Turning Vietnamese culture into an advantage on the international stage
At the " Intervision 2025" contest in Moscow (LB Russia), Duc Phuc excellently won the championship with the performance "Phu Dong Thien Vuong". Inspired by the poem "Tre Viet Nam" by Nguyen Duy, the song combines folk and modern Rap, composed by musician Ho Hoai Anh, arranged by Duong K, Phuc Du takes on the Rap part, Orange wrote the English lyrics.
The male singer wore a traditional armor, inspired by bamboo, inside was an ao dai with Dong Ho painting motifs on his chest. As Duc Phuc shared, he and the crew "want to bring a story, a performance with strong Vietnamese identity" when coming to Russia.
Meanwhile, Phuong My Chi affirmed her own mark in "Sing! Asia 2025" held in China, entered the Top 3 finalists. She scored points with newly arranged folk songs, especially "Bong Phuong Hoa" inspired by the literary work "Chuyen Nguoi Da Nam Xuong" by Nguyen Du, performed in Vietnamese - Chinese and quickly "caused a fever".
Both Duc Phuc and Phuong My Chi prove that the intersection between tradition and modernity can open a new and fulfilling path for Vietnamese music.
Media expert Do Quang Chi - who has over 20 years in the artist management industry in Vietnam, commented: "I think this is a very smart and emotional direction. In an international competition, where the world does not lack good voices, what makes the audience stop, listen and remember is their own unique identity. The most effective way to express identity is to tell stories imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity through music.
When artists include elements such as Thanh Giong's achievements, Ao Dai images, or traditional folk songs, they not only compete in singing, but are truly bringing a part of their heritage to the world. This creates a unique competitive advantage, because that is something that international audiences cannot find anywhere else. I call it a Strategic lever because it arouses strong curiosity, making international audiences want to learn more about Vietnamese culture, and possibly love at bad times. At the same time, it creates emotional connection.
Music is a common language, but the story of culture is the soul. When a song is incorporated into a story with depth, it becomes not just a song but a cultural ambassador. That is the most sustainable way to promote - through emotions".
The direction of bringing Vietnamese culture to the world through music
Musician Luu Quang Minh - Lecturer at Hanoi College of Arts, and also a professional manager for the Maius Philharmonic orchestra, commented: Current music is developing in many dimensions, combining sound, light, image, and choreography to convey artistic ideas. This is what helps music products have the opportunity to go further, leave a deeper impression and spread many meaningful messages to the public.
Incorporating cultural elements into music is not new, but a common desire of many artists in the past, present and future. Not only in music, but in many other forms of art, national cultural identity is always an important material.
The musician emphasized that it is worth noting that the young generation of artists, especially in the field of popular entertainment, is increasingly proactively integrating national cultural identity into the product.
According to the musician, this is a way to help increase the recognition of Vietnamese music, create its own color, and avoid confusion with Korean, Japanese or Chinese music.
Musician Luu Quang Minh believes that if clearly defined, Vietnamese popular music can completely build into a unique style, just need the melody to resonate, the audience can recognize that it is Vietnamese music.
To bring Vietnamese culture to the world through music, expert Do Quang Chi believes that artists and crews need an overall content strategy, instead of stopping at a single product. After an international competition song, you can develop an ecosystem of content revolving around it such as documentaries, podcasts decoding cultural symbols, regional experiential travel, or analyzing ao dai patterns, traditional musical instruments, fairy tales... to create depth and help international audiences understand and love Vietnamese culture more.
According to Mr. Do Quang Chi, there must be comprehensive support for investment and strategic orientation like the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has done with Duc Phuc from content orientation, connecting historical - cultural - design experts... Longer, it can be considered a series of young artist programs that are "practified" in craft villages or cultural spaces to deeply understand and co-create with the local community.
"A song that went to the competition, if it was only considered a part of the competition, it would be lost. But if it is seen as a "cultural gateway", "cultural promotion strategy"... then each international competition is a time for Vietnam to open an additional door to the world. So we need to add measurement criteria, not just stop at awards, but also measure the level of spread, commercial value, and long-term impact.
It is time to consider cultural development as an economic sector in the digital age. I think this is almost the only way for Vietnamese culture to truly " step out" into the world.
Identity is not an original copy, but a continuation and movement. When artists combine Vietnamese stories such as epics, folk songs... with modern music languages such as Pop, R&B, EDM... they are "cultural transformation" into a language that the world can understand".
In addition, it is also necessary to emphasize that "Current does not reduce identity" is only true when there is a clear cultural assessment process. In reality, there have been cases where artists "cosplay culture" (transforming and playing roles through costumes) caused controversy when they did not fully understand the meaning of the symbol they were wearing.
With great contributions from Duc Phuc, Phuong My Chi and many singers who are turning music into national culture such as Hoang Thuy Linh, combined with a composition - harmony force of many potential names such as: DTAP, Ho Hoai Anh, Duong K, Masew... experts expect that in the near future, Vietnamese music will bloom even more, spreading the beauty of Vietnamese culture more strongly - before the world.
