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Southeast Asian Pop: The Aesthetics of Dynamism
The identity of Southeast Asian pop was forged through many decades of receiving foreign cultural influences.By Hyunjoon Shin (Professor, Institute for East Asian Studies, SungKongHoe University)
Mainland Southeast Asia, from west to east, is made up of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The identity of its peoples was shaped not by South Asian Hinduism and East Asian Confucianism, but Buddhism.
Unfortunately, even after World War II and the independence of the states on the mainland, the area was wrapped up in a series of wars: the first, second, and third Indochina Wars took place from 1946 until 1991. Of these, the second Indochina War (which is also called the “Viet Nam War” in the West) resulted in the largest loss of life due to the US military’s involvement in land battles.
Mainland Southeast Asia’s contemporary pop music is rooted in and matured under the circumstances of that war, in which South Viet Nam and the US joined together to fight North Viet Nam. Thailand supported the US and South Viet Nam, while Cambodia was neutral. It is in neutral Cambodia that the US actively spread its pop music, from the mid-1960s until the mid-1970s. During this time, which was a golden age of pop, rock, and folk music, it was not uncommon to see bands made up of Asians playing American pop music.
Not much music from this period was well preserved, but what did survive is now being re-issued as “Vietnamese soul,” “Cambodian psychedelic,” and “Thai funk,” all of which captivates music hipsters worldwide for the genres’ clever blending of Western pop formats with Southeast Asian elements.
One noteworthy characteristic of Southeast Asian pop is that it is of course more than an imitation of and response to American music. There are two major, conflicting strains, one of which is the widespread proliferation of slow, sad, and emotional songs that were favored by peasants and the working class before US troops arrived. This genre is known as bolero in Viet Nam and luk thung in Thailand.
The other is made up of the resistance songs that were sung by young, anti-war intellectuals, who in some cases, gave their lives for the revolution. These include Viet Nam’s Trịnh Công Sơn and Thailand’s Caravan, whose music has a verisimilitude that is too complex to be limited by the scope of the Western folk song genre.
The series of seemingly unending Indochina wars finally came to an end in 1989, followed by the Paris Peace Accords in 1991. Widespread reform and the opening of national borders enabled the development of pop music across the region in rather “normal” conditions. Star singers began to dominate TV programs in the 1990s with renditions of popular songs, and young people—as in any other country—played and created their own versions of the latest genres, such as rock, hip-hop, and EDM.
Economic growth in 21st century in this region is currently among the strongest in the world. Thailand is in the lead, with Viet Nam following close behind and the remaining three countries slightly farther behind it. The desire to be at the cutting edge of pop music is present regardless of income level. The pop music that is featured on mass media outlets has very short singer cycles, and live music venues in the region’s large cities are constantly full of young people who enjoy singing and dancing along.
first letter of the country’s name to the word “pop” (like Japan’s J-pop and Korea’s K-pop). Mỹ Tâm, the renowned Vietnamese diva, recently worked with a Korean composer, had a Billboard-charting album, and gave a concert at Jangchung Arena in Seoul. Korea may very well be at the cusp of an inundationof V-pop.
Just across the ocean is maritime Southeast Asia. If asked to name two countries in that region whose music we should start noticing, I would choose the Philippines and Indonesia. While the former is a predominantly Catholic country with a population of over 100 million, the latter is a chiefly Muslim country inhabited by over 200 million people. I hope to have another opportunity one day to introduce the temporal and spatial trajectories of the popular music in those places. It’s about time that we familiarize ourselves with the dynamism of life in this unique area of the world through its music.
Thai rock band Modern Dog
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Southeast Asian Pop
Article may not reflect the opinion of the editorial board of the ASEAN Culture House Monthly.
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