What the folk?

David Dao, the doctor who was violently dragged off a United flight, has a past that’s even more colorful than the tales of sex, drugs and gambling — he also was a popular singer-songwriter in Vietnam, according to new reports.

The embattled physician performed under the name Dao Duy Anh in 1960s and 1970s Saigon, specializing in Vietnamese folk and traditional tunes in a band called Bach Viet, according to local news site Bao Moi

He authored two folk songs for the band that are still popular in the country — “Tat Nuoc Dau Dinh” and “Ta Ve Ta Tam Ao Ta” — and also mastered several stringed instruments, former bandmate Tran Bo said.

Dao fled Vietnam in 1975 after Saigon fell to the Communists, but Bach Diet reformed for two 45th anniversary performances in California in 2015, Bo said.

A YouTube video also shows the musically inclined medical professional performing a duet in 2013 at a festival in Utah, where he also joined in a cross-cultural cover of the Beatles’ “Come Together.”

Music isn’t Dao’s only creative pursuit — he also studied the culinary arts in 2004 at Louisville’s Sullivan University, where he helped instructors refine dishes in their Vietnamese cooking unit, according to the college’s newsletter.

“He prepared some very authentic Vietnamese dishes and gave us some guidance on a couple more authentic dishes during class,” chef Katie Payne of the school’s National Center for Hospitality Studies told The Post.

Payne said she doesn’t remember much about Dao, but does remember he had a passion for the kitchen and the chops to back it up.

“As I recall he was into food, I think he was a good cook, he seemed like he was well versed in authentic Vietnamese,” she said.