With a passion for traditional Vietnamese culture, singer Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha, alias Ha Myo, has become famous for combining Xam, a type of ballad sung by wandering blind musicians, with rap and electronic music whilst performing modern choreography.
Ha Myo is honoured with the title of “Vietnamese Promising Young Face 2021”
Ha, 30, is an ethnic Muong girl from Ba Vi district of Hanoi. She was honoured with the title “Vietnamese Promising Young Face 2021” and “Outstanding Face of Youth Union of Central agencies 2022”.
Her music video “Xam Hanoi” that displays her love for the capital through the unique genre has gone viral and received great attention from the public.
it was the first time a traditional Xam song has been perfectly combined with rap and electronic music and modern choreography, creating a new music product that features both the charm and beauty of folk culture, and at the same time showcases the freshness of modern arts.
Ha hopes Vietnamese folk music will easily spread to the international market.
In 2020, Ha finished second at the Hanoi Singing Contest, and her song was also chosen as the best song about Hanoi.
Ha says she is not a folk singer and cannot compete with other traditional folk singers. The ethnic girl has decided to add an electronic vibe and dance to her performance as she is good at dancing.
Recently, the young singer released an MV called “Dap Nang Khot”, known as “Phoebe Landing on Earth” in English, a Muong ethnic folk song which is combined with rap and EDM.
Ha says the song is one of the most popular of the Muong ethnic group.
“When I was a student, I performed the song many times, so I chose it to produce a new song. For the new MV, I was presented the title 'the Vietnamese Promising Young Face 2021,” Ha shares.
The young artist says she has also tried blind buskers' music and frequently attempted to envision herself in other traditional genres.
After experiments with the buskers' music, the singer cherished the idea of combining folk with modern music in order to boost national pride among young music lovers and international friends.
Most notably, in late November 2022, Ha released an MV called “Tro choi i a Troi cho” on YouTube, representing the first Xoan ethnic folk song to be combined with rap and EDM. After just one week the MV became a big hit, attracting more than one million views.
According to Ha, YouTube is also an excellent platform to popularise her music, and many foreigners have made comments discussing traditional Vietnamese music.
The singer reveals she is currently working on another similar MV, and she is hopeful that Vietnamese folk music will easily spread to the international market.
Ha is currently working at the Vietnam Music and Dance Theatre. She says there are many opportunities to bring Vietnamese blind buskers' music to the international stage through cultural exchange programmes.
She expects in the future she will receive support from State authorities as well as organisations to help promote folk singing to the wider world.