Meet musician Van The - who wrote many songs about Uncle Ho

The first song about Uncle Ho

Musician Vo Van The (composers often call him musician Van The) recounted that during the years 1957 - 1969, the peak period of traditional music , he was immersed in the atmosphere of composing songs about the great President Ho Chi Minh.

In these years, Nghe An has 3 very active art troupes, contributing many valuable plays and art programs to serve the province's major political events, serving the people, creating a great resonance. Musician Van The is in the Art Troupe and takes on the role of composing songs for the troupe.

In 1968, when he "encountered" Uncle Ho's New Year's greeting poem, with admiration for the great leader as well as imbued with the spirit of his New Year's greeting poem on the radio, musician Van The immediately thought of composing a song based on this poem. However, after thinking and pondering for a long time, he still could not find a musical idea for the poem. "Partly because I was too overwhelmed, partly because I was too excited, it took a year for me to release the song that I had longed for so long", musician Van The recalled.

Musician Van The recalls the first song he wrote about Uncle Ho. — Musician Van The composed the first song about Uncle Ho.

The song called "Celebrating Uncle Ho's Spring Poetry" was composed by him on the basis of the Vi and Giam rhythm (mi, la, do) in the ancient Vi and Giam folk songs, but full of heroic spirit, especially the sentence: "Fight for the Americans to leave, fight for the puppets to fall" was emphasized by the author with fast, strong, decisive notes that highlight the great idea of the song, making the song immediately enter people's hearts like a call.

After releasing the song, the Head of Nghe An Department of Culture at that time took the sheet music and said that he would have the singers of the group practice this song to perform for high-ranking officials.

Song of Spring Greetings from Uncle Ho — Song: Happy Spring Poetry of Uncle Ho. Photo: Thanh Nga

Indeed, after the song was arranged and performed by the troupe, the song received praise from provincial leaders as well as experts. Immediately after that, Van The was informed by his superiors that this song would be performed for high-ranking leaders when he returned to work in Nghe An.

Collection of songs Song Lam, Uncle Ho's love. Photo: Thanh Nga

Musician Van The recalled that after listening to the song, General Secretary Le Duan, a high-ranking leader present in the audience at that time, nodded in praise of the melody and ideas in the song. Also after that event, musician Do Nhuan brought the song back to Hanoi to play at a meeting at the Voice of Vietnam Radio and published it in the Culture magazine No. 1 of the Ministry of Culture and Information at that time.

“From then on, the Nghe An Provincial Youth Union (now Nghe An Provincial Youth Union) launched a campaign to practice and sing the song "Celebrating Uncle Ho's Spring Poetry" throughout the province, creating a bustling atmosphere everywhere,” musician Van The recalled.

Many songs about Uncle Ho are continuously being released.

In addition to the song "Celebrating Uncle Ho's Spring Poetry", there is also the song "Song Lam Tinh Bac" which won the first prize in the movement to compose "Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style". Songs by musician Van The such as: "Pilgrimage to Uncle Ho's hometown", "Visiting Uncle Ho's monument", "Sacred New Year's Eve" also won many major awards at the provincial and central levels. All of these songs were published in the collection "Song Lam Tinh Bac" by musician Van The.

Including the song “Pilgrimage to Uncle Ho’s Hometown” (C Prize - Ho Xuan Huong Award of the Nghe An Literature and Arts Association); “Sacred New Year’s Eve” (B Prize - Campaign to create and promote literary, artistic and journalistic works on the theme of Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh in 2010); choral work “Lam River Epic” (C Prize - Ho Xuan Huong Award).

Musician Van The said: “The song “Pilgrimage to Uncle Ho’s Hometown” at that time became a fever among young people, this song was heard at any performance because of its lively, joyful and emotional melody”. In fact, for the past few decades, every time the Sen Village Festival was held at the ceremony of carrying Uncle Ho’s portrait, the song “Pilgrimage to Uncle Ho’s Hometown” was heard...

Musician Van The has composed many compositions about President Ho Chi Minh, as he said, stemming from his love and admiration for the beloved Uncle. But composing musical works about Uncle Ho is also a way for musicians to always challenge themselves. Musician Van The shared: “When I listen to songs written about Uncle Ho by musicians An Thuyen, Thuan Yen or Do Nhuan, I admire them immensely, because they have found a way to approach the "portrait" of the leader through music that is extremely close, intimate, and has a strong influence not only in the present but also in the future. From then on, I struggled and always felt that I needed to overcome the "big mountains" within myself, that big mountain is that I have to find a style to approach the image of Uncle Ho in the simplest way".

To create the most vivid and intimate works about Uncle Ho, musician Van The has painstakingly researched his background, life and career as well as musical materials to build a beautiful and familiar image. And, 15 musical works about Ho Chi Minh have demonstrated the spirit, determination to work seriously in art and the immense love for the beloved Uncle of this musician.

Every year, when the Lotus Village Singing Festival is held, the songs written about Uncle Ho by musician Van The resound on big stages. Although he is old and his health has declined, when mentioning the songs written about Uncle Ho, musician Van The still holds his guitar and sings with all his passion...

Source: https://baonghean.vn/gap-nhac-si-van-the-nguoi-viet-nhieu-ca-khuc-ve-bac-ho-10297674.html