All the works in the album were recorded and produced by the musician himself, telling the story like a movie. On this occasion, musician Cuong Tong had a conversation with a reporter from the People's Army Newspaper.

Extending the musical dream "The Sound of Thach Sanh's Lute"

Reporter (PV):

Musician Cuong Tong: Many people have asked me the same question. After winning a prestigious domestic award, I spent more than 13 years studying, getting a master's degree and working in the Chinese art market. This is my process of studying, researching and working tirelessly with a big goal, which is to return to my homeland Vietnam to continue my musical dream: Restoring the musical "The Sound of Thach Sanh's Guitar", a very famous musical by my father - musician Duc Minh - a musician who has affirmed his name and left his mark on Vietnamese academic art. I also want to continue my father's dream of contributing to the development of the country's musical arts.

Musician Cuong Tong returned to Vietnam to join the country's music industry after more than a decade of studying abroad.

In fact, in the past time, I have also released quite a few music products in the Chinese market. Since 2019, I have returned to Vietnam to live and work; in 2025, I decided to release my personal products because this is the right time, with all the factors of "heavenly time, favorable location, and harmony of people"; above all, at present, everything is ripe for me to bring my artistic children to light, serve the audience and contribute to the country's art market.

Musician Cuong Tong: Memories of my childhood and youth are always clear in my mind. Even though I am busy working and studying abroad, those memories do not fade. I want to use music to recall, to depict and recount those images so that listeners can feel them.

The mini album with 5 instrumental works has the consistency of a movie telling a musical journey with full nuances and emotional progression, including: “Love Waltz”, “Listen to the Sea”, “Fire”, “Autumn” and “Childhood Memories”. Each work represents an element: Metal, Water, Fire, Wood, Earth.

Artists congratulate musician Cuong Tong on releasing his first music product.

Open playground for classical musicians

PV:

Musician Cuong Tong: It took me 10 years to compose these 5 works. Except for “Autumn” which was composed around the fall of 2024, the remaining 4 works were taken from a collection of 24 works I composed for piano while studying in China.

Choosing to release 5 works in the mini album "Musical Memories" with a duration of 20 minutes - enough for me to fully and effectively tell my story and enough for the audience not to get too tired when enjoying the work.

Musician Cuong Tong: I had the opportunity to study and work quite well. Along with studying, I participated in music production, music director, and song composition for nearly 10 Chinese TV series, movies, and art and entertainment events. For example, I arranged the song "Wish for the next life" for the movie "Painted skin: Love ear" (2024); Music director, soundtrack producer for "Ten days and nights of magic" (2020); soundtrack producer, composer, and arranger of the song "Tu la truong" for the movie "The young god of war Zhou Yu" (2020)...

PV:

Musician Cuong Tong: It can be seen that music in a film accounts for at least 50% of a film's success. That's why in China, producers and directors are willing to spend a lot on sound and music. They give musicians and music producers a large enough creative space. When music blends into images, it creates emotions for the director to think about editing the film's rhythm, making the directors see a new perspective, find a hidden layer of gold that through sound and music helps to make the film's processing creative and surprisingly new.

Professor, People's Artist Tran Thu Ha - musician Cuong Tong's direct teacher congratulated her student on the release of her music product.

With the film music market in Vietnam is currently gradually flourishing. For example, the film "Red Rain" by director Dang Thai Huyen - a blockbuster film of the People's Army Cinema has successfully used the instrumental music, the film's theme symphony composed by musician Cao Dinh Thang. The song with heroic and tragic tones has been used independently as the theme music throughout the film.

That is a good sign because not every film in the domestic market can invest and have such great ambitions. When I return to Vietnam, I really hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with Vietnamese directors and artists in film music, instrumental music and songs to bring good and interesting things, contributing to bringing a new breeze to Vietnamese film music.

PV:

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/van-hoa/doi-song/nhac-si-cuong-tong-viet-nam-dang-co-khong-gian-tot-cho-nguoi-lam-nhac-co-dien-1014571