The MAG Music Festival, organised by the Minsk Club and C.A.M.A, will be held on Saturday 25 April 2009 at the American Club, Hanoi. The event will raise funds for MAG, which has cleared unexploded bombs and mines in Vietnam since 1999.
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This is the third festival organised by Minsk Club and C.A.M.A. The first two festivals (held in 2008) went under the name of ‘Hanoi International Music Festival’.
The festival’s worthy cause has led to strong support from companies and brands including Tiger Beer, Vietnamobile, Jack Daniel’s, Hoang Long and Hoan Vu JOCs. Besides, Le Media, Hilton Hotel, Hanoi Hotel, Irish Embassy, the Xone FM channel, Sofitel Hotel, and Santa Fe relocation services company have also joint hands in organising the event.
Vietnam is one of the most bombed nations in the world, and landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) still pose a daily threat to thousands of rural Vietnamese. According to the Vietnamese military, 350,000 tonnes of UXO still remain in the soil. It is estimated that there have been more than 100,000 landmine and UXO related casualties since 1975, with an estimated 1,000 new casualties every year.
"The MAG Music Festival will not only be one of 2009’s outstanding cultural events, but will also raise funds that will be spent directly on removing unexploded bombs and landmines in Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces," said Jimmy Roodt, MAG Vietnam’s Country Programme Manager. "Each bomb or landmine removed is potentially another life saved, and helps fight poverty by providing safe land for the poorest members of rural communities."
“This will be our best festival yet,” said Dan Dockery on behalf of the Minsk Club and C.A.M.A. “An incredible line-up of cutting-edge bands and DJs, great food and drink and plenty of family-friendly activities. And all in a good cause.”
The show will feature a spectacular line-up of bands and DJs from Vietnam and other countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Phillipines, England, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
Doors open at the American Club (19/21 Hai Ba Trung) from 12:30pm and the beats will go on until 11pm. You will be able to purchase tickets at the door on the day for VND200,000 or pick up a limited number of discounted advance tickets for just VND150,000 at Highway 4 (3-5 Hang Tre), Cheeky Quarter (1 Ta Hien), The American Club, MAG office (202/B1, Van Phuc Diplomatic Compound, 298 Kim Ma), Puku Café (60 Hang Trong), Ballad Saloon (105 D7, Alley 4D Dang Van Ngu), Boo Skateshop (84 Hang Dieu or 38 Le Dai Hanh), and Ban Mai Café (#1, Alley 26, Nguyen Hong) from 10 April. Tickets will also be available for VND100,000 for students (with Student ID) purchasing tickets on the day.
Bands and DJs
The recently reformed expat act The Props from England will kick off the day’s proceedings on the main stage while the ongoing musical and art house project Girl and the Machine from Canada will also perform especially for this event in Hanoi with an artistic activism promoting peace, love, and compassion. Following up, The Dorques from the Philippines will be all about the feel-good factor with country-tinged boogies and dirty French pop ditties as well as lashings of manic indie pop thrown in for good measure.
Armed with a boatload of effects and a healthy appetite for guitar feedback, I Am David Sparkle from Singapore’s mini-rock operas have drawn comparisons to post-rock stalwarts Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mogwai.
There will also be a performance by White Noise, the human beatbox from Dublin, Ireland, who uses looping technology to create layer upon layer of beatboxing, singing and vocal effects for live performances. In under five years, he has performed at over 300 events of various types. White Noise is part of the new generation of beatboxers worldwide that are taking the vocal artform to a whole new level.
Vietnamese rock act Recycle will also lighten up the stage and perform their own range of Alternative/Post-rock. The band released their second album last year and was always part of big rock shows such as the Artport last year.
The British troubadour James Harries, making his second visit to the capital city after starring in the first Hanoi Music International festival in April last year, will no doubt once again leave the audience swooning with his sublime and soulful singing voice. Harries, a platinum selling artist in Europe, has just released his latest album, Days like These.
Having risen from the ashes of Futon, Goo from Bangkok, Thailand will bring to the festival contemporary punk rock with their guitar-driven sound backed by the awesome drumming of Simon Gilbert, formerly of Suede, one of the most famous Britpop bands from the 1990s. Suede was known among Vietnamese rock fans for the song “Everything will flow”.
