A drop of coffee and a drop of guitar

(NLĐO) - Famous guitarist and musician Chau Dang Khoa - a close friend of mine - is also a "coffee lover".

He hardly ever drinks beer or wine, but he can drink coffee all day long, from morning till night, whenever he wants.

I often had coffee with him in the afternoons at our usual cafe in the corner of the park in Hoa Hung ward. He and his friends sat in the small attic of the cafe. Those afternoons passed by with the gentle sound of dripping coffee, the aroma spreading and permeating every fiber of our being.

Guitarist Chau Dang Khoa is having fun with his guitar.

After a sip of coffee, he embraced his guitar, his hands dancing across the strings, producing beautiful melodies. Watching him play the guitar was a joy in life, a moment of reunion, camaraderie, and the beauty of art blended with the allure of coffee. His fingers seemed to fly across the fretboard, the incredibly difficult fingerings, the masterful techniques of tremolo, bass, and pizz... creating a mesmerizing, heart-pounding experience for the listener.

The guitar's melody rises and falls, like droplets of water. The fragrant, delicious coffee, its aroma evoking familiar, intimate moments in life, connecting friendships and companionship. These guitar drops fall into the listener's soul, into the space around them, settling there, sometimes like whispering raindrops on a roof, other times like lingering afternoon sunbeams dancing in the yard…

Guitarist Châu Đăng Khoa (left) and the composer in a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City.

As the evening drew to a close, we shared stories over cups of coffee. Beside the wild rose bushes of his neighborhood in Ben Binh Dong (formerly District 8), he had practiced guitar for over 10 hours a day since his youth, driven by his passion, eventually becoming the top-scoring student in the entrance exam for the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music at the age of 18. And in 1980, he and guitarists Phung Tuan Vu, Vu Ngoc Giao, and others organized the first classical music concerts, igniting the classical guitar movement in Vietnam for a time.

Beside his cup of coffee, he and his guitar, a beautiful symbol of classical guitar…

(Entry for the "Impressions on Vietnamese Coffee and Tea" contest 2026, part of the 4th "Celebrating Vietnamese Coffee and Tea" program organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper).

Source: https://nld.com.vn/giot-ca-phe-va-giot-guitar-196260330132731914.htm