Thanh Lan: Icon of Vietnamese Pop Music

I'd have to say that Thanh Lan was the very first Vietnamese singer that turned me onto Vietnamese music.  As I had grown up mostly outside of Vietnam, my interests in music have primarily been with music from cultures in the Western part of the world.  I remember while I was a teenager, my mother had a cassette of Thanh Lan covering French popular somgs that had been recorded in South Vietnam prior to 1975 I really liked. I found her interpretations of songs such as La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser, Bang Bang, Aprés Toi, and Oh! Mon Amour to be quite enchanting.  My mother had told me of how she had known Thanh Lan personally back in Vietnam since she had worked singing at my grandmother's nightclub, Au Ma Cabane, nightly for many years.  From the photographs I saw of Thanh Lan, I was enamored by her beauty.  The fact that she hadn't made it out of Vietnam like so many other Vietnamese singers after the Fall of Saigon saddened me.  I had heard of how Vietnamese singers who had stayed behind after 1975 had to endure hardship due to the Vietnamese communist government's limitations of the performing arts sector in Saigon.  That has since changed. 

Sometime in 1989, while Vietnam and the United States had yet to normalize relations, as a result of many overseas Vietnamese travelling back to Vietnam, a music videotape featuring Thanh Lan was produced and had made its way over to the overseas Vietnamese communities in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.  I just had to purchase a copy for myself.  When I saw the videotape, I found it heartbreaking to see this beautiful singer with a somber look in her eyes performing her songs on video.  I could tell she had experienced quite a bit with all the hardships for so many years under the communist regime not being able to do what she liked doing the most, which was perform and work as a singer.  After that videotape, I also saw Thanh Lan on other videotapes produced by various overseas Vietnamese travelers travelling back to Vietnam.  I was happy to hear that the communist government had loosened up its policy and finally allowed its singers to perform French and American music after so many years of foreign music being banned at either live performances or audio recordings.

On my first trip back to Vietnam on December of 1991, I went to see Thanh Lan perform at the Rex Hotel in Saigon.  She looked great and sounded just as good as she did on her recordings many years ago.  When she finally came to the United States in 1994, I had wanted to attend her live show that was scheduled to be held at the Ritz Nightclub in Anaheim, California, but unfortunately it had been cancelled after the incident of a television interview she had done that ended up stirring quite a bit of controversy and protest.  Remember that infamous interview?  Apparently, Thanh Lan had been asked by the interviewer if she would consider moving to the United States permanently if she was offered $4,000 a month to perform regularly at Ritz Nightclub and she responded that she wasn't interested because she was already earning $2,000 a month performing at the nightclubs in present day Saigon.  I guess what she had implied was how she was able to live a better life due to the difference of currency values between the two countries and Vietnam's lower standard of living.   Somehow that resulted in heavy protest from the anti-communist overseas Vietanamese community in the United States who branded Thanh Lan as a communist.  I really felt bad for Thanh Lan during this period.  I didn't feel what she said had anything to do with being either a supporter of communism or even with politics at all.  But the protesters had their field day with Thanh Lan and her first scheduled live performance in San Jose would be met with picketers which caused cancellations for all her other scheduled shows.  It seemed like Thanh Lan would have to return to Vietnam after what had happened.  Again, I was really saddened for her. 

A few weeks after that, I would run into Thanh Lan at Kim Anh's CD release event held at Diamond Nightclub in Fullerton, California.  I wanted to ask her what was going on, whether she was going to return to Vietnam or not.  But I backed away from doing so upon being introduced to her.  And then it was announced a week later that Thanh Lan had been granted political asylum on Little Saigon Radio.  I was really relieved for her.

Events Promoter Cathy Fornatora, Thien Phu and Thanh Lan

I've had the chance to work with Thanh Lan a few times through the years.  On several occasions in the 1990s, she and I had worked together on various concerts with many other singers.  In 1999, we  performed at the Santa Ana Stadium together with a long list of other Vietnamese singers.  On that night, we really talked for the first time as we sat next to each other waiting for our turns to sing.  That was when I learned that she and my mother are of the same age.  I found her to be quite likable and genuine.  It would be another 10 years until we would work together again at the Can Nightclub on Valentine's Day of 2009.  Most recently, we performed together in Seattle during the winter of 2013 for a live show music video taping produced by Viet Star Productions.  During that trip, we spent quite a bit of time together preparing for the video shoot.  I must say Thanh Lan is one very classy lady.  She never has anything bad to say about anyone.  One thing about Thanh Lan I especially like is how she always wears a great, big smile on her face at all times.  Now if only everyone can be like that. 

Thanh Lan Link(s):

Thanh Lan Facebook Page
Thanh Lan Bio on VietCeleb.BlogSpot.com