"Listening to the boatman's song at night reminds me of Uncle Ho."

Among hundreds of musical works praising President Ho Chi Minh, the song "Listening to the Boatman's Song at Night, Remembering Uncle Ho" by composer An Thuyen is considered a song deeply imbued with the folk melodies of Nghe Tinh, touching the hearts of millions of music lovers.

"A deeply moving folk song of my homeland / The Lam River at night, its waters surging / Echoing the simple melody of the ferryman's song, a boundless longing, yet a fleeting fragrance amidst life."

Composer An Thuyên.

During his lifetime, composer An Thuyên recounted that in 1973, when he was only 24 years old and working as an official for the Nghe An Department of Culture, on a trip to collect folk songs in President Ho Chi Minh's hometown (Kim Lien, Nam Dan), he happened to hear an elderly woman in Sen village say, "In the old days, President Ho Chi Minh also often went to listen to folk songs from the weaving guilds." The image of the great President Ho Chi Minh, a world cultural figure yet extremely simple, loving his country and the traditional culture of his homeland, inspired him to compose.

And, "A Night Listening to Boat Songs, Remembering Uncle Ho" was born on a night when An Thuyên was writing, tears of longing and remembrance flowing from his heart for Uncle Ho: "Uncle Ho's childhood was spent / Throughout the length of the boat song / Uncle Ho's childhood was lived / Throughout the breadth of folk songs / And from then on, Uncle Ho sought a way to save the nation."

Through the "boatman's song" to praise Uncle Ho, An Thuyên also incorporated a folk verse and a traditional folk song into the song, making the work rich in the traditional sounds of the homeland. The song concludes with the gratitude of the entire nation for Uncle Ho - the man who brought independence, freedom, happiness, and preserved traditional cultural values ​​for the nation: "In the past, we followed the village to listen to songs / Now Uncle Ho has given us life / Oh, the song of independence and freedom / That now all our people sing aloud / The longing of the past / Has come true, oh how radiant / Now we sing the boatman's song / Seeing life so beautiful / We remember Uncle Ho even more, remembering his profound gratitude to our homeland."

Composer Nguyen An Thuyen (1949 - 2015) was from Quynh Luu, Nghe An province. He was a Major General, former Rector of the Military University of Culture and Arts; and Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Musicians Association, 7th term. He was also famous for his songs "Heroic Vietnamese Mother," "I Choose This Path," "Nine Steps of Love," and "Anchored at the Homeland's Harbor"... Composer An Thuyen was honored with the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2007, along with many other prestigious awards from the Ministry of National Defense , the Vietnam Musicians Association, and various ministries, branches, and localities.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/dem-nghe-hat-do-dua-nho-bac-702675.html