MECO211 - Excercise 1: The privilege

This semester I am taking a totally different unit called Music and Arts Journalism - MECO211. One of the assessments is to write 200-word piece of description about something related to Arts almost every week so I stick my pieces on this blog, to see my own progress and for memory.
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Exercise 1: Describe a live performance

The first time always makes a special impression. A long lasting one where you were lucky enough to get into one of the symbols of your city.

It was the first time I visited a theatre. A proper, formal theatre located at the best location, in the middle of the city, where a range of diplomatic and important events have always been held there. This city has gone through diverse vicissitudes and the iconic HANOI OPERA HOUSE is still there, remains stable and unchangeable; undergoes the history with the city and its people.

The venue is considered the luxury and this is why, performers who makes it to this theatre has to be up to a certain status. Not a normal singer. Not an entertainer. And that night, it was the live show of Ms Hong Nhung – one of the 4 legendary Vietnamese divas in the pop area. She took the stage with the opening of her proudest song of all times, ‘Nho ve Ha Noi’ (Remembering Ha Noi). The performance started with an excerpt of her first recording of the song, delineated the old Ha Noi in the 80s in black and white background with people pedalling the streets in peace. This scene reverberated a lot of memories for audience living in that era. The crowd sat in silent, listened to the lyrics, reminisced the past. Then the curtain moved up… Spotlight focused on the star of the night, in her white long dress, sang the chorus of the song passionately as she always does. The mezzo soprano voice, accompanied with the opera-orientated structure of the theatre, echoed to the mind of everyone, both people on the lower and upper floors, people on stage and backstage. 

And at that time, I feel a sense of belonging, of something that is truly inside me that defines who I am. I am Hanoi-ian and this city is part of me, no matter where I go to.