Concert «49 Sắc màu Hà» (49 Colours of Hà)

   Two of the four singers Vietnam calls its divas share one stage, and the occasion is a personal one. This is not a package concert but a birthday staged as a conversation: the woman it is built around will be talking through her own chapters as much as singing them, and the guests come out to her as long-standing friends rather than booked stars.

   The occasion is the forty-ninth birthday of Hà Trần, also known by her full name Trần Thu Hà. She comes from a musical family: her father is the People's Artist Trần Hiếu and her uncle the composer Trần Tiến. National recognition arrived with the song «Sắc Màu» in 2000 and then the album «Nhật Thực» — the title of the evening plays on exactly that word, colours, and puts her age in front of it.

   Who appears alongside her:

   Thanh Lam — another of Vietnam's four divas
Lưu Hương Giang — singer
Hà Lê — singer
Thanh Phương — composer, billed as the evening's invited guest

   This is worth attention if you follow Vietnamese music by the names that built it rather than by the charts: a line-up at this level rarely comes together for a single evening, and the reason here is neither a tour nor a release but a birthday. If you are only starting with this scene, the evening offers a short route in — several very different styles in one set.

   The room is The One, promoter Tom Chat's hall by the Red River. Seating is assigned, chosen from a plan, and the seat price follows your choice: Reserve a seat.

   Evenings like this are assembled for the people on stage rather than the programme, and that is the reason to go.