Bolsavik.com

A 13-year-old Vietnamese-American music student won a trip to Japan to perform his composition, reports the Arizona Republic here.

Christian Nguyen (pictured), from Gilbert, Arizona, was chosen to be one of 13 performers from the world over to join the International Junior Original Concert.

His composition “Dragon Keeper” was a winner chosen from among 35,000 entries from Yamaha Music Schools in 41 countries.

On Saturday, Nguyen performed his composition with Phoenix Symphony Orchestra member Michael D’Avanzo on the cello and Arizona State University music professor J.B. Smith on the marimba.

In the audience were his parents Andy Nguyen and Vienchi Tran, his 3-year-old sister Courtney, and Heidi Grimes, one of his teachers at East Valley Yamaha Music School in Chandler.

“I was so stunned, I didn’t even, like, feel anything. As November came close, I became more and more excited and happy,” said Christian, on the eve of his trip to Tokyo.

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You leave a band alone for a few years, and next thing you know, they’ve released not one, not two, but three full-length albums.

That’s what happened with Thomas’ Apartment, the rock band that won the 2007 Vietnamese talent search show on SBTN in 2007 and the $10,000 prize that came with it.

So after completing two albums, they’ve just released a third one, named Tuesday Night Lights, according to a press release here.

The album has twelve tracks, 5 of which can be downloaded free and legally on their web site here. Apparently the intent is entice the customer with 5 tracks and then hoping they would buy the whole album.

(The Bolsavik has also heard another song on this album - Michiko’s Song, named from band member Billy Vu Lam’s wife - at their wedding. So the Bolsavik has heard exactly 50% of the songs on this album.)

Three of the group, A. Thomas Tran, Lam and Nam Tran (first, second, and fifth from left in photo), were friends from college at UCLA. The band’s name came from the fact that they were jamming at, yep, Thomas’ apartment.

Two current members of the band are new: Drummer Krystal Sae Eua (fourth) and lead vocal Pete Nguyen (third). Pete is the composer for the film “Owl and the Sparrow” (in Vietnamese: Cú và Chim Se Sẻ) the low budget independent film by director Stephane Gauger that made a killing in Vietnam and had a moderately successful release in Vietnamese communities in the U.S.

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One of the top Viet singers was almost subject to a protest over a star that appears on a poster for an August concert at Bally’s in Atlantic City. This poster, the one pictured above.

See that star? Yep, that’s what community groups upon community groups were threatening a boycott over.

The hapless victim, singing sensation Don Ho, hurriedly sent out a massive email and a profuse apology and thereby averted any additional problems.

Now, if that reminds you of the “Macy’s star” belt buckle conundrum (read here and here), you would be absolutely correct. Even Don Ho made an allusion to it.

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A pianist some consider the best Viet pianist of her generation is scheduled to perform at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival in Massachussetts this weekend.

Up-and-coming Quynh Nguyen (Nguyễn Thúy Quỳnh in Vietnamese spelling), currently based in New York City, is slated to perform the Piano Quintet in F Minor by Cesar Franck with the the Biava Quartet, at 8pm on June 27. See the Festival’s web site here.

Back in 2001 or 2002, the Bolsavik was talking with Dang Thai Son, the first Asian to ever win the Chopin International Piano Competition - and asked him about the next generation of Vietnamese piano performers.

And Dang Thai Son said, in his opinion, the next great Vietnamese hope for a world-class pianist is none other than Quynh Nguyen.

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The Bolsavik was watching Drillbit Taylor on DVD last night and lo and behold he saw a familiar face.

There’s a scene where Drillbit (Owen Wilson) and his homeless friend (Danny McBride) were walking along the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and they stopped to watch a teenager rocking away (top pic) with a cloth backdrop that’s painted in a sort of psychedelic/hippie kind of way.

Then there’s another scene where Drillbit was out on a picnic date with Leslie Mann’s character and from nowhere the same guy jumped out and started jamming away on his electric guitar.

That rocker, gentle readers, is Adam Ho, a Viet Texas native.

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Remember Fatima? The soft-voiced singer with a mixed heritage mentioned here? She is back. She will be singing at the Border’s in South Coast Plaza today Friday evening at 7pm.

Fatima will sing some American standards, as well as a number of Vietnamese songs for which she wrote English lyrics. Some samples on her MySpace here.

This mix-and-match may be reflective of her own background: Fatima is 1/4 Asian Indian, her father is half Indian and a Muslim, her mother a successful Vietnamese teen-pop singer and a Buddhist, and so is Fatima. At 2 years old, Fatima moved from Vietnam to France, lived there for 7 years and then moved to California and has been here every since.

Fatima’s father Yersin Mougammadou is named after the Swiss-French physician who discovered the plague bacteria, and who came to live, work, and then die in what was French Indochina. A restaurateur by trade, Fatima’s father is probably the most well-read person in Little Saigon. Any book, magazine, newspaper, whatever that’s printed with Vietnamese words, he reads them. And can critically analyze them.

Yesterday evening was nice for the Bolsavik. First, he was at the Borders bookstore in South Coast Plaza watching a young Vietnamese-American singer/songwriter perform from her upcoming CD. Then he joined up with Duc Nguyen, the director of Bolinao 52, for late-night pho to celebrate the successful screening and panel discussion of his boat people documentary at Chapman University.

Fatima has a very unique ethnic heritage. Her full name is Fatima Mougammadou. Her father is part Vietnamese, part Indian (as in South Asian), and a Muslim. Her mother is Vietnamese and Buddhist.

Fatima’s album Layers is also unique. It features several well-known Vietnamese pop melodies with English lyrics written by Fatima herself.

At Borders, Fatima also sang two of the Bolsavik’s favorite American classics: The Shadow of Your Smile and Moon River.

The title song Layers is Fatima’s English version of Con Gio Thoang by Quoc Dung. Quoc Dung and Fatima’s mother Thanh Mai used to be a hot duet item in pre-communist Vietnam. More or less Vietnam’s answer to Sonny and Cher. Except that Thanh Mai was a cute teenager with a bright sunny voice and not like Cher at all.

Fatima has some of her songs up on her MySpace here.