Before World War II, with the introduction of new rules on music and building new theaters by The Vietnamese Court, Vietnam was able to develop its own unique style of music. The creation of new styles of music forms most of today Vietnamese music genres and styles. With the appearance of French and many foreigners, Western influences in music and art started to grow. Western instruments such as mandolin, guitar and violin were studied, adopted and practice shortly after.
In the 1960s, with a strong influence by American culture, especially the Hippie culture and the Anti-Vietnam War which was conducted by American students at that time, Hippie was introduced to Vietnam by many Vietnamese students whose families were wealthy. According to Truong .K (2015), the King of Vietnam Hippie Movement in the 1960s, Vietnamese youth back in the 1960s had to witness the horror of the Vietnam War, had to stand the pain of a country which was in a civil war. Death, blood, separation, and uncertainty about the future were constantly appearing in Vietnamese youth in that time period. Therefore, the need for freedom, for relaxation, and for being optimist led Vietnamese youth to seeking for new beliefs, attitudes through American culture such as art, music, etc… Hippie became a phenomenon in South Vietnam, especially Saigon. Truong .K (2015) also mentions, in that time period, youngsters not only listen American music mostly hippie songs, they also adopted the fashion, styles from the American Hippie culture. “We are just like American youngsters back then” said Truong .K (2015).
Due to a strong influence by Western modernization and music, Vietnamese traditional music had started to decline since the 1980s. In this period, because of the strong Westerner-influence, European music style as well as Western style had begun to develop by many Vietnamese composers. American and British music such as pop, hip hop and rock were very popular in this period. The development process of this music evolution is still going on. Thus, it is hard to catalogue the current Vietnamese music styles.
(Video) CBC - A Vietnamese band before 1975.
However, according to Olsen (2008), the latter popular music is known in Vietnam as ‘youth music’ (nhac tre), market music (nhac thi truong), light music (nhac nhe), love songs (tinh ca), vina pop (Vietnam pop). Recently, the music scene as Vietnam itself is constantly changing. Vietnam music market is flourishing with variety of music styles. Vietnamese traditional, pop and electronic music all fuse together. This combination of Western and Vietnamese culture in term of music style may lead to the appearance of new styles, creation of new unique sounds and pushing subcultures forward (GKTA Group Ltd., 2014).
Youth culture in Vietnam especially in Hanoi and Saigon, much like the youth culture in the globe, is extremely diverse and varied in styles. Mydans S. (2015) pointed out that a Vietnamese youngster in the past was basically a young old person because they held the same beliefs and values as their previous generation. Gordon M. (2000) also described the Vietnamese youth in the 2000s : “ This is the first generation in Vietnam to experience a true youth culture, with shared values, identity, symbols and language.”.
Youth culture in Vietnam especially in Hanoi and Saigon, much like the youth culture in the globe, is extremely diverse and varied in styles. Mydans S. (2015) pointed out that a Vietnamese youngster in the past was basically a young old person because they held the same beliefs and values as their previous generation. Gordon M. (2000) also described the Vietnamese youth in the 2000s : “ This is the first generation in Vietnam to experience a true youth culture, with shared values, identity, symbols and language.”.