Legacy of musician Hoang Van

The song “Construction Song” by musician Hoang Van. Photo by National Archives Center III.

Specifically, at 11:00 p.m. on April 10, 2025, or 4:00 a.m. on April 11, 2025 Vietnam time, in Paris (France), the UNESCO Executive Board inscribed Vietnam's "Collection of Musician Hoang Van" into the Memory of the World - World Documentary Heritage List. This time, UNESCO received 121 nominations from countries and territories; Vietnam's "Collection of Musician Hoang Van" is one of 74 dossiers inscribed by UNESCO.

The International Advisory Council of the UNESCO Memory of the World Program assessed that Vietnam's dossier fully meets the international criteria of a Memory of the World dossier, with outstanding and typical values. In particular, the "Collection of musician Hoang Van" is also highly appreciated for being very well preserved, both preserving and increasing public access through a multilingual digital platform at https://hoangvan.org.

According to statistics, this collection includes 700 works composed by musician Hoang Van from 1951 to 2010. At the same time, there are about 1,000 items, document collections including music scores, audio recordings, handwritten or printed manuscripts, videos, articles, film music, interviews, books and music publications... The collection not only bears the personal mark and career achievements of musician Hoang Van, but also vividly reflects a long journey of Vietnamese music, especially revolutionary music. Promoting the collection in the digital environment, honored by UNESCO, has effectively promoted Vietnamese music, providing the public with accurate, comprehensive and scientific documents about the life and musical career of musician Hoang Van.

Musician Hoang Van (1930-2018), whose real name is Le Van Ngo, was born in Hanoi in a Confucian family. Since childhood, he was well-educated and multi-talented in poetry, singing, music and painting. He is known for many classic songs, known by heart by many generations of music lovers such as "Ho keo phao", "Ha Noi - Hue - Sai Gon", "Quang Binh que ta oi", "Bai ca giao thong van tai", "Hello liberator - Hello spring victory", "Hai chi em", "Nguoi chien si ay"... After the country's reunification, he continued to compose many timeless songs such as "Love of the land and water", "Hat ve cay lua hom nay", "Tinh ca Tay Nguyen"... He also wrote many children's songs such as "Ca cong to to quoc", "Mua hoa phoenix bloom", "Em y truong em"...

In particular, music lovers also remember musician Hoang Van for his success in composing traditional songs of various professions. Some of his songs include “Construction Song”, “People’s Teacher Song”, “Singing About Today’s Rice Plant”, “I Am a Miner”, “Transportation Song”, “Sailor’s Song”… In addition, in the fields of choir and grand choir, epic poems, symphonic poems… musician Hoang Van also left many deep impressions. In Vietnamese cinema, musician Hoang Van composed the soundtracks of many classic works such as “Noi Gio”, “Con Chim Vanh Quyen”, “Vi Tuyen 17 Ngay Va Dem”, “Em Be Ha Noi”…

DUY KHOI

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/di-san-cua-nhac-si-hoang-van-a185381.html