The book "Tran Hoan - Talented culturalist, artist, excellent soldier" was compiled and published by Thuan Hoa Publishing House in collaboration with the musician's family.

  Artist in the heart of the people

Talented musician and distinguished culturalist Tran Hoan (December 27, 1928 - November 23, 2003) passed away 20 years ago. He made many important contributions to the country's culture and arts. He seamlessly blends the qualities, talent and revolutionary enthusiasm of a soldier and an artist. His compositional style is unique in its very rustic, simple, and "spoken" sentences, but that is why it leaves a deep, familiar impression on listeners.

Associate Professor, Dr. Writer Nguyen The Ky - Chairman of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, in the introduction to "Remembering musician Tran Hoan" wrote: Remembering him is remembering the precious spiritual heritage with hundreds of songs he composed, including excellent, soulful, and passionate works that last forever: A small spring (1980, poem by Thanh Hai), Mountain girl song (1948), Words of the departed (1950), Waiting for you to return (1970), Lullaby on the fields (1971, poem by Nguyen Khoa Diem), Uncle Ho's advice before leaving (1989), Visiting Nha Rong wharf (1990)...

Remembering him is remembering his poems full of love, imbued with love for the country, homeland, family, comrades, and friends: Mother, I Still Live, The Ferrywoman on the Perfume River, Reading My Letter...

Remembering him is remembering the letters he wrote across the border from the battlefield, in the deep forest, under the rain of enemy bombs and bullets. Many of those letters, after he passed away, his wife presented the National Archives Center III (State Archives Department) with a rather large volume of documents of her husband, including 160 letters they wrote to each other.

Poet Vo Que shares memories of Tran Hoan at book launch

Remembering him is remembering a multi-talented, gallant, passionate, loyal, humane, and responsible cultural officer and leader of culture and arts through his thoughts on culture and arts; on the Party's 1943 Vietnamese Culture Outline; on the image of Uncle Ho on stage; on preserving national identity in culture and music; on stage, in folk songs, folk music, and folk dance; on cultural exchange with foreign countries; on Vietnamese culture in the face of the challenges of the market economy and integration; on cultural life at the grassroots level; on music and folk songs of his hometown Binh Tri Thien.

The person has gone far away, the song remains

The late musician's close friend - Professor, People's Artist, musician Nguyen Van Thuong emotionally wrote: At the age of 17, student Tran Hoan had his first published song "Soul of the country" and eagerly entered the resistance war against the French. With his self-taught musical theory and romanticism, he put it into the songs "Con chim non", "Dan chim xanh", "Hon song Huong", "Son nu ca"... In the hardships of the enemy's rear, his witty and humorous qualities were "infused" into the songs he composed on the Binh Tri Thien battlefield, such as "Con trau khang chien", "Ba Ba", "Buon cuoi cho thang Tay" which were widely loved by the masses.

The song “The Words of the Departed” is like a farewell to the young wife before going to the front line, like a reminder to love each other forever and keep the faith, “wait for me to come back, honey”. The song was truly written from the heart, so it has been alive for over 40 years, and is still a song loved by many people today.

After the war against the US (1966-1975), from the fiery land of Binh Tri Thien, he sent to Hanoi many passionate compositions of the battlefield: "Advancing to Hue", "Truong Son", "Plucking a flower branch to secretly give to you"... His passionate songs written from the front were received with special affection by listeners.

And many people certainly do not forget the song "Lullaby on the field" - a touching song, the song that marked Tran Hoan's success in handling folk material and later the songs "Mua lam tham wet dam la khe", "Mai em ve Ha Tinh", "Khuc hat ru cua nguoi K'ho" which used folk melodies more and more skillfully.

It would be remiss not to mention the songs he wrote about beloved Uncle Ho and admired by the people: "Listening to the folk song in Moscow", "Visiting Nha Rong Wharf", "Emotions from Sen Village", "Uncle's Advice Before Going Far", songs with lyrical melodies, evoking deep emotions in the audience. In particular, the song "A Small Spring" (based on Thanh Hai's poem) can be considered one of the most beautiful spring melodies of Vietnamese music. In the song, the poetic lyrics and music "resonate" to create an aesthetic effect and enter the literary and artistic life as an indelible mark.

After more than half a century of participating in the revolution and composing songs, the late musician left behind a huge legacy of over 800 songs. Tran Hoan has become a special phenomenon, working all his life in management and propaganda (member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Culture and Information, Deputy of the Central Ideology and Culture Committee, Ho Chi Minh Prize for Literature and Arts...) but is the author of many famous songs that have touched people's hearts for decades.

Article and photos: LIEN MINH