Which female artist brought home the first international music award for Vietnam?

Meritorious Artist Ai Van is the first Vietnamese singer to win the Grand Prix at the Dresden International Music Festival (German Democratic Republic).

Surpassing a series of international competitors, singer Duc Phuc excellently won the championship at the International Music Intervision 2025, taking place at Live Arena stadium (Moscow, Russia).

Duc Phuc's victory not only brings great pride to Vietnamese music , but also affirms the position of Vietnamese artists on the international stage.

This is not the first time Vietnam has been named in a prestigious international award. Previously, in 1981, Meritorious Artist Ai Van was the first Vietnamese singer to win the Grand Prix at the Dresden International Music Festival (German Democratic Republic).

With two songs Construction Song (Hoang Van) and The Sun Has Never Risen Like That (Siegfried Schulte – Dieter Lietz), Ai Van not only brought home the highest victory but also won the Most Favorite Singer award voted by the audience.

The Dresden International Music Festival was held annually in the German Democratic Republic, starting in 1971 (except 1973) and ending in 1988. In the early seasons, this playground was mainly for artists from socialist countries.

Since the mid-1980s, the scope has expanded with the participation of many countries outside the bloc such as Argentina, India, Philippines... Each country has the right to send only one contestant, one judge and one observer.

The beauty of Meritorious Artist Ai Van when she was young.

Recalling that memorable memory, Meritorious Artist Ai Van once said that she chose to perform Construction Song in both Vietnamese and German, with the German lyrics translated by reporter Nguyen Van Duong of Vietnam News Agency - a person who is very good at foreign languages.

Before the competition night, each contestant had a total of two rehearsals with an orchestra of more than 20 musicians and 8 backing vocalists, under the direction of a German conductor. On the first day, each person was given 45 minutes, and the next day, only 15 minutes to reassemble. The competition took place over three consecutive nights, with Ai Van scheduled to perform on the second night.

Because this was the first time Vietnam had participated in an international pop music competition, Ai Van did not put much pressure on herself. She simply thought: sing well, try to pronounce German as accurately as possible and most importantly… not forget the lyrics, because her foreign language skills were limited at that time. Therefore, Ai Van only hoped that if she was lucky enough to win a consolation prize, she would be very happy.

After three nights of competition, she realized that her performance received the warmest and longest applause from the audience, which gave her a glimmer of hope. However, after the final night of competition, she still slept soundly while the judges began their meeting.

At around two o'clock in the morning, she was woken up by a series of knocks on the door, accompanied by Mr. Tran Quy's trembling, emotional voice outside the door: "Ai Van, congratulations! You won the Grand Prix and the Most Popular Singer Award."

"At that time, I was so surprised that I even asked: "What is Grand Prix?!" because honestly, on the first day when I received the award introduction, I was only looking for the consolation prize at the end and didn't dare to dream of anything more.

Mr. Quy said: "Grand Prix is the highest award, it's winning the Cup! You also won the Favorite Singer award, so try to go to sleep, tomorrow morning at exactly 6 o'clock there will be a live radio interview, then there will be a TV filming and interviews for newspapers." Only then did I begin to understand and start to... tremble", Meritorious Artist Ai Van shared.

Meritorious Artist Ai Van was born into a prestigious artistic family.

After her 1981 victory, Ai Van was invited back to Dresden several times. In 1982, she appeared as the “prize winner” with the opening act of the final gala. In 1985, the singer also joined the International Jury of the competition.

"Four years later, I was invited back to that competition as a member of the International Jury. That time, singer Thanh Hoa competed, but unfortunately, she caught a cold and had a hoarse voice, so she could not perform her part," artist Ai Van revealed.

Ai Van's Grand Prix was also part of a series of "bumper harvest" achievements of Vietnamese music in the early 1980s: Dang Thai Son won the Chopin First Prize in Poland (1980), Duong Minh Duc won a prize in the Soviet Union, Le Dung was honored at the Tchaikovsky competition, or Le Quyen made her mark in Czechoslovakia.

Meritorious Artist Ai Van was born in 1954 in Hue Street ( Hanoi ) in an artistic family. Her mother was the famous Cai Luong artist Ai Lien, and her father was Mr. Ha Quang Dinh - owner of the first private film studio in Vietnam.

Meritorious Artist Ai Van has now retired to a quiet life, away from the spotlight. She lives peacefully with her family in Germany, enjoying simple days. Occasionally, Ai Van still returns to Hanoi - the place associated with her childhood and youth, witnessing the first sublimation steps in her artistic career.

PV (synthesis)

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/nu-nghe-si-nao-mang-ve-giai-thuong-am-nhac-quoc-te-dau-tien-cho-viet-nam-521562.html