Quynh Pham wants to spread the love of jazz and Trinh's music to the community, especially the young generation.
Photo: Organizing Committee
Renovating Trinh Cong Son's music in jazz style
Love Jazz is a project to renew and spread Trinh Cong Son's songs through the arrangement of J- Azz, Fusion and Acoustic styles, and translate them into English, Japanese and Korean . The project targets the young generation of audiences who love deep art, while creating a cultural and musical bridge between Vietnam and the world; accompanied and spiritually advised by singer Trinh Vinh Trinh.
Regarding the reason for supporting the project, musician Trinh Cong Son's sister said that she felt in the artists of Let's Love Jazz a sincere love for Trinh's music and a desire to converse in their own musical language. "Quynh Pham is not the first person to renew Trinh's music with a jazz style, but when she boldly translated Trinh Cong Son's songs into English, it can be said that Quynh Pham and this project have almost reached a consensus," singer Trinh Vinh Trinh acknowledged.
Singer Trinh Vinh Trinh (left) shares about remaking Trinh Cong Son's music
Photo: Organizing Committee
Singer Quynh Pham - founder of Hanoi Blues Note, who has been involved in jazz music in Hanoi for the past 25 years - said that the idea for the project came from the desire to build a systematic, connected musical journey, instead of just stopping at individual experiments. "For more than a decade, 'renewing Trinh's music' has become an inspirational underground stream in Vietnamese music life, especially among the youth. However, most of them are still just individual experiments, or in other words, beautiful notes but not yet a long-term arrangement. No one has really drawn a complete, systematic and connected musical journey to bring Trinh's music closer to the new generation and to the world ," she shared.
The project is planned from October 2025 to the end of 2028, including 3 phases with many activities and events. The first phase is to search for young singers, organize mini-shows, online concerts, and launch new albums in the spirit of dialogue between jazz and Trinh. In parallel, the project will build "Jazz Love Stations" in Hanoi , Hue, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, where young artists are guided, inspired and perform live. Phase 2 expands cooperation with international artists, releases digital music, organizes performances and concerts in major cities. Phase 3 of the project is expected to have new works, a series of events to exchange Vietnamese and international jazz music at home and abroad, and release albums in foreign markets.
Translating Trinh's music is not easy.
Quynh Pham said that after launching the project, it will release on digital music platforms an EP with 5 bilingual versions. The extended play (Duluxe with 8 songs) will be officially released in 3 digital formats, CD and Vinyl on February 28, commemorating the birthday of the late musician Trinh Cong Son. "We hope that with the project Let's love jazz , the crew will convey the message of honoring the love of life, people and tolerance typical of Trinh's music in the youthful, "burning" and "carefree" style of young artists. At the same time, it will create opportunities for young artists to express their talents and freedom in music, create interesting musical spaces for the audience, connect Trinh Cong Son's profound works with the world music-loving audience through the jazz style", the founder of Hanoi Blues Note expressed.
Quynh Pham and the Hanoi Blues Note crew devoted a lot of effort to renewing music and translating Trinh Cong Son's songs.
Photo: Organizing Committee
Sharing about the implementation process, musician Vu Quang Trung , the project's music director, said that the combination of jazz and Trinh's music was an interesting challenge. "Jazz is improvisational music from many different perspectives, from the structure of the work, rhythm, harmony, or solo on the melody. Trinh Cong Son's music is the meaning and beauty of the lyrics, the melody is close and simple. How to combine while still maintaining the soul, the closeness to the listener, that is what we consider in each harmony, rhythm and the way the singer handles the work," he said.
Mr. Nguyen Nhat Tuan ( Hanoi University), the project's language consultant, said that not only did he "translate the lyrics" of the song, but he also had to almost rewrite the emotions in another language. "Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language, rich in tones, just a small mark can change the emotional tone. English, on the other hand, has a completely different rhythm of stress, emphasis, and release. Therefore, processing a Trinh song in English is a parallel journey between meaning and music. Keeping the meaning can easily break the music, and keeping the music can easily lose Trinh's soul. I always research carefully to find a similar emotional rhythm, not a word-for-word translation," Mr. Tuan shared.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhac-trinh-cong-son-duoc-chuyen-ngu-cung-hay-yeu-jazz-di-185251025223944144.htm
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