[Video] A Dynamic Visual Ode to Hanoi, a City of Paradoxes

Cái Gốc (The Origin) is the latest release from music producer and video director Robin Marty and his collaborator Jakub Zajac.

After last year’s clip, Ba Dinh Doi, this new release captures the scenes of craziness and calm that make up Hanoi’s nocturnal atmosphere.

“After having lived in Hanoi for more than a year, I am finally starting to understand its people, customs, and atmospheres. This work aims to highlight Hanoi and Vietnam’s paradoxes of old and new, struggle and leisure, calm and unrest, by showing the people and the scenes that one can witness at night on the streets of this mad city,” Robin tells Saigoneer in an email.

The track mixes 'Đối ca sông Cầu,' a love song from Bac Ninh Province, with drum and bass beats. Robin explains: “The beat and rhythm is fast and aggressive. And that is exactly how I perceive Hanoi. The old temples, the people’s customs are still ancient and tainted with old habits and traditions. The Hanoian lifestyle, however, is rapid and turbulent.” 

Interestingly integrated is a sample from Hữu Ngọc, author of Wandering Through Vietnamese Culture, as he explains his vision of the roots of Vietnamese culture and compares it to a banyan tree with five different roots: the Mekong Delta civilization, the Chinese, the French, the American, and the modern globalized culture.

Watch Cái Gốc below: