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1. The Wind Blew it Away - Qua câu gio bay  7:29

trad./ Nguyên Lê/ D. Borker

2. The Black Horse - Ly Ngua O  4:07

trad./ Nguyên Lê

3. Don't You Go Away, My Friend - Nguoi oi Nguoi O Dung Vê  7:30

trad./ Nguyên Lê/ D. Borker

4. Trông Com - The Rice Drum  4:03

trad./ Nguyên Lê/ D. Borker

5. Hen Ho  - Promise of a Date  5:22

trad./ Nguyên Lê

6. The Banyan Tree Song - Ly Câi Da  trad./ Nguyên Lê  8:16

- The Pillow - Cai Gôi

- The Hill - Trèo lên Quan Dôc

7. Spring of Life - Hoai Xuân  3:18

Tô Man Châu/ Nguyên Lê

8. Ting Ning trad./ Nguyên Lê  3:41

Mangustao Nguyên Lê/ D. Borker

9 -  Part 1  4:36

10- Part 2  5:54

For a long time (89 ?), I had dreamt of a band mixing jazz musicians with vietnamese traditional musicians, playing a music inspired by the songs my mother used to sing me. Born in Paris from vietnamese parents, I lost the vietnamese language when I began school. Only in sept. 94 did I feel confident and experienced enough to begin "Tales of Viêt-Nam". It is a journey back into my childhood, a return to lost roots. But it also means the creation of an imaginary folklore that stems from a crossroads of contemporary influences. To the ancients I wish to say my diversity; to the present I want to plead for a dream of elsewhere.

Apart from "Mangustao", all the music here was written after popular songs, which the Vietnamese all know. Having worked with Vince Mendoza several times has influenced me a lot. Being a part of these superb sounds made me want to get deeper into writing. In "Tales of Viêt-Nam", the score is a link between musicians from different horizons. My friend Dominique Borker has helped me a great deal throughout this work. In the arrangements of some pieces, in the progress of the whole project she has been a very precious assistant.

One might think that "Tales of Viêt-Nam"  is about the country, its strength & its softness, its happiness, its melancholy. It is all this, indeed, but spoken with a distant voice. Thus were born the dreams, from the desire of Viêt-Nam.

Depuis longtemps (89 ?), je nourrissais l'idée d'un orchestre où se mèleraient musiciens de jazz et musiciens traditionnels vietnamiens, autour d'une musique inspirée par des chansons que petit, ma mère me chantait. Né à Paris, de parents vietnamiens, j' ai oublié le vietnamien en commençant l' école. Ce n' est qu' en sept. 94 que j'ai pensé avoir assez d' assurance & d' expérience pour commencer "Tales from Vietnam".  C' est un voyage dans mon enfance, un retour à des racines perdues mais aussi la création d'un folklore imaginaire issu d'un carrefour d' influences contemporaines. Aux anciens je souhaite dire ma diversité; au présent je veux prétendre au rêve de l'ailleurs.

Toute la musique ici, à l' exception de "Mangustao"  à été écrite à partir de chansons populaires, que tous les vietnamiens connaissent. Avoir travaillé plusieurs fois avec Vince Mendoza m'a beaucoup influencé. Participer à toutes ces superbes sonorités m'a donné envie d'approfondir le travail de l' écriture. Dans "Tales of Viêt-Nam" le score est le trait d'union entre des musiciens d' horizons différents. Mon amie Dominique Borker m'a énormément aidé. Tant dans les pièces que nous avons co-arrangées que dans le cheminement de tout le projet, elle a un très précieux regard.

"Contes du Viêt-Nam" : il pourrait s' agir de raconter le pays, sa force et sa douceur, sa joie et sa mélancolie. C'est tout cela en effet, mais la voix est autre : ainsi naissent les rêves, du désir du Viêt-Nam.

Nguyên Lê

Arranged & produced by Nguyên Lê

Assisted by Dominique Borker

Executive producer Siegfried Loch

recording & mixing engineer Hervé le Guil except (5,8,9) Walter Quintus

overdubs Valérie Abrial, Pierre Bengon-Lours, Stéphane Luginbuhl, Nguyên Lê

Recorded & mixed  at Gimmick studios, France

except (5,8,9) at NDR studio One, Hamburg, oct. & nov. 1995

Mastered by  Peter Harenberg

Trilok Gurtu appears courtesy of CMP records

Music published by ACT Publishing Siegfried Loch

A Co-production Siegfried Loch, ACT & Uli Kurt, WDR

Design by Petra Horn

Photos by Robert Freeman & Ivan Lattay

Art © by Martin Noël

Jean Ber