Christmas Odyssey in Viet Nam

Annotation — Christmas Songs

Christmas Odyssey in Viet Nam Released in Guam.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Hafa Adai Records HALP 3305, stereo, "The Voice of Micronesia", yellow label with the latte-stone-and-ancient-islander logo, P.O. Box 2890, Agana, Guam 96910; "Primero" (side one), arrangements by Johnny Sablan & Harold De Leon, Chamorro Music (ASCAP), side one total time 16:28; "Christmas Odyssey in Viet Nam" (Johnny Sablan), 7:50. The back cover (Hafa Adai Records, P.O. Box 1983, Agana; US representation 1560 N. La Brea, Suite M, Hollywood) describes the track as "Johnny Sablan's story of his Christmas visit to Viet Nam with Governor Camacho as they greet and entertain the Chamorran servicemen stationed there". Bert Unpingco (Director of Guam Visitors Bureau) writes that Governor Carlos G. Camacho made the 23-year-old Sablan Honorary Ambassador of Guam, that for the second straight year he had just returned from entertaining Guamanian troops in Viet Nam, that the song was first…

About the artist

Johnny Sablan (born 1948) is a Chamorro singer, songwriter and cultural administrator from Guam, widely regarded as the founder of modern Chamorro-language recording. He began performing in 1957, moved to Los Angeles at thirteen and cut three singles for Ben Weisman's Skylark Records, of which 'Imitation Heart' reached the Billboard Hot 100; after returning to Guam and resolving in 1968 to learn to speak, read and write Chamorro, he recorded 'Dalai Nene', the first studio album made in the Chamorro language. From late 1969 he made three visits to Vietnam to perform for Chamorro servicemen…

Themes

Christmas · Sound-Effects · Combat · Patriotic · Soldier's Perspective · Saigon

In collections

Christmas Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]