The story of the writer of the love song "Tomorrow I'll Leave"

When I was young, in the Cau Giay cultural area (Hanoi), there were two people I called uncles, not real uncles, because both of them were from the South, lacking the warmth of family, so my mother adopted them as my younger brothers.

Singer Giap Thinh and Chu Hoai Phuong sing a duet of the song "Tomorrow I'll Depart". Photo: THQPVN

1. Both of them were from Ca Mau , the land at the end of the Fatherland, which for children like us at that time was sacred and very far away, only known through the poem Mui Ca Mau by Xuan Dieu ( My Fatherland is like a ship/ The bow of our boat is Cape Ca Mau ). That year, after the regrouping, both of them were assigned to work at the Central Song and Dance Troupe, learned to play the instrument, and were recruited as violinists. Chanh Truc was tall, but had a gentle and sweet personality, Lam Quang Mang was smaller, but enthusiastic and lively.

Back then, every afternoon at the Cau Giay Cultural Center, my whole family and my two uncles would gather around the dinner table. At those times, I remember how lively they were, talking about everything under the sun, from important things like the situation in their hometown, artistic issues to even things that sounded very funny, like the time they argued loudly about why the snakehead fish in their hometown was called snakehead fish here.

Then when the sun set, Chanh Truc often went to the Southern Opera troupe to visit Le Thien, while Mang took his racket to play table tennis. On days when he couldn't find anyone to play with, he would take out his violin and play it melodiously. He played many songs, but I always remember the song " Sending to Ca Mau" composed by him: " In my faraway homeland, Ca Mau/ Listening to the sound of my homeland, I remember the years/ I know every path and street corner/ Every canal bank, every small hamlet, every river... ". I had heard Uncle Quoc Huong (musician - singer, People's Artist Quoc Huong) sing this song many times, but every time I heard Mang's violin, I don't know why I wanted to cry. I felt so sorry for him! Once, when my mother heard his violin, she also had tears in her eyes, saying: "This boy has a very soul, he will be a composer in the future." The day Mang left for the South, because it was a secret, he went very quietly so that no one would know, but somehow my mother still knew, rushed to see him off, tears streaming down her face.

2. A few years after the country was unified, I moved to Ho Chi Minh City. Once, passing by the City Theater, I saw a billboard announcing the performance of the August Light Music Group, with the artistic director being musician Thanh Truc. I remember someone once told me that Mang had changed his name to Thanh Truc, meaning that Mang had grown up to become Truc! I guessed it was him, so I bought a ticket to see if it was true.

As soon as I entered the theater, right at the entrance I saw him, no longer the enthusiastic young man of the past, now he was wearing a 4-pocket shirt, his hair was combed smoothly. Even though I knew it was Mr. Mang, I was still careful and timidly asked: "Is this Mr. Mang?". He looked at me for a while, then suddenly burst out, hugging me: "Hoai, Ms. Tan Nhan's son, right? When you went to B, you were still a little kid, your teeth were still buck teeth. In 1973, when I went to the North, I visited Ms. Nhan and heard that you had joined the army, and went to the front." I was so touched, after all these years he still remembered me, even the bad things (back then my teeth were really buck teeth). While I was about to talk to him, a lot of guests arrived, he had to entertain the guests, he only had time to say: "Come in and watch. Then after the show, wait for me here, we'll go out for dinner."

That night, I got to see many famous artists at that time such as Cam Van, Lam Xuan, Thanh Long, Quang Ly, Kim Thanh, Khac Trieu..., but why did only Mang's face appear before my eyes? It had been so many days and months, from the days in the Cau Giay cultural area to the battlefield, playing the guitar and gun, with my comrades - artists from the Southern region, and also those who had been reinforced from the North such as choreographer Thai Ly, Tran Mui, To Lan Phuong, Viet Cuong, Minh Nguyet, Thuy Hoi, Dieu Hung, Duy Nai, Thanh Dinh..., all of them in the Liberation Cultural Troupe used the trenches as a stage, used the canals for their songs to fly far, used the soldiers and the people of their homeland as their songs.

Sitting and watching the program he performed, I remembered my mother's prediction about Mang years ago: "This boy has a lot of soul, he will be a composer in the future." It was true! The battlefield helped him become an excellent musician with songs like: Sen song, Happy old soldier ... With the familiar violin, he also knew how to xang xe vọng cổ verses, compose familiar melodies for the troupe to perform, broadcast for people to listen to over the radio waves, songs he wrote in the fire, songs of a Southern musician from Ca Mau named Thanh Truc - bamboo shoots that grew into bamboo in the fire of the battlefield...

3. Uncle Mang died early, but in the city named after Uncle Ho, people still sing his songs: City of Love, Tomorrow I'll Go On My Way, Why Did You Die ... as if he were still here on every tamarind tree, every road, every canal bank, every wind blowing from the land of Ca Mau...

One time I accidentally watched TV and suddenly heard about him. They performed the song Tomorrow I'll Go On The Road again and I exclaimed "Mr. Mang" when the image of the singer appeared. That singer (later, thanks to my friends, I learned that it was singer Giap Thinh) was so much like Mr. Mang in my memory. The same stiff military uniform, the soft floppy hat, the same fresh mouth with slightly crooked teeth, and especially the same clear voice as he used to sing: "The night falls on the tamarind tree line with sparkling lights/ Tonight I'm walking with you in the heart of the beloved city/ Tomorrow I'll go on the road, tomorrow I'll go to the battlefield/ Leaving my beloved with a sky of mountains and forests/ A thousand sparkling stars on the march to destroy the enemy ..." ( Tomorrow I'll Go On The Road ).

Thank you to the people who made that program, thank you to singer Giap Thinh for coincidentally reminding me of fond memories of an uncle from Ca Mau, an uncle who, to me, will always be Lam Quang Mang, who every sunset played the violin and sang passionately at the Cau Giay cultural area years ago: " My heart beats in the heart of Ca Mau/ In the blood boiling with the blood of my homeland/ Hearing my mother call, my heart is excited/ At this time, it feels like I'm living in Ca Mau..." (Sent to Ca Mau) .

CHAU LA VIET

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/chuyen-ve-nguoi-viet-tinh-ca-ngay-mai-anh-len-duong-post822545.html