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Obscure Vietnamese New Wave made in Little Saigon (Orange County), California from the mid-eighties to mid-nineties. Curated and enhanced by Dan Nguyen (Demonslayer)

What is Vwave?

Vietnamese New Wave is a cultural scene that developed primarily in California during the mid 80s and spread nationwide, driven by young Vietnamese Americans and the diaspora. The umbrella term “New Wave” was to given to the flourishing movement of artists, indy labels and studios who birthed a never before seen take on Viet-Am media.

The songs themselves were diverse in genre, but favored Eurodance, Italo disco and synth pop. The bilingual covers of Western hits made the music more accessible, spreading the sound far and wide, eventually reaching the shores of Vietnam.

The extravagance of the hairstyles, the fits and the attitude gave the recently migrated Vietnamese a newly found, shared interest with their non-Viet counterparts. Music and style unified people amidst high cultural sensitivity due to the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

The sound and lifestyle lives on in various ways. Vietnamese American media has continued to blossom in new directions. Traditional New Wave lives on in the form of nostalgic events and dedicated groups online and IRL. Original creators ruminate alongside new fans, processing and celebrating an era where Vietnamese voices rang loud and clear.

I named my project Vwave and started using that term to refer to Vietnamese New Wave. The original cassette recordings weren't always recorded properly, and the mp3 rips were often low resolution. Out of necessity, I boosted and edited the tracks for modern sound system capabilities; boosted drums, fuller tones make for a bigger sound when played in large festivals. I enhanced the original while retaining its integrity. In DJ culture we call this an “edit”. A group of edits is a pack. After more than a decade of searching and editing, rinsing on global systems, and postponed dates, the first Vwave packs are releasing.

-Dan Nguyen (Demonslayer)

Vwave - Rare Vietnamese New Wave made in California in the 1980s. Unearthed and edited by Dan Nguyen (Demonslayer)

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