Finger Rivers by Ha Tran: Listening to the songs of the past in the night

Singer Tran Thu Ha

Singer Tran Thu Ha (also known as Ha Tran) has just returned on a day in March, bringing Finger Rivers . This is her latest studio album after Original Eight years ago.

The album was conceived in 2017 with an invitation to record from musician Tran Duc Minh and poet Phan Le Ha, and completed in 2021.

Last year, the album was re-mastered by musician Tran Thanh Phuong and has just been released.

If previously Ha Tran spent 10 years and a lot of energy to produce The Fiery Origin (after Dialogue 06), then from The Origin to Finger Rivers, she has made a reverse move, dreaming deeply and completely relaxing in a very free, slow state...

Returning after 8 years, what's new with Ha Tran?

The album includes 13 songs, of which Mong is associated with the singer's MV released in 2021 and Nhung con rieng tay is the soundtrack in Tran Thanh's recent movie Mai .

The album Finger Rivers takes the audience on a journey through space and time. There, Ha Tran is like a "girl who loves to wear hats and show off", "who loves to fly and travel the world ".

In that mental space, the girl goes through the days covered in a brown, dusty shirt, imbued with the dreams of life, drifting to the wild lands filled with the chirping sounds of insects, the seasons of flowers full of singing leaves, crying rivers, sad fields and the God of Agriculture with his bent back following the summer ( Brown Dream , Fork in the Road , Last Summer Night ...).

The music was filled with silence. With the acoustic guitar playing, the girl sang slowly and happily, savoring the crumbs that fell.

Phan Le Ha's poems are rich in musicality, imagery and refined in language, set to music and "polished" by two musicians with the last name Tran, and performed by the voice of Ha Tran - a soprano, slender, suggestive and extremely delicate. No wonder, Nhung Cong Song Thuong is a beautiful album, even in some corners "too clean".

If you expect from Ha Tran an "explosion" and destructive power like the album Eclipse , Dialogue 06 ... had done it like many years ago, there probably wouldn't have been any explosion. This time she came back without any secrets.

FINGER RIVERS - HA TRAN ( MAI soundtrack) |

Finger Rivers is a rather gentle album, the music has nothing new or edgy, even a bit light compared to her vocal range and musical thinking. But perhaps as Ha Tran once confided, the fate of this project signals a period of inner transition.

Ha usually makes personal albums when she feels the time is right. It takes eight years to release something, and it's not without reason.

Here, it is still pop, jazz, rock, blues... combined with the "unique" voice of Ha Tran. The harmony of two other people (in Premonition , Night of Silver ) if any, also makes the musical space more flavorful and wider.

From "Ngann Night", "You", "Those Finger Rivers "... to "Our Youth", Ha sings and dreams all night "about some life I've lived". When the album is finished, somewhere there is a smile of relief and satisfaction.

Musician Tran Duc Minh (left) and Ha Tran in the studio recording the album Finger Rivers - Photo: NGUYEN THANH LAN

Not trendy but not strange

After releasing hit studio albums and shows, creating a music citadel in her own name and entering the diva ranks, "chameleon" Ha Tran is probably a little tired.

When announcing the project Original (2016), Ha Tran told musician Quoc Trung she would quit singing.

Ha Tran returns with the album Finger Rivers - Photo: NGUYEN THANH LAN

At that time, Ha Tran had nothing to regret and no longer had much attachment because no one else had the need to improve. And whether she wanted to sing better or stop, it was only her.

Ha Tran's feelings in the context of Vietnamese pop music - tentatively taking the period from 2010 to present - may startle someone.

Many artists in her generation "went to the other side" of creativity and dedication, not releasing new songs/albums for a long time and just singing the same old songs.

Meanwhile, a new generation of artists appeared and dominated all fronts, along with a different musical aesthetic, very new, trendy but also faded away. Singing differently and listening differently.

A segment of the late Gen X and Gen Y audience is somehow excluded from the contemporary music scene. They miss the music that was meant for them. Who will make music, who will sing for them?

Therefore, when Ha Tran released Finger Rivers or before that Hong Nhung released the album Public Radio ... both became products to "quench" the generation's thirst.

When the movie Mai was released, the soundtrack song " The Finger Rivers" conquered many young audiences.

The album of the same name brings Ha Tran back in a way that is not overwhelming, not really trendy but not strange either.

And in that new generation of audiences, there were also people who "got on the bus to the past" to listen to the music of "Miss" Ha Tran, "Miss" Hong Nhung... to live in a world of music that had to be listened to with the ears instead of seen with the eyes.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhung-con-song-ngon-tay-cua-ha-tran-nghe-trong-dem-tieng-hat-cua-ngay-xua-20240314091749033.htm