Vietnamese rock fans and local expats will no doubt recognise Quan Yeomans, the front man of the Australian rock band, Regurgitator, who played sellout shows in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City last year. His recent album Quan the Amateur has been receiving rave reviews. This time performing his solo work under the moniker of Quan, this talented Vietnamese-Australian musician is producing some of the most electrifying hip-hop and electro tunes around.
Coming to Vietnam for the first time ever will be Minuit, a dazzling three-piece electro-pop act from New Zealand that has toured the UK and Europe extensively, supporting acts like The Chemical Brothers and winning countless plaudits from critics along the way.
There will also be a full line up of DJs in the C.A.M.A. tent where you will also conveniently find a fully DJs from the Philippines (Red-i), New Zealand (DJ Funk'n'slocuts) Ho Chi Minh City (DJ Jase), as well as all the boys from the C.A.M.A. Sound System and Hanoi’s own Tri Minh playing everything from funk, soul, dub reggae, old school hip hop to house, minimal techno and electro.
Other entertainment
As with the previous festivals organised by the Minsk Club and C.A.M.A., on the day there will be an international food court, drink stalls, and a full programme of entertainment and games throughout the day for adults and children alike (tug-of-war battles, table football matches, a kid’s corner with face painting, a bouncy castle, beat the goalie competition, egg and spoon races and lots more). Festival goers can also try their luck on the raffle which features some amazing prizes. This will be a day for the whole community to come together, listen to some live music in the open air, and have fun – and it’s all for a great cause!
Please check out www.minskclubvietnam.com/magmusic for the latest info on the event or email minskclubvietnam@hotmail.com. If you would like to find out more about MAG’s activities in Vietnam please email mag-nco@vnn.vn or check out www.maginternational.org/vietnam.
Minsk Club
The Minsk Club was established in March 1998, when more than 85 enthusiasts turned up at a tiny bar in the Hanoi suburbs to trade stories of their travels through the Vietnamese rural heartlands on the back of the legendarily robust Belarusian motorbike.
Since then the Minsk Club has promoted the safe exploration of rural Vietnam on two wheels whilst organising more than 40 not-for-profit events for locals and expatriates alike, including the Dai Lai Lake Charity Rally, which raised funds for a children’s home for disadvantaged and handicapped children, and the Minsk Olympics weekend festival, held annually in May at Thac Da resort, Ba Vi district in Ha Tay province since 2003.
The 10-year Anniversary Music Festival, held last April at Hanoi’s American Club, was the club’s biggest achievement yet with bands from Australia, England, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam playing to a crowd of over 1,000 happy punters. The second international music festival further highlighted Hanoi’s increasingly vibrant music scene while promoting Vietnam as a destination for the intrepid traveller.
Club for Art and Music Appreciation
C.A.M.A. is a collective of like-minded individuals based in Hanoi bringing independent musicians to Vietnam for the good of all. C.A.M.A. has been active in Hanoi since 2005 and has played a central role in bringing some 25 bands and DJs to Hanoi.
Links: [MAG is not responsible for the content of external sites]
Girl and the Machine
www.myspace.com/girlandthemachinemusic
www.girlandthemachine.com/
The Dorques
www.myspace.com/thedorques
I am David Sparkle
www.myspace.com/iamdavidsparkle
White Noise – Human Beatbox
www.whitenoise.ie
James Harries
www.myspace.com/jamesharries
www.jamesharries.com/
Goo
www.myspace.com/ilovefuton
www.xfuton.com
Quan Yeomans
www.myspace.com/quantheamateur
Minuit
www.myspace.com/minuittheband
www.minuit.co.nz
DJ Red-I
www.myspace.com/redeyesoundsystem
The Van Ho Ba
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Van-Ho-Ba/39216275011#/pages/The-Van-Ho-Ba/39216275011?v=wall&viewas=0
DJ Funk’n’Slocuts
www.myspace.com/funknslocuts
C.A.M.A. Sound System
www.myspace.com/camavietnam
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