Hanoi, a quick trip…

- Has it been cold in Hanoi for long?

- Just last night!

- Has winter started here?

- It's started, but the past few years have been very unusual...

- What is unusual?

- The length is unpredictable, and the time is no longer cyclical. Sometimes you feel hot and then suddenly feel strangely cold...

Autumn in Hanoi

I was silent, and the taxi driver was silent too. Up ahead, dust from the trucks was flying up in the air. Suddenly, I thought of the warnings scientists have been giving about climate change recently. This morning at Tan Son Nhat airport, I was startled when I read the news that Hanoi had just jumped to third place among the most polluted cities in the world. I felt a strange sadness...

As the car approached the city center, the road suddenly narrowed with endless barricades and bunkers on both sides. I asked the taxi driver:

- Hanoi expands the road?

- No, sir! Every year, at the end of the year, I see them block off this road again. I thought the road would be widened. When the bunkers were removed, the road was still the same, not an inch wider!

I laughed and thought of Ho Chi Minh City. It's no different! Suddenly I remembered Ha Okio's rap line and found it so touching, even though he wrote it 16 years ago:

"Out there people are in chaos

"It's raining heavily but the road is being dug up!" ( Morning at Ciao café )

I arrived at the hotel at exactly 11am, starving. The first thing I thought of was to walk out and have a bowl of pho. It was cold and drizzling. In this context, there is nothing better than enjoying a bowl of pho from Hanoi. The strange thing is that in Ho Chi Minh City, no matter how many pho shops I went to, cooked by native Hanoians, it still couldn’t be as delicious as a bowl of pho right in Hanoi. I couldn’t explain this. It’s similar to a person from Da Lat growing spinach in Ho Chi Minh City, but it still couldn’t compare to spinach eaten in Da Lat! Is the soil and spirit of a land the reason? Talking about the spirit of a land, this trip to Hanoi was really rushed, but by chance I understood many things.

A corner of Hanoi College of Culture and Arts

When I attended the premiere of the MV " Bang qua canh rung" and the album "Lang" by the artist Duong Thuy Anh at a school where she spent 40 years, from learning the first notes until becoming an artist and a teacher in this very school, I had a feeling that I had been here once. Oh, I remember! That time, Le Minh Son took me to: Hanoi College of Culture and Arts. It has been 16 years but the school is still the same: mossy and soaked in the color of time. The architecture and rooms are very French, giving me the feeling that it was not originally intended for an art school but was converted from another facility.

MV Through the Forest

Music: Vo Thien Thanh, erhu: Meritorious Artist Duong Thuy Anh, vocalist: Bao Lan, director: Cao Hai Le

- Was this school before the Military University of Culture and Arts or after? I asked Bao Lan.

- Yes, sir! It's 56 years old. But it looks more "stylish"!

- Why ?

- Because it is only for children of those who have a household registration or are native Hanoians!

“So this is another version of Hogwarts!” I thought to myself. The school was so small that if it accepted all the music students from all over the country, there wouldn’t be enough seats.

- So you and Duong Thuy Anh studied at this school since childhood?

- Yes, brother! But I learn the monochord.

- Who else?

- So many! Giang Son, Do Bao, 5 Dong Ke, trio 3A, trio Con Gai... have studied at this school.

Duong Thuy Anh's press conference was quite cozy, genuine and filled with teacher-student and colleague love. Immersed in that atmosphere along with the image of the mossy school steeped in time, I understood why Duong Thuy Anh and Bao Lan have such a strong love and passion for art. When recording the album Lang , there were times when Thuy Anh thought she could not overcome it because of the difficulty of the notes not meant for the erhu. But it was the love of music that her teachers and school had fostered that gave her that strength.

After the duet of Fireflies Dance by Duong Thuy Anh and Bao Lan ended, the teachers with their gray hair stepped forward and hugged the two girls like they were two children. An old teacher came and shook my hand and said:

- Thank you for helping the two children to flourish with art. I am the teacher who taught Tran Manh Hung the first notes of the monochord.

The old teacher's voice was filled with happiness and pride. I felt that happiness through his bright eyes, where music had preserved a pure soul, despite the crow's feet imprinted on his face by time.

Hanoi, a quick trip. I saw a strong love of music from the girls.

Hanoi, a quick trip. I knew there were old teachers who wholeheartedly cherished each finger of the erhu and monochord with their little students, and then one day were filled with happiness with their little students who have now become famous.

Despite the sudden cold and the drizzling rain. Despite the fleeting sadness as the taxi followed the long barricades and bunkers. There was an old school steeped in time, nurturing the artistic souls of many generations.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/ha-noi-mot-chuyen-di-voi-185231207213815571.htm