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[Art & Music] The Renovation Generation: Meet Vietnam's Post-i Mi Movers and Shakers
By Dung Thuy.

Thirty years after the inception of i mi, Vietnam is night and day compared to its former self.
Following the tragedy of war, this 1986 economic reform wholly transformed the country into what it is
today, affording drastic change to the Vietnamese public through trade and open-door policies.

The generation of young Vietnamese born around this time have grown up in a fundamentally different
country than their parents. As Vietnam continues to grow and change, these young people some of the
country's leading contemporary thinkers and innovators are moving their nation forward.

This is how the concept behind Renovation Generation (http://therenovationgeneration.com/), a new

podcast featuring interviews from those born after the dawn of i mi, began for storytelling duo Eliza
Lomas and Fabiola Buchele. Released every other week, the podcast tells the personal stories of young
Vietnamese, touching upon topics of love, passion, freedom and boundaries in the context of digital
evolution, globalization and capitalism.

At first, the pair had only a blur of an idea about making their own podcast. One day we sat down,
talking to our Vietnamese friends, and the idea of Renovation Generation came out, Lomas tells
Saigoneer.

Now three months old, the podcast has grown, prompting its creators to branch out into new themes
and expand their storytelling efforts.

Our goal is to diversify the breadth of stories. We dont want to say: 'These people all think this, all do
this, or this is how Vietnam looks,' Lomas says. Instead, Renovation Generation combines journalism,
storytelling, interviews and editing to create a non-topical platform. There is no sarcasm or
scandalizing but rather a genuine intention to communicate information and a wish to understand.

Before moving to Hanoi, Lomas worked for a radio company in London. Upon arriving in the
Vietnamese capital, she wished she could do something similar.

With this podcast, its very free since we can do what we want whereas in London, we made one-hour
show with specific purposes and it had to include this or that question, says Lomas. Her interest in
storytelling coincided with Buchele's interest in radio. Its been a steep learning curve for both as they
start to get better at writing scripts, making sounds and formulating good questions and answers.
Neither of them had any idea how disruptive the podcast would be to their lives.

Each podcast is normally 10 minutes long, however it involves a two-hour interview and three working
days to create the finished product. Renovation Generation comes out once every two weeks.

Theres so much work. Its stressful because Im a huge perfectionist, Lomas explains. Sometimes
you interview one person in a month and dont interview them until next month.

However, both believe its worth the effort, as they get chances to meet many interesting people who
are not necessarily the ones we read a lot about.
Fundamentally, theyre just artists [or] poets but being Vietnamese also keeps them in the box of being
interesting, says Lomas.The pair see that rather than the influence of Western culture, the massive
changes of i mi lie in the exposure of the internet and job opportunities that have never existed
before.

Lots of [our interviewees] have never left Vietnam, explains Lomas. They take influences from the
internet or the TV in the same way that everyone around the world does.

I think the changes here are not as basic as western or eastern culture. Like Nguyen Hoang Giang says
[in episode 3], he takes influences from Korean or Japanese pop culture, communism or capitalism. Its
all like a mess together. Or Duong Bui talks [in episode 4] about keeping her rituals that she always
prays to the altar before her band performance and holds a strong belief in making her ancestors
happy, Lomas continues.

As there arent many English-language podcasts coming out of Vietnam at the moment, Renovation
Generation doesn't target any specific audience.

The best thing so far is when our listeners, either Vietnamese or their friends, listen to the podcasts
they feel thankful, like 'finally, I can hear cool radio pieces of someone who shared my experience,'
says Lomas.

While Lomas and Buchele have worked out the kinks in their podcast, they still consider it a work in
progress. When we looked back at the first episode, we knew we have made a huge improvement,
says Lomas. We also have two Vietnamese assistants who we wish to pass some skills onto to keep
this as a long-term project.