If the image of a romantic man holding a guitar, singing a passionate song about love and life is very familiar to international music listeners with country rock artists with a strong Western cowboy style, in Vietnam, listeners have not been exposed to much. Guitarists in Vietnam are often limited to acoustic or indie music with gentle, simple, easy-to-listen music.

In that context, Ta Quang Thang easily made an impression thanks to his strong, masculine voice and distinct style like European and American country artists, with music products imbued with Vietnamese cultural colors. His music did not explode or break the trending top strongly, but it had a long-lasting vitality and was known by many audiences by heart, as well as being an attractive choice for student performances.

To mark his 20-year musical journey, Ta Quang Thang recently released the album "The Boy with the Guitar" , still faithfully pursuing the musical style that has been with him throughout the years, but incorporating some elements that reflect the breath of the times.

Unique to country rock

Country rock has an interesting characteristic in that it is not as strong as rock, nor as experimental as alternative. This genre is well known for its easy listening, closeness to country - a music genre that is very popular in America, and combined with the solid elements of rock to create sounds that are somewhat strange and interesting. Ta Quang Thang - after 20 years of working and being attached to country rock - shows a thorough understanding of how to build an atmosphere as well as create the genre's unique material.

As the name of the album suggests, the guitar is the main instrument, used by Ta Quang Thang to the maximum to recreate the comfort and naturalness of the works. Especially, in songs describing daily life activities such as "The boy with the guitar" or "Coffee on a new day" , this implementation is really effective. The sound layer is not too dense, mainly honoring the gentle lyrics, bringing a fresh atmosphere of Ta Quang Thang.

Ta Quang Thang makes the most of the guitar to create an attractive country rock space.

In songs that lean more towards love like "Rain made you wet your eyes" or "Do you believe in the dream I dreamed last night" , the sound is made even more minimalistic in the first half of the song, allowing the guitar to stand out and guide the listener's emotions. After the listener has gradually become familiar with Ta Quang Thang's material, he gradually begins to push in the sounds of instruments like drums or keyboards to maintain the album's unified country rock space.

The album's closing song, " We Only Live Once," best demonstrates Ta Quang Thang's vision for the genre he is associated with. Based on a story about life and love of life that is very typical of country rock in the world, Ta Quang Thang sticks to the guitar from beginning to end, expressing a strong, deep, confident voice that clearly states each word and sentence, along with a fast-paced rhythm, urging the listener's spirit to become more and more joyful and excited. He shows that he understands very well the musical style he pursues and performs it with a high standard.

In some other impressive songs in the album, Tre Viet Nam and C hang trai voi cay dan guitar , Ta Quang Thang shows his versatility in music production. If Tre Viet Nam carries the hard rock spirit that Ta Quang Thang once performed quite successfully in the song Son Tinh Thuy Tinh in collaboration with Tran Thang of Ngu Cung group, then Chang trai voi cay dan guitar applies electronic loops technology. These interesting changes show that Ta Quang Thang does not just stay in the safe zone, but still searches and explores new ways of expression while ensuring that the main material is highlighted.

Ta Quang Thang shared that he spent half a year recording this album, and the sound was also carefully polished. Listeners can see that the quality of the recordings here is very good, even in a rather complex song like Tre Viet Nam with many heavy instruments overlapping each other, the sound is still quite clean, without any grain. This deserves to be the studio album with the best post-production quality among Ta Quang Thang's released products.

Romantic lyrics combined with a generous spirit

The album "The Boy with the Guitar" has 8 songs, of which the first 4 songs are about love, and the next 4 songs are about Ta Quang Thang's personal stories, love of life, and love of country. For audiences familiar with the country rock genre in general and Ta Quang Thang's music in particular, the themes of life and country are no longer too strange. The biggest hit in the singer's career, " The Flag" , is also in this style.

So, it is no surprise that his composing ability in the last 4 songs of the album is well demonstrated. The boy with the guitar tells a fairly coherent story about Thang's maturity since he was a boy who always had a guitar by his side as a friend, Cafe ngay moi sang is the image of a familiar, beautiful street corner on a sunny morning, Tre Viet Nam is a tribute to a symbol of bravery and indomitability, We only live once expresses the love of life, the desire to live and contribute strongly.

Although not too groundbreaking in terms of theme and perspective, still quite familiar with Ta Quang Thang's music from before until now, all 4 songs here are performed with good material, easy to listen to, easy to feel, and have the ability to spread to many different listeners.

Besides his forte of compositions about life and the country, Ta Quang Thang also brings songs about love of good quality.

Meanwhile, the first group of 4 songs about love are written with many different emotions. Sitting on the porch with the wind and Rain makes you wet your eyes are moments of remembering an old lover, Green Heart is an urge to move towards love, Do you believe in the dream I dreamed last night is a dream of lasting happiness. These songs still follow the style of writing concise lyrics and simple structures that Ta Quang Thang has pursued for a long time, but show the diversity of the male singer's inspiration, not being bound by the available patterns of the genre.

Singing has always been the male singer's strong point. He inherently possesses a strong, masculine voice, with a deep tone and the ability to growl suitable for rock. When combined with country materials, Ta Quang Thang is able to express a strong, generous spirit in each song. Even when performing sad love content, he does not show weakness or sentimentality but still has a strong spirit ready to overcome everything.

The guy with the guitar shows that Ta Quang Thang is an artist with his own outstanding identity despite the many fluctuations in the market in recent years. The country rock material as well as the ability to fully implement the requirements of the genre is something that few people in the Vpop market can do besides him. However, through the performance in the album, he shows that he is also willing to expand with other subjects and topics outside the safe zone, not willing to be tied to one place forever. That spirit of freedom and openness is also what country rock wants to convey.

Source: https://znews.vn/ta-quang-thang-vua-quen-vua-la-post1533762.html