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ericpoptone · 6 years ago

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Thiên Hương — better known as “Tiny Yong” is a French singer associated with the yé-yé scene of the 1950s and ’60s.

She was born Tôn Nữ Thị Thiên Hương on 8 February 1944 in Phnom Penh — the capital of Cambodia since 1865 but then part of French-Indochina. Her father was a doctor and her mother a homemaker; both traced their heritage to Vietnam‘s Dương Dynasty. The family relocated to Saigon and Thiên Hương was schooled at Le Couvent des Oiseaux de Dalat, where she learned English, Spanish, and French. In 1958, the family again relocated, this time to a home on La rue Coustou in Paris‘s 18th arrondissement. There her father continued to practice medicine and her mother opened a Vietnamese restaurant.

In 1960, Thiên Hương performed in Albert Camus‘s Les Justes and Jean Cocteau‘s L’Épouse injustement soupçonnée, staged at La Théâtre de la Tomate. She next appeared in François Campaux‘s Chérie Noire. Meanwhile, her brother helped her secure a job performing Vietnamese and French “chanson à texte” at a cabaret in the 1st arrondissement called La Table du Mandarin. In December, she made her television debut on Aimée Mortimer‘s show A L’École des vedettes. The following February, she returned to the airwaves to mime “Rêve Opératoire.” In March she released her debut recording, the 7″ EP “Le Monde de Suzie Wong,” accompanied by Jacques Loussier et son orchestre, on Caravelle.

Cambodian actress and singer Tiny Yong in Rome, Italy, to star in the film ‘Parias de la gloire’ (‘Pariahs of Glory’), 1964. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In April, Thiên Hương performed “Si tu cherches ta jeunesse” on the music television series, Discorama, a song intended for an EP which ultimately wasn’t released. She also continued performing at La Table du Mandarin, where she was noticed by filmmaker Robert Hossein, who cast her as “L’eurasienne” in Jeu de la vérité (1961).

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Her second audio release was “La Prison de Bambou,” a duet with Jean-Philippe, backed by Jack Ledru et son ensemble, and released by the tiny label, Lotus in 1962. It was recorded for the 1962 Piero Pierotti film, L’avventura di un italiano in Cina, in which she also appeared as “Tai-Au.” It was released in the US, dubbed in English, as Marco Polo — and with a Les Baxter score.

In November, she returned to Discorama where she performed “L’Oiseau de paradis” — the theme to Marcel Camus‘s film of the same name. For the performance she was accompanied by Elek Bacsik (a cousin of Django Reinhardt) and Henri Salvador (a Guyanese comedian, singer, and producer who co-owned his own label Disques Salvador with his wife, Jacqueline).

In December, Thiên Hương appeared on another television program, La Tournée des Grands Ducs, this time joined by her sister Bạch Yến, with whom she duetted on “Les Fées du crépuscule.”

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Shortly after, Thiên Hương signed a deal with Disques Salvador, where Henri and Jacqueline came up with a new nom de scène, “Tiny Yong.” The couple hoped to fashion her into a rock ‘n’ roller along the lines of Jacky Moulière. Henri Salvador also owned a club, L’Alhambra, where Thiên Hương began singing songs popularized by American girl groups. Her first recording for Disques Salvador was “Tais-Toi Petite Folle” with Christian Chevallier. The A-side was a French language cover of Helen Miller and Howard Greenfield‘s, which had been a big hit for The Shirelles just weeks earlier. The B-side was a French cover of Roy Orbison‘s “In Dreams” titled “En rêve.”

Her next release was the 10″ album, Je Ne Veux Plus T’Aimer, the title track a cover of Goffin And King‘s “I Can’t Stay Mad at You” adapted into French by Hubert Ithier.

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For the next few years, Tiny Yong was a regularly featured performer on television, radio, film, and in print ads for companies including Bic and Odilène; all the while releasing 7″ EPs on Disques Salvador and Rigolo (the Salvador’s other label). In March 1964, she performed “Les garçons m’aiment” on the program, Âge tendre et tête de bois, for which she was introduced by Albert Raisner as “la yéyé du pays du sourire” (even though it’s Thailand which is sometimes referred to as “the land of smiles.” In April she appeared as “La chinoise ” in the Henri Decoin film, Les Parias de la gloire. She next performed on Les Raisins verts and twice on La grande farandole.

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In 1965, she performed on Entrez dans la ronde, Pirouettes Salvador, and Tête de bois et tendres années.

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Yong’s final release on Rigolo was “Mon Futur Et Mon Passé” in 1965. A second appearance on Tête de bois et tendres années — on 27 April 1966 — proved to be her final television performance. Following a disagreement with the Salvadors, she parted ways with them.

Hương appeared as in Nicolas Gessner‘s 1967 film, La blonde de Pékin, in which still credited as “Tiny Yong” she played Yen Hay Sun.

Hương returned to Saigon, in 1968 — the year the Tet Offensive marked a major turn in the Vietnam War. There she resumed performing at cabarets before deciding to retire from public performance. In 1970, she returned to France where she appeared on an episode of Allô police titled “La pantoufle de jade.”

It was also in 1970 that she opened the first of several restaurants — first in Paris, then in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, followed by Pont de Jade in Pont-sur-Yonne, and finally in Montpellier, where she resides today. She married An Nguyên Ngoc and the two had a daughter.

Naturally, Thiên Hương/Tiny Yong’s vinyl catalog is out of print but her music has been thrice compiled by Magic Records on compact disc: La Collection Sixties Des EP’s Français, Tiny Yong – L’integrale 1961/1965, and the two-disc Tiny Yong – L’Intégrale Sixties. In 2017, a duet with Trần Văn Trạch of Nguyễn Văn Đông‘s “Chiều Mưa Biên Giới” was released 57 years after it was recorded.

Bon anniversaire!

DISCOGRAPHY

1961 – Le Monde de Suzie Wong (7″, EP), Caravelle

1961 – Le Monde de Suzie Wong / Pour t’aimer / Geisha / Fol amour (7″, EP), Caravelle

1962 – Parfum Céleste / La Prison De Bambou / Avril A Paris / Mon Galant Viendra (with Jean Philippe), (7″, EP), Lotus

1963 – Tais toi petite folle (7″, Single), Disques Salvador

1963 – Je ne veux plus t’aimer (10″, Album), Disques Salvador

1963 – Je ne veux plus t’aimer (7″, EP), Disques Salvador

1963 – Je ne veux plus t’aimer (I Can’t Stay Mad At You) / Le Carrosse blanc (7″, Single), Disques Salvador

1963 – En rêve (In Dreams) / Ma poupée (Charms) (7″, Single, Promo, Juk), Disques Salvador

1963 – Je ne veux plus t’aimer / Le Carrosse blanc / Tu es seule / Un seul garçon sur la Terre (7″, EP), Disques Salvador

1963 – Je ne veux plus t’aimer / Le Carrosse blanc / Ma poupée / En rêve / Tais-toi petite folle / Un seul garçon sur la Terre / Tu es seule / Syracuse (LP25), Disques Salvador

1964 – Tiny Yong avec Christian Chevallier et son Orchestre Mon chien et moi / Je t’attendrai / Les garçons m’aiment / Il reviendra (7″, EP), Belter, Disques Salvador

1964 – Histoire d’amour / Aime-moi / C’est fini nous deux / Tout ce qui fut l’amour (7″, EP), Rigolo, Belter

1964 – Tiny (I’m Too Young) / La Nuit est à nous / Le Sauvage (He Is No Good) / Adieu Bonne Chance (Shake Hands With A Loser) (7″, EP), Rigolo

1964 – Il reviendra (7″, Single), Disques Salvador

1964 – Je t’attendrai / Mon chien et moi (7″, Single), Disques Salvador

1964 – Un seul garçon sur la Terre (7″, EP), Belter

1964 – Je t’attendrai / Les garçons m’aiment / Il reviendra / Mon chien et moi (7″, EP), Disques Salvador

1965 – Huit jours par semaine / Le Tigre (7″, Single), Rigolo

1965 – Mon futur et mon passé (7″, EP), Rigolo

1965 – Huit jours par semaine / Tu es le roi des menteurs / Le Tigre / Je reviens pour toi (7″, EP), Rigolo

1966 – Mon futur et mon passé / Le Bonheur / Je t’aime t’aime tant / Il ne me reste plus rien (7″, EP), Rigolo

2017 (recorded in 1960) – Chiều Mưa Biên Giới (7″, single), Dĩa Hát Dư Âm

Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, writer, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”

Brightwell has written for Angels Walk LA, Amoeblog, Boom: A Journal of California, diaCRITICS, Hidden Los Angeles, and KCET Departures. His art has been featured by the American Institute of Architects, the Architecture & Design Museum, the Craft & Folk Art Museum, Form Follows Function, Los Angeles County Store, the book Sidewalking, Skid Row Housing Trust, and 1650 Gallery. Brightwell has been featured as subject in The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Magazine, LAist, CurbedLA, Eastsider LA, Boing Boing, Los Angeles, I’m Yours, and on Notebook on Cities and Culture. He has been a guest speaker on KCRW‘s Which Way, LA?, at Emerson College, and the University of Southern California. Art prints of Brightwell’s maps are available from 1650 Gallery.

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Thiên Hương (aka “Tiny Yong”) Thiên Hương -- better known as "Tiny Yong" is a French singer associated with the…

#1960s pop #French Music #Thiên Hương #Tiny Yong #Vietnamese Singers #yé-yé

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nofomoartworld · 7 years ago

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Hyperallergic: Work That Is Audible to the Naked Eye

Rolf Julius installation with “Music for Old Paint” (1983) left, and “Iron Ring, Rusty” (1987) (photo by Rebecca Fanuele)

PARIS — If you’ve ever wondered what the conceptualist Soho art scene looked and felt like in the early 1980s, there is a current Parisian show at Galerie Thomas Bernard that nails it — down to the look of the foot-worn discoloration and creaky groans of the gallery’s floor. Installed here in nonchalant fashion are the early, intimate, sound sculptures of Rolf Julius, a notable, minimalist, German sound-sculpture artist who passed away in 2011.

Through his timid, meditative work with instruments, noises, human voices, and various everyday sounds (such as water drops) Julius acquired international recognition as a pioneer in the field of audio art. He has been videotaped giving a fascinating performance in 1988 at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, where he modulates sounds by interrupting their solar power sources. Much influenced by the Fluxus-related sounds of Takehisa Kosugi — a co-founder, with Mieko Shiomi, of the famous, early-‘60s experimental noise music group Group Ongaku — Julius created a variety of meaningful and moving sound-vision works that explore for the attentive viewer-listener the symbiotic relationship between visual art and noise music. Julius specifically augmented the history of audio art by meticulously working in the Zen zone between everyday sculptural objects, dim dins, and quietness. In his often derelict but delicate works, subtle noise vibrations become palpable, physical things.

Rolf Julius installation with Iron Bamboo (1982) (left & Music for Old Paint (1983) (photo by Rebecca Fanuele)

Using the visual attraction of sculptural objects to entice the eye, the body’s so-called perceptive sovereign, to his sounds, Julius’s minimalist acoustic works sensitize the ear and mind to the great variety (and often subtlety) of sounds that exist in the world around us. He accomplished this John-Cage-like goal by using commonplace CD players or cassette recorders to play faint soundscapes that draw us deeper toward the objects. Sometimes (as in this show) he delicately nestled small speakers emitting apprehensive noises within rusted objects, piles of pigments, small, hand-made, ceramic bowls, paper bags, and sheets of glass — all which resonate and diffuse the sound. Generally, he used tiny, standard loudspeakers to produce slight, chirpy sounds performed at the limits of audio perceptibility, such as can be heard in his “Small Music #7: Dance on Takashima Island 1 and 2” (1998).

