(LO)VỀ (QUÊ)ER
A 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 continuously works to unite a once divided nation. However, to this day, unity amongst the Vietnamese people in the diaspora (Việt Kiều) 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 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. Grateful this caring community found me.
ABOUT SOUND II
You’re listening to SOUND II, a live DJ mix about Vietnamese people of the Diaspora—the musics and sounds they transmit. In this time (50 years after) and in this place (wherever Việt Kiều migrate to).
What does it mean for Vietnamese Diasporic people to return home? Vinh Nguyen asks: when does a refugee stop being a refugee? What if home is gone forever? The home a people once knew. Home no longer a place, but a memory. What does it mean for each and all of us to return home? How can we think in relational terms—solidarity amongst refugees, migrants, immigrants, exiled peoples, and dispossessed peoples—to support one another?
Clips of conversation and poems are from QT Việt Café collective members including Irene Phương, Paige Chung, and Thảo Lê from Việt Unity.
ABOUT SOUND I
SOUND I was a pre-recorded 50 minute DJ mix of music and conversation that aired at Beebe Lake, Ithaca, NY on March 21, 2025. In Vietnam, 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.