ASEAN Pride is an annual music festival, hosted by the U.S Embassy in Hanoi and CAMA Vietnam, a music venue that I mentioned before in my post Hanoi Music Scene. This year, 2015, is the third year of the event, and here come my thoughts about it.
1. The event
Basically, ASEAN Pride is an event to celebrate Queers. It acknowledges the importance of gender equality, gay marriage, and other things among LGBT community such as safe sex. The event is a combination of fun and information, music and knowledge, and a chance for Queer people in Vietnam embrace and celebrate their community.
This is my second year going to ASEAN Pride. The ticket was free for ASEAN citizens last year and 400,000 VND at the door (320,000 in advanced) for others, but this year all of us had to pay 200,000 VND at the door or 100,000 in advanced. This has decreased the number of Vietnamese going to the event and obviously gave Westerners in Hanoi more chances to join the party. I myself feel like this should not be the case, since Vietnamese are the ones who need to be acknowledged about gender equality and social justice. But it’s not too big of a deal anyway.
There are several artists lined up for the show, some of them from Vietnam and other ASEAN countries, and some from the U.S. Music is of all kinds, lots of rock bands, some covers, some pop solo artists. Most popular and excited performance always must be from To Lam and the Mix. To Lam is an open-gay dancer and choreographer, widely known after choreographing for several famous singers in Vietnam. Music is often from 1pm – 11pm, with some DJ acts every now and then.
Personally, I feel like this year the U.S Embassy somehow lost interest in the festival all in all. The music was ok, but some performances were clumsy and not even well-prepared. Huong Giang, a transgender girl who used to be in top 3 of Vietnam Idol 2012, was invited to perform. She absolutely has talents, and is a brave Vietnamese transgender person who was not afraid of the media, but I couldn’t stand the performance. It was awkward, unprofessional, the background dancers were extremely awkward and confused on the stage, and she was not even able to sing well. Because I knew she was good, that performance pissed me off even more. But seems like people were too busy screaming and dancing to notice.
The festival, anyhow, has become the “biggest party of hanoi”, but I feel like among the Western community this is just a chance to meet people and get drunk. Not that many people even cared about what was going on. However, it was still a really good music festival with a good cause and lots of information, if you actually do care about gender equality.
2. The venue
ASEAN Pride always takes place at the American Club, 19-20 Hai Ba Trung Street. It’s a nice outdoor venue, big enough for food vendors, flea market, music stage, a playground and people still have enough space to walk around, dance or just sit and chat. Parking can be a pain though, but you will still be able to get in after all. Family-friendly as lots of people bring their kids along.
3. Food and Drinks.
Most of the biggest bars and restaurants in Hanoi try to feature their food and drinks in the event, since it’s obviously “the biggest party” of Hanoi. This year, we got food from Moose and Roo Bar and Grill, Son Tinh, CAMA ATK, and one more Indian place that I couldn’t really recall. They are all good food and drinks actually, though a little overpriced so I haven’t tried any of them. But it will save you the trouble of going out and trying to find something to eat at the middle of the show (and parking is a pain), and to be honest, $2 – $3 for a meal is nothing to most Westerners so people eat there anyway. Drinks are from $1.5 – $5.
Around the globe 