Lena picked me up for an afternoon jazz concert at the French Cultural Institute -- which is the place in Ho Chi Minh City to watch really good movies, according to Lena (all French subtitled in Vietnamese, however.)The musicians turned out to be French chanteurs, most of the them in their 60s, with one Vietnamese-French guy in his 70s.
One duo sang a slightly jazzy version of Yesterday, by the Beatles. In a French accent, the singer below with the biggish hair introduced a shocking number of "zzz's" into the song.
The youngish Vietnamese-French woman second from the right in the pic below had the most powerful, beautiful voice and sang a song in Vietnamese, a sad song about a man who had cheated on her. Her shoes, which you can't really see here, sparkled in the stage lights and looked as if they were encrusted with diamonds.
Afterward, we went to a posh bar down the street and saw a famous Vietnamese film director. But Lena couldn't remember his name. Here's Lena and Thanh Thanh, who works for the BBC in Vietnam, which, despite its BBC initials, is controlled by the state. She's working on a documentary about sex workers and protected sex, and she's filled with stories about pole dancers, transgendered performers in Hanoi, and the good advice the prostitutes have given her about pleasing clients! (She says they say it's all about conversation.)
And to top off my cultural afternoon, I returned home to Ngoc Hotel to find Chau's paintings drying on the table. I think they're lovely. She says they're knock offs. And she wouldn't let me photograph her.
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