posted about 1 week ago by Gunksta
about the event: Hanoi International Music Festival # 2 by Club for Arts and Music Appreciation (C.A.M.A.) @ American Club

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I was one of 7 people that organized the festival on Sat. Music is a matter of taste and of course everyone rightfully, and thankfully, has different opinions on that matter. I for one think psytrance is a frightful accident that should be consigned to the dustbin of history… who cares? But Steve’s tone seems to be to be unnecessarily vituperative and I can’t help but wonder why. I ask myself whether I should bother, but there are a number of points worth making to anyone interested I think:

1. It costs a hell of a lot to put on an event like that… more than US$20,000 in fact. The bands and DJs all showed a lot of willingness to come and be part of it but they don’t come for free. Travel and accommodation and hospitality for 5 international bands is expensive. The only acts that walked away with money in their pockets at the end of the day were the local Vietnamese acts.

2. There’s a lot of inherent risk in forking out that kind of money with no guarantee of getting it back. Weather, the authorities, bands pulling out after their flights are bought (which happened) all add to the risk that the organizers willingly take on. Setting the price is far from easy when balancing all the factors… not least of all the long-known shallow pockets of many living here. Still! VND300,000 in advance = approx VND15,000 per act. Drinks were deliberately priced cheaper than many bars around town (40k for a cocktail, 30k for a mixed drink, 10k for water and soft drink, 20k for a beer).

3. Considerable effort was made to attract local attendees. Press releases and flyers were prepared and printed in Vietnamese language, relationships were forged with young Vietnamese groups (witness the tattoo and graffiti stalls on Sat, the beatbox performer etc).. 50% discount was available to students, a decent number of free tickets were distributed to interested local youth, including nearly 100 that were given away in competitions run by Tiger beer and Xone FM.

4. The organizers give up a considerable amount of their time to make it happen for FUN. They all have full time jobs, pay out their own money to fund the event, and personally MAKE NOT ONE CENT from the event. Every cent of profit (if any, I don’t know yet) is (and has been for 10 years of Minsk Club events and 3+ years of CAMA events) re-invested into future events. A number of events have made losses, including one recent event that made a loss of several thousand US$.

5. For the record, the difference in price between HIMF 1 and HIMF 2 was just 20%... at a time when inflation in Vietnam has run at approx 25% and fuel surcharges on airlines have been through the roof. Surprisingly few people availed themselves of the chance to save VND50,000 per ticket by buying in advance or coming before 2pm. The entry price was progressively reduced after about 8pm. The motorbike parking guys outside were kindly selling discarded wristbands for VND100,000. If anyone noticed, the infrastructure in general at HIMF 2 was of a much higher quality that number 1 (and of course commensurately much more expensive).

6. We’re always learning and adapting – just as this country is changing – and would be delighted to get constructive feedback. CAMA was stoked to have more than 800 Vietnamese youth at the Regurgitator gig a month ago.. a gig that was heavily subsidized (no thanks to one (unnamed) local support act who wanted more money to play than the headline act). We do it where we can. But to set the price low enough to please some people for the HIMF 2 would have meant a horrific loss… are you really asking us to bear that for you Steve? Or do you prefer an (illegal, discriminatory and anachronistic) dual pricing system?

7. Breaking the clique?! At least 5 DJs who had never set foot in Hanoi before came from Hong Kong, Osaka, and Australia. Hanoi's Tri Minh worked with us for the first time and played a cracking minimal techno set. The organizers deliberately, and for the first time, collaborated with Roots for the after party to diversify the vibe and DJs. It’s true there was no psytrance.

8. We love the Van Ho Ba and they played first because we know how popular they are and hoped they would draw some early attendees. Who would you have put on first Grubby?

9. If anyone has contacts to any acts that want to come play Vietnam, it’d be great to hear about it.

10. If anyone wants to join the organizing committee for the next festival, it’d be great to hear from you. Just be advised that you will have to give up a lot of your spare time, invest money with no security and no return and run the risk of losing Steve's respect.

11. On reflection, I think ticket pricing was not necessarily the biggest - or certainly not the only - factor in the lower -than-hoped turnout of Vietnamese. I also think it's bordering on patronising to keep banging that particular drum ("these poor people must be subsidised") at a time when the government has deliberately taken massive steps to put an end to that culture for the economy as a whole. There are many, many Vietnamese (we live in a city of some 6 million or more don't forget) that can and will drop VND300,000 for entertainment purposes.. of course there will always be those that can't just as I missed out on many concerts when I was an impecunious youngster. The reality is that there is no practice or culture of paying money to see independent, unknown artists perform here... most likely cos such opportunities have not happened here before (in turn because it's so bloody difficult to make anything happen here). Whether that will ever change or not remains to be seen. I for one will keep trying.

posted about 14 months ago by Gunksta
about the venue: Nhà Sàn Bên Hồ

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This stilt house tucked away in a semi-industrial area is a nice little idea. Beside a peaceful artificial lake where people fish for the smallest fish imaginable. Can't imagine eating there really but a potentially good spot for an event with a house party kinda vibe.