Director of Southern Land owes gratitude to musician Lu Nhat Vu

Lu Nhat Vu - Photo 1.

Musician Lu Nhat Vu - Photo: NGUYEN A

Musician Lu Nhat Vu passed away on the morning of March 29 at the age of 89. Director Nguyen Vinh Son of Dat Phuong Nam , musician The Bao... and many friends and colleagues expressed their condolences to the family.

Last wish in life is Ho Chi Minh Prize

Ms. Thanh Mai, daughter-in-law of musician Lu Nhat Vu, told Tuoi Tre Online about his final days.

During the days of his serious illness, he could not speak. The family had few members so they had to take care of him for 7 months at People's Hospital 115 (HCMC) and take care of Mrs. Le Giang at home in Binh Duong province.

His family will bury him at Binh Duong Flower Garden, so that later artists and friends can visit him and burn incense for him.

Ms. Mai said: "When he was still at home, he made a very careful file about his Ho Chi Minh Award, kept it in a styrofoam box at home in Binh Duong.

When I asked his familiar driver, he said he had not received it yet, so he would let me know when he did. His entire life, his only final wish was the Ho Chi Minh Prize. Every time I go in and out, and see the box of documents, I miss my father so much."

In the last months of his life, due to old age and poor health, musician Lu Nhat Vu and poet Le Giang could not be together. She could not visit him in the hospital because she had broken bones and could hardly walk.

For decades of their lives, they were always together in both career and life, but when he passed away, he could not say goodbye to her.

Song of the Southern Land - Singer Nguyen Phi Hung

Massive career, going into depth

When Tuoi Tre Online contacted, Meritorious Artist Tran Vuong Thach - former director of the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) - was preparing the funeral for musician Lu Nhat Vu with his family.

Logically, Mr. Thach should have called Mr. Lu Nhat Vu "uncle" or "uncle", but Mr. Vu always called himself "anh" or "em". Artist Tran Vuong Thach said that after he returned from studying abroad, around the second half of the 1990s, he and the musician went on many field trips to learn about Southern folk music .

Mr. Thach was the one who arranged the song Song of the Southern Land in the film Southern Land . The two have also worked together on many programs, products and plays.

Mr. Thach added that the musician couple gave him their library, hoping that he would continue the path they had left unfinished.

This library includes works on research projects, monographs on Southern and Vietnamese folk songs, music theory research documents, music tapes and discs, documentaries, autographs of works...

Lu Nhat Vu - Photo 2.

Musician Lu Nhat Vu and poet Le Giang - Photo from the book Lu Nhat Vu - Music and Life

Talking about musician Lu Nhat Vu's career, "younger brother Tran Vuong Thach" assessed that he had "a massive and profound career", "a respectable person in both music and life".

Hearing the news of the musician's death, writer Bich Ngan - president of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association - said she felt "very sorry; he was a man who devoted his whole life to music and the struggle for national liberation".

"His compositions are truly unique, unlike any other, and in his music, the country, the love of the land, and the love of the people of the South appear very clearly," said Ms. Ngan.

The writer also mentioned the most monumental work of musician Lu Nhat Vu and poet Le Giang, which is the collection and editing of folk songs and folk songs of the South. According to Ms. Ngan, that is something that not everyone can do.

Lu Nhat Vu - Photo 3.

Musician Lu Nhat Vu (left) and musician Pham Minh Tuan in Tay Ninh forest in 1973 - Photo archive

Musician Lu Nhat Vu's family and the dissemination of Southern folk songs

Director Nguyen Vinh Son, who made the TV series Dat Phuong Nam with the immortal soundtrack song, Bai Ca Dat Phuong Nam , said he was deeply grateful to the musician.

Director Nguyen Vinh Son told Tuoi Tre Online : "I am deeply grateful and deeply saddened by the loss of musician Lu Nhat Vu. My condolences to his family and the many viewers who loved the film Dat Phuong Nam and Southern folk music."

According to him, musician Lu Nhat Vu, his wife Le Giang and their son have devoted their entire musical careers to collecting, composing and spreading Southern folk songs.

"Musician Lu Nhat Vu inspired me a lot when making the film Southern Land, and it can be said that Lu Nhat Vu's music contributed greatly to improving the quality of the film," he said.

The heroic yet profound and equally romantic quality of the music is in perfect emotional harmony with the images and details of the story.

The film progresses in a journey style, so the music also closely follows the identity of the regions the characters experience.

The director had interesting discoveries when discussing the manuscript with Mr. Lu Nhat Vu and Ms. Le Giang and recording sessions with many traditional musical instrument musicians.

"They were happy to confide in me, thinking that making the soundtrack for the film Dat Phuong Nam was like summarizing and reviewing all their work on Southern folk music, and pouring all their heart and talent into it," Mr. Vinh Son recalled.

On his personal page, musician Thế Bảo shared the news of musician Lư Nhất Vũ's passing and wrote: "Deeply mourning the talented musician, author of Cô gái Sài Gòn đi lưu vôn, Bài ca Đất Phương Nam, many research works and many anthologies of Southern folk songs. My condolences to poet Lê Giang and his family. I hope musician Lư Nhất Vũ will rest in peace."

Nguyen An Ninh Digital Library page - Southern Topic, an activity under the program "Finding Vietnamese Features" of Hoa Sen Foundation, honors musician Lu Nhat Vu as one of the first people to support this dedicated digitalization project.

During his lifetime, the musician always urged the library and handed over his and his wife's field research works to the library for digitization, storage and service to readers, especially young readers.

"During a visit to the library, he sang: "Even if I meet a moment that makes my heart ecstatic / Even if I die, my life will be satisfied."

Now that he has passed away, musician Lu Nhat Vu's contributions to the Southern land in particular and Vietnamese music in general will still be there" - Nguyen An Ninh Digital Library - Southern Topic respectfully bids farewell to the talented musician and offers condolences to the bereaved family.