The story starts with the encounter between Christian and Patrick, 2 Frenchies living in Vietnam.

Christian is a jazz-rock aficionado with a kind of groovy guitar playing style. Saigon has been his playground for more than 10 years.

Passionate about electronic sounds, Patrick arrived a bit later and has spent memorable times singing Vietnamese folk tunes at fairs in provinces all over the country.

At Villa C13 in the suburbs of Saigon, listening to " Tales from Vietnam ", a Nguyen Le masterpiece, the two decide to arrange Vietnamese songs. Mixing electro and guitar with traditional "Ly Ngua O", a middle-aged tune, is the starting point.

Linh, a former Miss Hanoi, joins VVDH to sing " Ly Ngua O" during a first gig held on a traditional junk while cruising the Saigon River. It is the group's first encounter with the public. This night shows all of the emotional potential of the electro-traditional crossover. Later, Linh leaves Vietnam to follow her husband to Bangkok, Thailand. VVDH is out of a singer. But all is not lost, as we meet Jeff during this gig and he decides to join the band with his soprano and baritone saxophones (hum...pretty unusual to meet somebody who plays both). This concert also leads us to other live performances, including a huge party at the French Consulate, with a great setup of decorations and a video/light show.

The time has come to lay down this live material onto tracks, the idea being to send some sounds to our friend Laurent Cousin in Paris (an export manager @ Distance/Next Music label).

During the sessions at A2Z studio with Tuan, a young and dynamic sound engineer, we meet Phuong, the "singing bird". She is Thu Hien 's daughter, one of the most renown folk singers in North Vietnam. We convince her to take over Linh's lead on " Ly Ngua O " and she gave us a groovy and surprising interpretation. Before she flies away, we play together, with 10 other traditional musicians, at a gig at the Sheraton Hotel Saigon.

Laurent introduces our tracks to Lionel "Flying Machine" CATALAN (aka " Catalan FC " http://www.catalanfc.com), which gives birth to a fruitful collaboration. Lionel adds a very personal touch of production to the tracks along with a real improvement on the mix. We start to work on a SGN - PARIS axis, waiting for 6 more months to meet face to face.

Side musicians at the Sheraton gig give us the opportunity to approach the sound we were looking for, and did not find yet at this stage. Magic textures of the Dan Tranh, the Dan Bau and the flute are revealed on the tracks with completely new colors.

" 24 hours in Saigon " is the theme of a concert at a local club featuring Dat, a rising Vietnamese rap star. We play the live soundtrack of a documentary written by Stephane Pucci and shown on stage. Dat will record his voice on " Kakitikom " after this show.

The band quickly lays down 3 more tracks, with the help of Little Planet Studio Saigon and David, aka "I got the tune", a miraculous Danish sound engineer.

September 2004 is to be marked with a cross; it marks the first time we met Lionel in Paris. He will follow us to Saigon, work on the track design and tech setups, before leaving us to cruise all over Vietnam with Delphine.  

This year will also give us the pleasure to play two of our tracks with guitarist Nguyen Le and bassist Michel Alibo (touring Vietnam with singer Huong Thanh), off-show in a local club, thanks to the enthusiasm of Crea-TV's Sound producer Alex Sosno (we owe you on this one!).

Recently, last but not least, Bich has joined the band. Her commitment and her talent to put together   great Vietnamese lyrics on "Coc Ly & Co" gives us the best hope to carry on the adventure, writing new songs, meeting new people.

Anyway, we will keep you posted!

VVDH