There is hardly any other form or place of entertainment here except an old soccer stadium. There is no money to invest in anything else either, said Khai Hoan, a district official. The district often invites southern folk opera and musical troupes to come, but they always refuse, citing long distances and high costs and low revenues as reasons.

So for a long time, residents in Hon Tre have been singing southern folk opera to themselves to drive loneliness and quietness away. The sight of people carrying instruments to a local southern folk opera club’s gathering can be seen everyday.

They may do different jobs to earn a living, but when it comes to entertaining themselves and others, they can all sing and play very well. Motorbike driver Duc Hien, for instance, can play the Vietnamese guitar; lottery vendor Hai Tao, the two-string fretted lute; and others like bottle collector Bay and carpenter Ut Be are excellent singers.

The small gathering place at the café owned by Ms. Ut is always crowded with the young and the old. Older people play for younger ones to sing – spontaneously and with all their heart.

And they sing on stormy days too.

"Every time a storm comes, we are worried. But there is hardly anything we can do but worry. We can only sing to calm each other down,” said Huynh Nga, whose husband, like many other local men, is a fisherman.

And thanks to their singing talent, some have become widely known throughout the community. "People know me for my singing skills and so they come to buy my stuff,” said Ho To, the bottle seller.

So for ten years past, local singing groups and clubs have been blossoming, said Huu Thanh, the district’s culture deputy chief. At present, there are amateur southern folk opera artists at all residential groups, youth union and women’s association units. Thanks to this “singing movement” social ills have also been reduced and young people have turned to drinking less frequently.

The district’s People’s Committee is learning from Hon Tre as well. It has initiated a culture development project at other island communes that includes the establishment of 4 southern folk opera clubs equipped with what is necessary to ensure success: instruments, regular funding, and royalties for artists.

In the meantime, southern folk opera songs are still being sung on Hon Tre Island, on stormy days and sunny ones, by groups or by lone fishermen, in hamlets or on rocks facing the sea.