The person who gives wings to dreams through every musical note

Musician Tran Huu Phap (left cover) in the music program Who Named the River held in Hue in 2015

Love for children

In February 1965, the Dong Hoi area (Quang Binh) was hit by hundreds of American bombs. At that time, a boy crossed the dunes that were being plowed to supply ammunition to the soldiers and militia who were shooting down the planes . That was Truong Ngoc Huong, the character in the poem "Em Be Bao Ninh" by poet Nguyen Van Dinh and later set to music by musician Tran Huu Phap with a song of the same name.

Up to now, the lyrics: Baby Bao Ninh/ On the banks of Nhat Le/ Under the sky of fire and smoke/ You are like an arrow/ Flying over the sand dunes/ Splitting the wind and charging/ Taking off the red scarf / Moving the ammunition bag/ Bombing battlefield/ What's the difficulty/ Carrying ammunition/ Carrying ammunition hand to hand on the trenches/ For the militia to shoot down the jet/ The plane caught fire/ Crashed into the ocean/ You cheered, you jumped/ You spread the good news/ Baby Bao Ninh/ On the banks of Nhat Le/ Like a small flower/ Blooming beside the trenches/ Like a bird at the end of the alley/ Singing joyfully/ Beautifully filming a film/ Our village won against the Americans/ With baby Bao Ninh has gone through the years, back to the time when heroic Vietnamese children contributed to the fight against the Americans.

Artist Tran Huu Phap also has a very good song about children called " What will you do when you grow up ?" It's so cute with the lyrics: "What will you do when you grow up? / You will be a worker building new factories / Tall buildings towering in the sky / What will you do when you grow up? / You will be a farmer driving a tractor on the fields / Fields stretching as far as the eye can see / What will you do when you grow up? / You will be a train driver taking ships from North to South / What will you do when you grow up? / You will be an engineer looking for resources to enrich the country / Oh, how beautiful are your dreams".

Besides, artist Tran Huu Phap also has the song Bright Moon in My Yard (based on a poem by Tran Dang Khoa): Oh, bright moon/ Shines clearly on my yard/ The late night moon is brighter than the lamp/ Oh, bright moon/ Shines clearly on my yard/ The bird forgets to chirp/ The worm forgets to chirp/ Only the bright moon/ Shines clearly on my yard/ Only the bright moon/ Shines clearly on my yard.

The song March under the Peace Flag by musician Tran Huu Phap was also chosen as the official song of the international youth and children's movement in Bulgaria in 1992.

Musician Tran Huu Phap was awarded by the State the First Class Anti-American Resistance Medal, Second Class Anti-French Resistance Medal, Medal for the Cause of Literature and Arts, Medal for the Cause of Vietnamese Music, Medal for the Cause of Vietnamese Journalism.

…and loyalty to Hue

Artist Tran Huu Phap was born on October 5, 1933 in a poor Confucian family in An Phong commune, Hoai An district, Binh Dinh province. He worked at the Propaganda and Art Troupe of the Department of Information and Propaganda of Inter-zone V, the Central Youth Volunteer Art Troupe, Tien Phong Newspaper, Kim Dong Publishing House, Music Publishing House, Hanoi Radio Station, etc.

In 1956, Artist Tran Huu Phap met Mrs. Hoang Thi Nhu Thuan, a former student of Dong Khanh School. That gentle and virtuous Hue wife infused into the sensitive soul of Artist Tran Huu Phap a new source of creativity, which was the love of Hue.

The song " Tieng hat gui song Huong" is considered the opening piece for musician Tran Huu Phap with hundreds of songs about the land of Huong River and Ngu Mountain such as: Song from Hue of love , Hue of longing , Bridge of people who have passed by , When I leave Hue , People return to Thanh Toan tile bridge , By the poetic river , Who returns to Ngu mountain Huong river , Who named the river ,...

The song "Who named the river" written by musician Tran Huu Phap in 1982 with lyrics like "Autumn moon rises on the old Phu Van Lau wharf, who sits, who fishes, who is sad, who mourns, who feels, who misses, who watches... The river today reflects the flying stars for who returns, intoxicated by the echoing folk songs, who dreams, who dreams, who waits..." is considered the best song about Hue after 1975.

Artist Tran Huu Phap once confided: “Hue in me probably dates back to 40 years ago, when I crossed the rivers to go to the mainland to Hanoi. The gentle Hue girl welcomed me during a reception for compatriots and cadres from the South who had gathered in the North. When I went to Hanoi, 3 years later, I met that girl again and so Hue will forever be in me. In my musical composition career, 3/4 of my works are dedicated to Hue.”

Poet Vo Que - former Chairman of the Union of Literature and Arts Associations of Thua Thien-Hue, recalled: “Before 1975, when the country was not yet unified, through the waves of Voice of Vietnam Radio, I knew about artist Tran Huu Phap when I heard two famous songs at that time: Tieng hat gui song Huong , Em be Bao Ninh . Em be Bao Ninh , based on the poem by Nguyen Van Dinh, a song written for children, was popular not only among children but also widely to the masses throughout the country. Particularly, the work Tieng hat gui song Huong with the voice of People's Artist Thu Hien in the program Tieng hat gui ve Nam caused a great emotion in me from those late nights”.

In 1975, when the South was liberated, NS Tran Huu Phap and NS Mai Sao - conductor of the symphony orchestra, traveled together on the same bus across Hien Luong Bridge. Happy that the country was unified and free of enemies, he got off the bus and walked 18km to Dong Ha, then took the Water Plant bus to Hue.

On the way to Hue, the traces of war left many strong emotions and artist Tran Huu Phap wrote the song "Advancing to Hue Citadel" . This song was sung by People's Artist Trung Kien and Quy Duong and broadcast on Voice of Vietnam Radio at that time.

As one of the first people to take over Hue Radio Station, artist Tran Huu Phap was assigned as head of the arts department until the establishment of the Binh Tri Thien Arts Association.

Later, Artist Tran Huu Phap was elected as Secretary of the Music Association, then President of the Vietnam Music Association in Thua Thien-Hue until his retirement. From 1989-1995, he was an Inspection Committee member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Music Association./.

Nguyen Van Toan

Source: https://baolongan.vn/nguoi-chap-canh-uoc-mo-qua-tung-not-nhac-a194923.html