(LO)VỀ (QUÊ)ER

A small sonic commemoration of the 50 years since the end of the war in Vietnam

ABOUT THE END OF THE WAR IN VIETNAM

2025 marks the 50th anniversary after the end of the war in Vietnam. Northern troops officially took the capital of the south, Sài Gòn, on April 30, 1975. This day is widely debated and regarded with many meanings: The Fall of Saigon, Day of Reunification, Black April, the end of the War Against American Oppression, etc. After 1975, many southern Vietnamese people fled the country by boats in fear of political persecution. Simultaneously, the north and south formed the “Socialist Republic of Vietnam” and worked to unite a once divided nation. However, to this day, unity amongst Vietnamese in the diaspora and homeland are still contentious.

ABOUT QT VIỆT CAFÉ

“Lo(về) (Quê)er” is part of a larger conversation started by Queer Trans Việt Café Collective’s 2021 artist showcase and named after that. QT VIỆT CAFÉ is a artist collective of Queer, Trans Vietnamese Diasporic peoples dedicated to liberation through ancestral practices, the arts, language justice, and intergenerational connection.

ABOUT THE SOUND

You’re listening to a pre-recorded 50 minute DJ mix of music and conversation. The music created and released before the war ended called nhạc vàng, yellow music, and music after Vietnam reunified called nhạc đỏ, red music. Yellow music is often characterized by its slow, sad melodies like Bolero while red music promoted the communist revolution. Post-1975, music in Vietnam is censored and music that is broadcasted, released, and performed publicly must be approved by the Ministry of Culture. The conversation is on Vietnamese music between two members of QT Việt Café collective (myself, Paige Chung, and Thảo Lê) discussing their personal relationships to nhạc vàng and nhạc đỏ and familial histories with the war. This conversation originally aired on KPFA 94.1 San Francisco’s radio program APEX Express on 8/22/22.