Holiday hit: The girl-band 5 Dong Ke has recently released Yeu (Love), their first album since 2007. — Photo thethaovanhoa.vn

by Thu Anh

HCMCITY (VNS) — Music industry stakeholders are engaged in a race to release new albums for the upcoming holiday season, but those with more experience are likely to do better in the market.

Ha Noi musician and song writer Do Bao has worked with pop star Tran Thu Ha to record Canh Cung (The Bow) with 12 songs, and the CD has been a big hit, distributors say.

More than 2,000 CDs sold out in the very first week after the album was released two months ago.

The album was recorded at HomeStudio, which is owned by Ha, who lives in California.

Its post-production was completed in Boston by a group of professional staff.

Though the CD offers little innovation, it has left a strong impression on fans simply for its romantic flavour.

While Ha's previous contemporary music albums were widely credited with making her career what it is today, Canh Cung changes pace with a classical taste.

Many fans are delighted that Ha has finally returned to her original voice after years of trying to differentiate herself by singing in a nasal voice.

After listening to Canh Cung, many fans have said that Ha's singing sounds natural and pure without vocal gymnastics.

Two other albums that have made their mark are Doc Dao (Only Path) and Yeu (Love) by Tung Duong and the 5 Dong Ke (The Musical Staff) band respectively.

Both albums were released late last month.

Duong recorded Doc Dao in France. His album features 10 songs in the jazz world music style, mostly composed by Sa Huynh and Luu Ha An.

He also sang Anh Trang Khuya (Late Night Moonlight), a work by his producer, Vietnamese-French musician/producer Nguyen Le.

Duong's voice on the recordings is powerful but velvety and accompanied by several Vietnamese traditional instruments.

Duong said that he and his producer have challenged themselves to present a taste of Vietnamese music to the world.

Yeu, a collection of seven sonds and three sound tracks with elecronic music, marks the return of 5 Dong Ke hand since they released heir third album in 2007.

The band's Bao Lan, Lan Huong and Thuy Linh said they had invested a lot of time in perfecting their singing.

"We hope to offer a quality production to the music market," said Lan, who created and mixed all songs for the album.

For the final season of the year, when many fans purchase new albums, producers and singers know they have to surprise their fans with something new or unusual to spur sales. — VNS