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Singapore Bands in Wartime Vietnam
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In the 1960s and ‘70s, lured by adventure and money, Singaporean musicians went to South Vietnam to perform for American troops during the war. They were met with cheers, bullets and assault.
Boon Lai is an author, an illustrator and a filmmaker based in Singapore. Inspired by the true accounts of the rockers who toured the Vietnam War, he created the three-book graphic novel series, The Once & Marvellous DKD.
What Boon Lai Talked About
02:01 – How Boon Lai came to know of local musicians who went to Vietnam during the 1960s and ’70s
05:33 – When these musicians went to Vietnam
08:47 – Why these musicians decided to perform in the warzone
11:30 – How these musicians were recruited
15:56 – How much they were paid
16:44 – Nightly curfews
18:35 – Daily schedules of musicians
20:50 – Close call with bullets
21:53 – Musician Veronica Young’s experience in Vietnam as a woman
24:53 – How long Impian Bateks and other musicians played in Saigon
27:12 – Boon Lai’s three-year research process
28:58 –Boon Lai’s DKD sequel
29:44 – Hardest thing about creating a historical graphic novel
Read the transcript: biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/singapore-band-wartime-vietnam/transcript/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Boon Lai for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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