I'm sure, my pronunciation in Vietnamese back then was ghastly in song and was probably as remote from what is considered to be proper Vietnamese as one could even imagine.  But that didn't matter to me all that much in comparison to the reactions I would get whenever I'd sing this song in front of my mothers' friends at parties and get-togethers.  Even as a child, I had already started my life long love affair of entertaining and performing in front of an audience. 

"Ai Ve Song Tuong" was a last minute decision among my selection of songs on my album, "Ngay Em Di".  Originally I had been scheduled to record a cover version of a popular contemporary Vietnamese hit song entitled, "Hoa Tim Ngay Xua" (written and composed by Thanh Son) to be featured as the tenth track on the album.  I remember how enthralled I was with that song immediately after attending a live concert of Thu Phuong in Saigon during the summer of 1998, in which she had delivered a gorgeous live performance of "Hoa Tim Ngay Xua".  When I returned to the United States, I kept bugging my friend, musician Vu Anh Tuan, to come up with the arrangements to the song for me to record on my next album.  Although he had done an adequate job with the arrangements, he did confess to me that he really didn't care much for the song and also felt that the song was not suitable for my singing voice.  As it turns out, he was absolutely right.  As soon as I got into the recording studio to begin recording Hoa Tim Ngay Xua, immediately after the first take, I then realized this song and my voice were just not meant for one another.  I was really disappointed with myself.  And to make matters worse, my good friend, Alan Nguyen, who was my recording engineer for most of the tracks on the "Ngay Em Di" album would jokingly ask me over and over, "So what exactly were you smoking while you were in Vietnam that caused you to select this song to record?"


With only completed recordings of 9 tracks and still short of one more for the album just days before the scheduled release date, I was in total panic to say the least.  There was no way that I could just delay the release date for this album.  Besides the financial losses that would take place should the release date for the album be delayed with all the costs of prepaid advertisements and promotions for the album, and the possibility of more financial loss in not being able to fulfill the pre-orders from several music retailers, a live show to be held at the Majestic Nightclub in Orange County for the release of this album had already been planned and scheduled with a significant number of presold tickets already disbursed.  I was really that close to having a nervous breakdown by then.  But just when I was about to throw in the towel, I turn to Alan Nguyen to see if he could help me in this difficult predicament.  And wouldn't you know it, like a knight and shining armor, Alan came through by rescuing me with his unique arrangments of this classical Vietnamese song I had loved for quite some time.  When I first heard Alan's arrangements for "Ai Ve Song Tuong", I couldn't even recognize it.  It wasn't until I got in the recording studio and Alan handed me the sheet music with the lyrics to "Ai Ve Song Tuong" instructing me to just speak the lyrics to the rhythm and beat from the music arrangements he had just made for the song.  After just one take, Alan turned to me and said, "That's a wrap!  You got it, kid!"  And that was how I recorded "Ai Ve Song Tuong" in the studio. 

Huong Tho - Singer and TV/ Radio Personality

Before the release of the album, "Ngay Em Di", I'd have to say that I was most apprehensive of my  recording of the track, "Ai Ve Song Tuong".  I kept thinking to myself that there would be no way possible that anyone should like it.  Afterall, I didn't even sing it.  Instead, all I did with the recording of this song was just speak.  So when I would later discover how this song had become a favorite to many listeners of Little Saigon Radio, as one of the hostess, my good friend and fellow singer, Huong Tho, had taken a real liking to it and so it had been given quite a bit of airplay, I was really delighted yet completely surprised.  I really appreciate the kindness and generosity Huong Tho has given to me and this song.  That is why I dedicate this version I had recorded of "Ai Ve Song Tuong" to the beautiful and gracious, Huong Tho, herself.