Minuit in Vietnam
21.12.09
Earlier in the year Minuit were asked to play at the MAG Hanoi International Music Festival, an outdoor concert in the centre of Hanoi, Vietnam.
Whilst there they shot some impromptu footage of the city and cut it to their tune 'Maserati', which with the song's references to Versace and Armani makes a fitting irony in the country known for its counterfeit haute couture.
Check it out along with a note from Minuit's Ruth:
Good Morning Viet Nam!!! Honestly, that never gets tired and Ryan and Paul don't ever get sick of me saying that a couple of times a day.
Viet Nam. Apparently it's two words. And it has a thingy over one of the letters. Also what we know as the 'Viet Nam' war, they call the 'American' war. Learning stuff is cool.
Our first gig was in Ha Noi. The festival we played at was to raise money for MAG, an NGO in Viet Nam that does de-mining. This is the festivals third year, and getting to play was an adventure in itself.
Before we arrived in Viet Nam we had to send over our lyrics to the 'Cultural Advisers' for approval, and then mp3's of our songs, and then on the morning of the festival, all the bands had to turn up early and play two songs for a row of Ministers sporting bad suits, perpetual cigarettes and clip boards. This was funny - especially as one of the bands playing were instrumental only = no lyrics...
There were ten bands in all, and after three had played, the Ministers called enough, lined up to collect their envelopes stuffed with bribe money, wished us all the best and cruised off.
Collective sighs of relief were heard all 'round, what could possibly go wrong now? I'll tell you what - nothing. It was truly fab and the Festival is definitely staying on the tour circuit for Minuit.
We headed to Ho-Chi-Minh-City, (HCMC), which is where our next gig was. Most everyone still calls it Saigon which is such a beautiful word I think. In fact, it is romantically known as 'the Paris of the East', but that's stretching it a bit, so don't get your hopes up.
We were so taken by the fun, wild, craziness of Viet Nam and its copious amounts of motorbikes that we decided to get some footage together and make a music video to our song 'Maserati'. We hooked up with Jason - a friend of one of the festivals organisers, and he kindly agreed to star in it - along with his bike.
It was hilarious fun riding around all the back streets of Saigon - we had to keep off main roads as they're real strict on everyone wearing helmets now-a-days and no-one wants to end up in the clink. If you watch the video closely, you will see a little girl all in pink who is surrounded by a million motorbikes, but pretending to ride a horse...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXqHQhWAFJQ
Our gigs here were interesting, as the kind of music we play was new to most people. What's great though is the Vietnamese start with confusion and end in frenzy! And who isn't up for a bit of frenzy, and heat, and great food and cheap beer, fake bags, and people touching your blonde hair?
Saigon isn't the 'Paris of the East' and Hoi An isn't the 'Venice of the East' - it's Viet Nam, and it doesn't need a European frame of reference no more - it never did.
Go. Go now and have shit loads of fun.
love Ruth Minuit
Minuit's latest longplayer Find Me Before I Die A Lonely Death dot com is available now and includes the track Maserati.
The album was picked as part of Amplifier's Top Twenty Albums of 2009
