Thu 4/9 @ 7-9:30PM
Mai Khôi’s story is unlike that of most musicians you’ll encounter. Now in her mid 40s, the composer/vocalist/activist became a huge pop star in her native Vietnam, winning the Vietnam Television Song and Album of the Year awards. She released nearly a dozen solo albums. But her path became obstacle-strewn when she spoke out against government censorship and in resistance to government policies, and she was followed, interrogated, blocked from performing and even thrown out of multiple residences. She recorded an album of protest music called Dissent in secret in Vietnam in 2018.
But she fled her native country the following year and has lived in the U.S. since 2019. In 2021, she formed the band the Dissidents with keyboard player Mark Micchelli. They’ve just released their debut album, aptly titled Five Years in Exile, telling the story of her flight from political persecution. It incorporates a variety of influences including jazz, math rock, art song, and experimental music as well as the dance pop she used to sing back home to reflect on a range of emotions — protest as well as loneliness and nostalgia, grief and love.
Mai Khôi is taking the five-piece Dissidents on the road, and they will be stopping at the BOP STOP this week. In addition to Khôi and Micchello, the band includes PJ Roduta on drums, Eli Namay on bass and Jeff Siegfried on saxophones. Go here for tickets.
The show will also be livestreamed on the BOP STOP’s YouTube channel.