Music star celebrates 60-year career with Đà Lạt show

Welcome Home : American-Vietnamese pop singer Khánh Ly will perform her show Dấu Chân Địa Đàng (The Earth and Heaven) in Đà Lạt celebrating her 60-year career next week. Songs by famous composers in the 1960s and 70s in the south, such as late artists Trịnh Công Sơn and Phạm Duy, will be featured. Photo courtesy of Viet Ent Center.  

HCM CITY — American-Vietnamese pop singer Khánh Ly will perform in Đà Lạt this week, celebrating her 60-year career. 

The show, Dấu Chân Địa Đàng (The Earth and Heaven), will feature famous songs by Vietnamese composers in the 1960s and 70s in the south. 

Ly will sing romantic songs by late song writer Trịnh Công Sơn, such as Nắng Thủy Tinh (Crystal in Sunlight), Hạ Trắng (White Summer) and Ru Tình (Lullaby to Love).

Sơn is considered the “Bob Dylan of Việt Nam.” His anti-war music collection in the 1970s, including Ca Khúc Da Vàng (Yellow Skin Song), Kinh Việt Nam (Vietnamese Prayer) and Ta Phải Thấy Mặt Trời (We Must See The Sunlight), are still fresh today. 

He died in HCM City in 2001 after a prolonged illness.

Ly performed Sơn’s most famous love song, Diễm Xưa (Diễm, My Cherished Old Flame) in Osaka in 1970. Later, the song was written in Japanese, titled Utsukushii Mukashi, and was listed among Japan’s top 10 favourite love songs.

Fans are expecting Ly to sing a new version of Diễm Xưa at her new show Dấu Chân Địa Đàng. 

“I hope my music will meet Vietnamese fans’ taste,” said Ly, 77, who returned to introduce her art in Việt Nam after 47 years away from home, in an interview with local media. 

Ly, whose real name is Nguyễn Thị Lệ Mai, was born in 1945 in Hà Nội. 

In 1956, she moved with her family to the South. She began her professional career in 1962, singing works by well-known composers such as Phạm Duy and Vũ Thành An. 

In 1964, she met Sơn in Đà Lạt and they quickly became a couple playing music together.

Ly and Sơn performed for students at several venues in HCM City, including Văn Khoa (Literary) University, to spread the musician’s anti-war lyrics from the famous album Da Vàng (Yellow Skin).

In 1970 and 1979, Ly performed in Japan following an invitation by the recording company Nippon Columbia. She was also invited to record two albums of Sơn’s music in both Vietnamese and Japanese. 

After 1975, Ly moved to live in California. 

Since 2012, she has performed in HCM City, Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng and Huế, along with Bình Dương and Đồng Nai provinces. 

She will perform her show, Dấu Chân Địa Đàng, two nights, June 24-25, at 8pm at the music venue Mây In The Nets in Đà Lạt. Tickets are available at https://m.facebook.com/VietEntCenter. — VNS