Musician Pham Tuyen: A young branch dedicated to children

Musician Thuy Kha said Pham Tuyen was a musician of childhood. Poet Tran Dang Khoa affirmed that Pham Tuyen was a giant tree, in which he dedicated a young branch to children.

Musician Pham Tuyen and children - Photo: GĐCC

Pham Tuyen wrote more than 700 songs, of which 1/3 were songs written for children with many famous songs hummed by many generations of children such as:

The Star Lantern, Reunion March, I'm Having Fun Today, My Teacher and My Mother, All Week Behave, Meeting Under the Autumn Sky of Hanoi , The Swallows of Childhood, The Baby Elephant in Ban Don, The Song of the Bell and the Flag, The Handcuffed Lady ...

Ms. Pham Hong Tuyen - daughter of musician Pham Tuyen - said he was especially happy with the record awarded in 2013: "Musician who composed the most widely popular children's songs".

Having written for children all his life, the musician has always kept a pure heart and a bright, innocent smile that only children can have. Meeting him now, his main "language" of communication is just that bright smile, which seems to be enough for any conversation.

From the cadet captain

Born in 1930 in Hang Da (Hanoi), Pham Tuyen was the ninth child of Nam Phong newspaper editor Pham Quynh.

He had a talent for music and studied music early in Hue. But it was not until he became a soldier of Uncle Ho in the Viet Bac resistance base that Pham Tuyen truly revealed his talent for composing music.

Musician Pham Tuyen - Photo: NGUYEN DINH TOAN

Graduated as an army officer in Viet Bac, Pham Tuyen became the youngest company commander of the Vietnam Military Academy in Thai Nguyen .

At that time, he was only nineteen or twenty years old. This was a fate that made him spend his whole life with children, writing many compositions for children.

After the Border Campaign, from 1951, the Vietnam Military Academy moved to Guilin (China), became the Vietnam Children's School, then the Central Campus in Nanning.

Pham Tuyen became a culture teacher, and was also in charge of the literature, sports and arts of the Central Campus. During this time, he composed many famous children's songs: The Day I Had the Red Scarf, Marching to the Youth Union, The Star Lantern, I Was the Schoolboy ...

Returning to Vietnam in 1958, working at the music department of Voice of Vietnam Radio, as head of the music troupe of Voice of Vietnam Radio for many years and then as head of the art department of Vietnam Television (since 1979), Pham Tuyen continued to devote much effort and emotion to composing for children.

During the years when the US bombed the North, he prioritized hot topics. But when peace came, the musician immediately returned to composing for children such as Who loves the children as much as Uncle Ho Chi Minh (based on Uncle Ho's poems), I love the wounded soldier, Fireworks night, My school is a kindergarten...

To nursery rhymes and Doraemon

Not only composing for children, musician Pham Tuyen and his wife, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuyet, also collect nursery rhymes to put to music, so that children can hum the nursery rhymes of their ancestors.

41 nursery rhymes, many of which are widely popular and loved by generations of children such as Mrs. Cong goes to the market, Gourd and Pumpkin, Carrying a load, Wake up quickly, Remembering the grace, The magpie, The stork goes to welcome the rain, Loving the turtle ...

When he found traditional nursery rhymes to put to music, he "secretly wished that the good things his ancestors left behind would soon reach a large number of children across the country."

But with the market mechanism, newly composed children's songs are no longer played on the radio as much as before. So the old musician chose to approach the children himself and teach them to sing.

Ms. Hong Tuyen still remembers that in 1990, when she graduated from university and returned home, her father "invited" her to go to kindergartens in Hanoi.

The father and son went to Hanoi kindergartens to teach children's songs. First, it was Viet Trieu Kindergarten, then 20-10 School... After that, some songs were recorded at Voice of Vietnam Radio and widely distributed.

Ms. Tuyen and her father are working together to compile a 5-volume book series Nursery Rhymes for Children, introducing 41 nursery rhymes. The first volume has been released to readers at the University of Education Publishing House, titled Returning to the Hometown.

Pham Tuyen also contributed to bringing many international children's songs to Vietnam by translating beautiful and meaningful Vietnamese lyrics for these songs.

In the 1970s and 1980s in the North, there were two famous songs from the former Soviet Union that were very popular: At school, she taught me that and Smile.

Especially the song "Smile" with familiar lyrics to many generations: "Laughter is always with us, laughter will always be around us, laughter is a dear friend of our youth...".

Then when the robot cat Doraemon came from Japan to Vietnam, it was Pham Tuyen who translated the Vietnamese lyrics of the funny songs about Doraemon and his friends, which were recorded and published by Kim Dong Publishing House.

Today, children are still fascinated by those cheerful melodies through the Vietnamese lyrics of Pham Tuyen.

It can be said that Pham Tuyen's songs are simple but deeply penetrate the hearts of audiences of all ages. That fate must be because he inherited his literary talent from his father - scholar Pham Quynh.

But people love Pham Tuyen not only for his musical talent.

More than that, it is the soul and character of the "bitter chrysanthemum" in him, as in the poem by Pham Tien Duat that people often quote to summarize about Pham Tuyen: "The bitter chrysanthemum forgets its bitter heart/ Blooms yellow flowers along the stream for bees to fly".

BIRD OF PARADISE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhac-si-pham-tuyen-nhanh-tuoi-non-hien-cho-con-tre-20250528093142635.htm