Purple music

**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