These "musical feasts" are shaping the urban landscape.

Fifty years after Saigon - Gia Dinh became Ho Chi Minh City, urban music life is showing a more vibrant, brilliant, and promising face than ever before.

The "Brother Who Overcame Thousands of Obstacles" concert has reached its 9th day and continues to be sold out, with the peak being Day 3 in Ho Chi Minh City attracting over 30,000 spectators - Photo: Organizers

From familiar stages to large-scale outdoor music festivals with tens of thousands of spectators, Ho Chi Minh City is gradually shaping a vibrant urban cultural space where music becomes the central heartbeat of spiritual life.

From tea rooms to the grand concerts of the new era.

For many years, Ho Chi Minh City has been considered the "music capital" of the country, where tea rooms and performance venues play a vital role in nurturing a strong and long-lasting artistic life. It can be said that no other city in the country has as many music performance venues as Ho Chi Minh City.

It is the music cafes, bars, and regular music venues that have sustained the vitality of lyrical, acoustic, and indie music genres, creating a solid foundation for the music market. This is the "foundation" that helps Ho Chi Minh City not only be vibrant on the surface but also enduring in depth.

It is from these foundational stages that many generations of musicians, singers, and instrumentalists have shaped their styles and reputations, leading them to concerts in larger, more professional theaters such as the City Theater, Hoa Binh Theater, and Ben Thanh Theater...

And while previously urban music venues were primarily confined to theaters and tea rooms, in the last five years or so, Ho Chi Minh City has witnessed a strong "blossoming" of large-scale outdoor stages.

Most notably and prominently, the series of programs under HOZO (Ho Chi Minh City International Music Festival) - an international music festival organized annually by the city since 2019.

In 2023 alone, the event attracted around 200,000 spectators over several days, transforming the city center into a truly open performance space. Meanwhile, HOZO 2024 has expanded into a series of activities including music competitions to discover young talents, workshops on issues in the music industry, and concerts lasting up to three months (from October to December 2024). A single festival organized by the city like HOZO is equivalent to dozens of large-scale music events combined.

Collaborating with major international music festivals in the region and creative networks.
Globally, HOZO has become a bridge between Vietnam and the world , not only in the field of music but also in cultural, artistic, and tourism aspects.

People's Artist Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy (Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City) shared this from HOZO 2024.

Alongside this, there has been the emergence of concerts that have become cultural phenomena. The immense popularity of "Brother Overcoming a Thousand Thorns ," "Beautiful Sister Overcoming the Wind and Breaking the Waves ," "Brother Says Hi, " or "Stars Joining the Army Concert ," etc., shows a generation of young artists reshaping the performance market by approaching audiences through the exciting "idol-fandom" model.

These programs also demonstrate the trend of "multi-platform entertainment," where music, television, and community merge into one. Audiences not only watch performances but also experience a holistic culture with sound, lighting, stage design, and performance technology, setting a new standard for the domestic performing arts industry.

Conversely, established artists maintain their enduring appeal. Concerts by My Tam or Ha Anh Tuan consistently fill concert halls, and even expand to outdoor spaces with tens of thousands of spectators, yet still sell out.

HOZO is Ho Chi Minh City's only international-level music festival, attracting the attention of music lovers both domestically and internationally not only for its spectacular concerts but also for its high-quality professional seminars, talent search events, and more. - Photo: Organizing Committee

It's not just "the home ground of V-pop"

That vibrancy and enthusiasm have helped Ho Chi Minh City become a destination for many international artists in recent years, contributing to integrating urban music life into the global mainstream.

At HOZO, audiences had the opportunity to enjoy performances by big names, including Grammy Award winners like Babyface, along with many artists from Japan, South Korea, Europe, and more, in an open space right in the heart of the city. The event, bringing together renowned artists from various countries and territories and organized on a multi-day scale, demonstrates Ho Chi Minh City's increasingly strong international connections.

It's also worth remembering that the performing arts market in Ho Chi Minh City over the past half-century has seen the appearance of many international artists with solo performances. From legendary singers like Patricia Kaas, Bryan Adams, Sting, Jack White, Demi Lovato... to famous bands like Boney M, Michael Learns to Rock, Backstreet Boys, Westlife... all have had unforgettable concerts and memories with Vietnamese fans here.

In particular, the K-pop wave has repeatedly "landed" in Ho Chi Minh City, with Super Junior's concert attracting over 15,000 spectators at the Military Zone 7 Stadium in March 2023, followed by many large-scale fancon events.

Previously, as early as 2012, the Coca-Cola SoundFest music festival brought big names like BigBang to Saigon audiences. And at GENfest – a younger music festival – in recent years it has always been the stage for the biggest names in Korean music, including Lee Hyo-ri, HyunA, rapper Zico, Zion.T, Hwa Sa (MAMAMOO), and PSY.

A dream of a "city of the world music"

In the last five years, music organizers in Ho Chi Minh City have shifted from single live shows to a continuous ecosystem of music events. Although there are no official statistics, according to data compiled from organizers and market information, Ho Chi Minh City now hosts dozens of large-scale concerts and hundreds of music nights of varying sizes each year, a significant increase compared to a decade ago.

"Sex symbol" Lee Hyo Ri will deliver an explosive performance in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2023 - Photo: Organizers

What's noteworthy is not just the quantity, but the shift in mindset regarding the organization of cultural spaces.

Musician Huy Tuan, the general director of the Ho Chi Minh City International Music Festival - HOZO, said: "In the first five years, Ho Chi Minh City has built its brand and somewhat established HOZO's name on the regional music map. And today, Ho Chi Minh City is a megacity. Therefore, the goal for the next five years is that HOZO will not only be a cultural address of the city but will become the center of all music events in the world. 'Ho Chi Minh City - City of the world music' is what we are striving to achieve."

From familiar venues like theaters, cultural centers, arenas, and stadiums, Ho Chi Minh City has proactively expanded its music nights to public spaces: Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, Nguyen Van Binh book street, Thu Thiem riverside park, and new urban areas such as Global City and Van Phuc City... These places are gradually becoming "stages without walls," where music can reach the public quickly and easily.

Music director Tran Tu believes this shift is not simply about entertainment: "This change reflects a long-term strategy in building a cultural space that is distinctly Ho Chi Minh City – where art is not confined within four walls but becomes an integral part of modern urban life. There, music is not just for enjoyment but also to connect the community, stimulate the night-time economy , and contribute to shaping the identity of a dynamic, open, and creative city."

Although it doesn't yet have an official title like "city of the world music," what's happening shows that Ho Chi Minh City is rapidly progressing on that path. When public spaces become stages, when artists from both Vietnam and abroad converge, and when audiences readily fill concert nights with their love of music, the city itself is being "composed" daily by its own vibrant energy.

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QUYNH NGUYEN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhung-dai-tiec-am-nhac-dinh-hinh-dien-mao-do-thi-20260428101724485.htm