Concert «Khoá Ly Biệt» (The Parting Lock) — Anh Tú and Giang Hồng Ngọc

   A male and a female voice in one programme, a room of a hundred-odd numbered seats and a stage that curves out towards the tables: in Saigon this is the sort of evening people choose when they do not want to watch a screen. Anh Tú and Giang Hồng Ngọc share one programme, and the whole night runs under a single title.

   The programme is called «Khoá Ly Biệt» — the lock of a parting, an image drawn straight into the lettering of the poster. The two artists split the stage between them, one male and one female voice, which makes the duets the part worth waiting for in a room this size.

   The short of it, about the room:

   — it is a seated live-music lounge with tables, not a dance club;
— seats are numbered across four zones, and part of them are sofas;
— besides the main floor there is a mezzanine level looking down on the stage;
— the bar stands inside the room itself, next to the left-hand seating block.

   The night suits listeners who want proximity: from here you hear the breath and the entries, and you catch the singers talking to the room between songs. If you come with friends, the sofa blocks are the easiest choice, and if you come alone, a front table gives you something no recording can.

   By the seating plan the room holds 100+ numbered places on the main floor alone, split into four zones and including rows of sofas; the front edge of the stage curves out towards the tables, so the first row sits almost at the foot of the microphone. The mezzanine above looks down on that same stage, and it is the choice for anyone who would rather hear the whole room than sit up close.

   A two-voice night always has three parts: each singer's own set, the duets, and the talking between songs. In a small room the third part is what people remember, because the artists speak to individual tables rather than into a camera.

   Pick your seat early and keep this evening for a small room where two voices work right in front of you.