Purple music () is a kind of music that has been very much at the center of Vietnamese public life from the time of its first strong emergence in the country in the late 1930s up to the present day. It is known as the origin of Vietnamese popular music. Harmonious, sentimental and melancholy, many romantic songs of purple music have become regarded as national treasures and are still performed widely.

History

Songs of Purple Music carry with them an air of nostalgia, perhaps nostalgia for an era when Vietnam was still unified, the era preceding nearly 20 years of civil war. After 1954, the country was split into two very different regimes, the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam or North Vietnam, and the Republic of Vietnam or South Vietnam. At that time, some purple music composers went South, while others remained in the North. Most of the Northerners either ceased composing or followed the dictates of the regime for writing songs to mobilize the masses and strengthen the revolution. Southerners continued to write romantic songs. Since the North's victory resulting in Vietnam's reunification in 1975, the country's culture has continued to be divided between resident and overseas communities. As nearly all music and literature of a romantic or sentimental basis was banned by the communist regime, many of Vietnam's creative minds left the country in 1975 for Western countries like the United States, Australia, and France. Although differences between these two communities continue until this time, purple music is one of the few popular song genres that can be heard on the stage of both Vietnam and among the overseas community.

Although Vietnamese music this period has gone through many movements : Patriotic songs, scout songs, happy songs, folk songs... the longest lasting movement is still love song movement. That is the music movement with greatest composers like Văn Cao, Phạm Duy, Lê Thương... and with ever-lasting love songs like. Amongst the best-known ones are  I Come to See You One Rainy Afternoon (Em đến thăm anh một chiều mưa) by Tô Vũ ; Send the Wind to Blow Away the Clouds (Gửi gió cho mây ngàn bay), Seductive Autumn (Thu quyến rũ), Leaves Falling in the Afternoon (Lá đổ muôn chiều), A Letter (Lá thư), Plum Pack and Pansy Petal (Một gói nho khô, một cánh păng-xê) by Đoàn Chuẩn ; Resonance (Dư âm) by Nguyễn Văn Tý ; The Girl Next Door (Cô láng giềng) by Hoàng Quý ; Drop of Autumn Rain (Giọt mưa thu) and The Boat isn't Docking (Con thuyền không bến) by Đặng Thế Phong.

Famous musicians

 Nguyễn Xuân Khoát
 Lê Thương
 Văn Cao
 Đặng Thế Phong
 Phạm Duy
 Myosotis band
 Tricéa band
 Đồng Vọng band
 Student Association band
 Thăng Long band
 Hoàng Trọng
 Văn Phụng
 Phạm Mạnh Cương
 Đoàn Chuẩn
 Đặng Thế Phong
 Nguyễn Văn Tý
 Trần Hoàn
 Hoàng Giác
 Lê Mộng Nguyên
 Tô Hải
 Nguyễn Văn Thương
 Tô Vũ
 Việt Lang
 Phạm Đình Chương
 Nguyễn Văn Đông
 Cung Tiến
 Nguyễn Đình Toàn
 Tiếng Tơ Đồng band
 Hoàng Quý
 Song Ngọc
 Hoài Linh

Famous singers

 Ngọc Bảo
 Tâm Vấn
 Thái Hằng
 Thái Thanh
 Thương Huyền
 Lệ Thu
 Khánh Ly
 Duy Trác
 Sĩ Phú
 Hà Thanh
 Hoàng Oanh
 Anh Ngọc
 Khánh Ly
 Lệ Thu
 Lệ Thanh
 Kim Tước
 Mai Hương
 Quỳnh Giao
 Tuấn Ngọc
 Khánh Hà
 Quốc Anh
 Thùy Dương
 Tâm Đoan
 Trần Thái Hòa
 Ngọc Hạ
 Mai Hoa
 Lan Ngọc
 Mộc Lan
 Châu Hà
 Nhật Bằng
 Như Thủy
 Ý Lan
 Trung Đức
 Cao Minh
 Ngọc Lan
 Ánh Tuyết
 Đức Tuấn
 Thanh Long
 AC&M band
 Năm Dòng Kẻ band

Related pages

 Nhạc đỏ
 Nhạc vàng

References

 NOTES TOWARD A SOCIAL HISTORY OF VIETNAMESE MUSIC IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
 Tân nhạc những năm đầu  - Phạm Duy
 Nhạc tím : Khởi đầu của ca khúc phổ thông Việt Nam - Jason Gibbs
 Nhạc tím trên trang Hội Nhạc sĩ Việt Nam 

Vietnamese music