Vietnamese singers flock to Little Saigon

WESTMINSTER, Calif., May 10 (UPI) -- The Little Saigon community of Westminster, Calif., is the best place in the United States for Vietnamese singers to be discovered, singers say.

Singer Minh Tuyet said for anyone attempting to become part of the Vietnamese music scene, all roads go through Little Saigon, the Los Angeles Times said Saturday.

"If you want to be a star in the Vietnamese music scene, you want to be in Little Saigon," Tuyet said. "The recording studios are here. Promoters will come to Westminster to find new faces. Everything happens here."

Westminster's Little Saigon community is home to more than 200,000 Vietnamese immigrants and the music industry there is much larger than its counterpart in Vietnam.

For Tuyet and others like her, traveling to Little Saigon was not only a chance to sing but to earn a better life than what awaited them in their native land.

"I told my mom that I just wanted a chance to pursue singing in America. We had no opportunity in Vietnam," she told the Times. "At worse, I could be a wedding singer or wash dishes. Or if things get really bad, I'm young, I could get married and have someone take care of me."