For Immediate Release – December 2011

KIM SINH & DOM TURNER ‘Two days in Hanoi’ – December, 2011 – Australian Release

Nationally acclaimed Vietnamese master musician, Kim Sinh has become something of a cult figure among guitarists, particularly after slide-guitar guru, Ry Cooder recorded with him in the 1990’s. Born in 1930 in Hanoi, Kim went blind at the age of 3 months. He began following popular music groups from the age of eight, learning a variety of stringed instruments in the process including Hawaiian slide guitar. Kim became interested in a form of Vietnamese theatre called ‘Cai Luong’, a musical genre that started in the 1920s and combines traditional southern Vietnamese folk tunes with theatre. Kim Sinh is as a ‘Cai Luong’ innovator, having developed a unique approach that does for Vietnamese theatre as ‘Bebop’ does for ‘Jazz’: improvisational single-note lines that criss-cross through a base that is traditional in structure yet infinitely modern in the end result.

In September of 2008, much respected Australian guitarist and ARIA nominee (Backsliders), Dom Turner, whose Mississippi tinged blues and over-driven steel guitar playing is well known on the national circuit, travelled to Hanoi Vietnam to record with Kim Sinh. Although essentially a 2 day project, it was the culmination of years of planning stretching back to 2005 when, the pair met as part of an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio National project featuring an interview and musical collaboration. The interview and recording took place in the Hanoi Hilton Hotel and the program aired on the ABC ‘Music Deli’ radio program in November of that year.

Two Days in Hanoi was literally recorded in an intense, 2 day improvisational session at Studio Kien Quyet, in one of Hanoi’s typical French influenced terrace houses in the backstreets of a suburb called Dong Da. This long awaiting album is a musical blend of Kim’s singular Hawaiian influenced ’Cai Luong’ and Dom’s blues soaked guitar and vocals. Two Days In Hanoi is now being released through Fuse Music Australia. The project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts and funding and advisory body.

Videos Links:
Kim Sinh Dom Turner play tunes in Hanoi
Kim Sinh Cải lương music
Kim Sinh and Dom Turner collaboration in Hanoi

Interviews through:
CHRISTINE TAYLOR PUBLICITY & EVENTS MANAGEMENT
Tel: +61 2 4782 5867 (m) 0416521587 ctaylorpublicity@bigpond.com