Musician Nguyen Cuong was born in 1943 into a middle-class family on Hang Bac Street, Hanoi . At the age of 16, he entered the Hanoi Conservatory of Music (now the Vietnam National Academy of Music) to study the cello.
After graduating in 1965, Nguyen Cuong was assigned to the Tay Nguyen Song and Dance Troupe (now Dam San Song and Dance Troupe), which was based in Hanoi at that time. From 1967, he transferred to work at the Political Education Department of the University of Mining and Geology.
At the age of 82, musician Nguyen Cuong confided to VietNamNet reporters that he does not write songs but focuses on composing long-form works, mainly operas. There are works that take him 4-5 years to complete.
The musician said that composing is very tiring. Therefore, for many years now, he has maintained the habit of exercising 3 hours a day including swimming, walking, meditating...
“Many people say that I am still young at this age, traveling everywhere tirelessly. Simply because I don’t like being sick, it is embarrassing to be old. If I am afraid of that, my soul will always be cheerful, I work hard to exercise to be diligent, to slow down aging,” the musician confided.
The musician said that he rarely appears in public without a hat, which helps him hide the signs of age. His collection of cowboy hats is too large to count. Occasionally, when he meets a close friend, Nguyen Cuong gives them one, but it seems that no one dares to wear it.
Nguyen Cuong said he never sits down to compose for 2-3 hours straight. Because the nature of music is that emotions come very quickly, at most he only sits at his desk for 45 minutes and does not compose after 8pm: “I have a very close friend, musician Pho Duc Phuong. During his lifetime, Mr. Phuong was always busy working until 2-3am. As for me, I dare anyone to discuss or talk about work after 8pm and honestly, 10am is the time when I work best. I am a Sun person, so as soon as the sun rises I compose (laughs)”.
Rarely talking about his family and his marriage to his wife, 19 years younger, musician Nguyen Cuong does not like to be introduced as “this is the wife of musician Nguyen Cuong”, although he is very proud of his husband. He said that his wife, born in 1962, is a “tiger king” so her personality is stronger than usual, but at home she is very calm. Therefore, the two live in harmony with each other.
Nguyen Cuong rarely composed songs for women, but the only song he wrote was "Net ca tru ngay xuan" (Spring's Ca Tru). At that time, the two were in love, his wife was in her 20s, he wrote it for fun when he felt like it, without any calculation, but in the end the song became a hit, and was sung everywhere every Tet.
Nguyen Cuong, at the age of over 80, no longer worries or regrets anything, because focusing on composing operas has taken a lot of his effort and passion. It is also a way for him to preserve and protect national cultural values.
Pleiku Eyes (composed by musician Nguyen Cuong, performed by singer Siu Black)
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nhac-si-nguyen-cuong-tuoi-82-tap-the-duc-3-tieng-ngay-chia-se-ve-vo-kem-19-tuoi-2392420.html
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