Rolf Julius, “Music for Old Paint” (1983) 2 bags, 2 speakers, elements of paint, cable, CD-player 30 x 16 x 23 cm; (courtesy of Galerie Thomas Bernard)

As example of how this visual attraction operates: I had to get down on my knees and bend over to hear the concealed cracking noises of “Music for Old Paint” (1983). The humility of the grating noise discovered there is typical not only of another great Fluxus noise master, Yasunao Tone, but also of the sonic flavor used by minimal techno and microhouse DJs since the early 1990s. “Music for Old Paint” is an underwhelming, yet seductive work that produced in me sensations of private revelation rarely encountered in our time of maximal availability. As with the dangling “Orange Cello (Sound Cooking)” (1984/2017), the vibrating cones of the speakers slightly enlivens the encrusting physical material that partially covers them. The work’s trembling crustiness makes the odd, low-volume noise become concrete to the eye.

Rolf Julius, “Iron Bamboo” (1982) 3 connected iron bars, 2 speakers, CD-player 90.5 x 3 cm (courtesy of Galerie Thomas Bernard)

Each frail, rusty, grubby piece here shares in the Arte Povera and post-minimal aesthetics popular in the Soho gallery scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s — the time of their making But in actuality, they are rather monumental works requiring copious amounts of empty space to properly frame their operational existence. In that way, they reminded me not only of Akio Suzuki’s simple but spacey sound recordings of everyday objects, like “Bottle,” made in 2007, but also of Fred Sandback’s très chic, ultra-minimal string sculptures: barely existing art objects that are also unimaginable to conceive without the generous, if tatty, Soho loft spaces of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.

A few other tentative sound-sculptures by Julius, such as the elegantly minimalist “Iron Bamboo” (1982), also lightly occupied Galerie Thomas Bernard’s open atmosphere, and they too impacted me strongly. Their timorous seduction lured me into an enlarged visual-aural mindfulness that stayed with me throughout the day. “Iron Bamboo” is a cunning humming work that seems to be very much in the spirit of Marcel Duchamp’s sly sound sculpture “À Bruit Secret” (With Hidden Noise) (1916) that he accomplished with art critic and collector Walter Arensberg and playwright Sophie Treadwell. Just what softly rattles inside it when shaken remains a quiet mystery.

Rolf Julius, “Music in a Corner” (1983) speaker, cement power, corner, CD-player, about 62 cm diameter (courtesy of Galerie Thomas Bernard)

In Music in a Corner, only Julius’s “Iron Ring, Rusty” (1987) remained mysteriously silent the moment I bent down to hear it. As with “Orange Cello (Sound Cooking)” and the slightly pulsating (and very cute) “Music in a Corner” (1983), Julius had little CD players transmit buzzing noises that vibrate the membranes of small loudspeakers turned to face upwards. In particular, “Music in a Corner” is a wonderfully charming piece that seems to indicate a life within its banal, dusty material — something suggestive of panpsychism as much as vitalism or animism. Its dancing, greenish dirt reminded me too of what the German philosopher Thomas Metzinger says about reality: that from a certain scientific perspective, the physical world is only the quivering, electro-magnetic oscillation of wavelengths.

Rolf Julius, Music in a Corner, Early Works continues at Galerie Thomas Bernard (13 rue des Arquebusiers, 3rd arrondissement, Paris) through October 7. The Château Chasse-Spleen in Moulis-en-Médoc is also now presenting an exhibition of Rolf Julius titled Red (Inside) until October 30.

The post Work That Is Audible to the Naked Eye appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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