Serenade

As I walked down one of Hanoi’s teeming streets last week I heard a woman singing, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I assumed it was a recording meant to attract the attention of shoppers toward a specific stall.

As I walked past a speaker on the street I turned around and saw this older woman singing to a soundtrack. She was dressed as if for a concert performance and she was putting her heart into her performance. She saw me taking her photograph and her eyes closed with concentration as she reached for the deepest emotion she could muster.

Oddly, she was facing away from the street as if she was uncomfortable facing an audience. Some of the shopkeepers nearby seemed amused by her performance. Her microphone was gold. She read her lyrics off a cell phone.