Sunday Afternoon With Quan Van NoVa

After many empty promises, I finally got to experience Quan Van NoVa live. I didn’t just come alone either. I invited the whole gang, not knowing that my man HML and his crew had already packed the café.

First thing first. I apologize for not only the late arrival, but also the early departure. That’s what happens when you go with a group of people, but at least I got to hear a few unforgettable performances, and Minh Nguyet’s bluesy rendition of Trinh Cong Son’s “Vet Lan Tram” stands out. She started off with a little scat tease and launched into a soul-soothing power with her deep, raucous vocals. The accompaniment responded with her sentiment. HML and the drummer held down the rhythm section while Que Huong sprinkled a few tasty notes around her voice. The result is quite intoxicating for a Sunday afternoon.

One of the negative tradeoffs of drawing quite a crowd is the noise level, which was a bit distracting. Still, Minh and Thanh’s duo guitar was quite savory. On the tango piece, the guitars played together like they were dancing in the air. And the one that impressed me the most is the young Jennifer whose sings her heart out on Trinh Cong Son’s “Cat Bui Tinh Xa.” Despite her nervousness and inexperience (lacks of control), she sounded cute.

I got a chance to talk briefly to anh Tin who wowed me with his interpretation of “Ky Niem” and he told me he would perform another Pham Duy’s tune, but I didn’t stay long enough to hear it. My bad!