Tran Kiet Tuong - the man who brought the soul of the South to the North

To celebrate the 100th birthday of musician Tran Kiet Tuong, the Department of Culture and Sports, Ho Chi Minh City Television, and the City Music Association organized a music night of musician portraits called “Ho Chi Minh is the most beautiful name”. Many famous musicians and the public have acknowledged that with “Ho Chi Minh is the most beautiful name”, Tran Kiet Tuong has left a deep mark in Vietnamese music when writing about the leader in such an excellent and passionate way. However, talking about this musician, there are still many things worth mentioning. Some have compared him to the image of a bee persistently sucking the nectar of folk songs, of the land, of mountains and rivers into its soul...

Performing the song Ho Chi Minh, the most beautiful name of him. Photo: Hao Vo

• ONLY CREATE WHEN YOU HAVE EMOTIONS

Musician Tran Kiet Tuong once believed: “I live optimistically and love life. Art is endless, life is short. No one is satisfied with what has been achieved. That is understandable. Because if someone is satisfied, it is over. Life is vibrant and attractive. Therefore, musicians cannot compose things that they do not feel”. From that very idea, on the journey to blend in with the vibrant and attractive life out there, musician Tran Kiet Tuong did not lose the artistic values in his works because of the two words “market”, he carefully selected words, carefully selected musical ideas and poetic ideas to contribute in a very unique and beautiful way to the “Vietnamese youth music” genre when writing the songs “Mi-mo-za”, “Mua xuan uoc vong” or even when writing for children with “Em di choi thuyen”, “Co giao em”… he still maintained that style.

One of his revolutionary songs - "Victory Song" although written about a fierce and sacrificial battle, the images in this song always remind us of the peace and tranquility of the gentle Mekong Delta. It is not necessary to use traditional music to evoke the national soul, although written in a modern style, listeners still feel the closeness and intimacy when those are melodies drawn from the soul. That is the talent of musician Tran Kiet Tuong. So that even though going through the ups and downs of time, through the changes of the times, but when Tran Kiet Tuong's musical melodies resound, the audience still finds somewhere a familiar figure, familiar but not old, ancient but not easily faded. That is the great value that musician Tran Kiet Tuong has given to all of us.

In Tran Kiet Tuong's musical world , although he writes about nostalgia and sacrifice, the musical language he uses is soft but not sorrowful, gentle but still full of life. Perhaps that is the musician's personality and soul that always turns towards optimism, no matter what stage of life he writes at, that youthful, vibrant spirit still burns brightly in his compositions. He uses the right emotions and thoughts in his soul and heart to express his works.

Not only love is filled in music

Musician Tran Kiet Tuong's daughter, Ms. Tran Thanh Thao, said: "During my time in Hanoi, I have many profound memories. Thinking back on my parents' love for each other, I find it rare to find a couple who can love each other so deeply from young to old.

I still remember the image of my parents in Hanoi during the days of regrouping to the North with very simple images. At that time, the cadres were very poor and hard-working, but my father always maintained a romantic, cheerful, life-loving and especially optimistic attitude. I remember the evenings after working days, after finishing the family chores, taking care of the children, my father often took his old bicycle to take my mother to the park or to beautiful lakes to sit and chat, enjoy the cool air and those images became familiar in my memory. And not only then, after 1975, returning to Saigon, my parents were given an apartment by the state near the Saigon River, but in the evenings, the image of the man taking the woman to the riverbank to enjoy the cool air was still there. And they would sit like that next to each other looking at the river, looking at the water, looking at the clouds and wind.

In my family, from childhood to adulthood, although life was difficult, I never witnessed my parents arguing with each other. They never got upset with each other because of economic difficulties or life pressures. I only witnessed warm feelings. My father always said, "Our mother is the most beautiful woman in the world."

• HO CHI MINH THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSONAL NAME

Until now, after more than 60 years since the song was released, 55 years after Uncle Ho wrote his will, every time we hear “Ho Chi Minh, the most beautiful name”, the emotions and love are still very close to the hearts of the Vietnamese people. The song is considered one of the best songs about the leader, written both passionately but also very modern and close.

Going back in time to look back at 1962, the time when the composer of this song wrote those warm, loving melodies - "On the fields of the South, sorrow and clouds cover the horizon. When singing Ho Chi Minh, I hear my heart full of faith" - was when he recalled the previous pain, remembering Ngo Dinh Diem dragging the guillotine across the South (law 10/59). Tran Kiet Tuong gathered in the North, carrying with him the pain, the nostalgia for his homeland and sending his emotions into this melody, his sincere emotions helped the public love the song and the composer even more.

Looking back at the time the song was released, we can see the influence and power of this song as well as "Love song" by Hoang Viet, "Hope song" by Van Ky as it deeply encouraged and shared the feelings and thoughts of Vietnamese patriots at that time. Indeed, in times of pain and hardship, thinking of Ho Chi Minh, the souls of the Southern people were shared more, their strength and faith were strengthened. And because of that, the Northern people understood, loved and supported the South more. The more painful and lost, the stronger the hope and love - Tran Kiet Tuong contributed to igniting the spirit with his lyrics.

Not only composing this excellent song, when mentioning Tran Kiet Tuong, one can immediately remember "Unknown Soldier", "Anh Ba Hung", "Southern Arms on the North",... Most children will know how to sing "Em di choi thuyen", "Co giao em"... by him. In his artistic creative career, he not only limited his works to the song genre but also many other genres such as instrumental music, composing music for some cai luong plays, movies... and especially his research, collection and popularization of folk songs which are of immense value to the country's art.

• THE PERSON WHO BROUGHT THE SOUTHERN SOUL TO THE NORTH

Musician Duc Trinh - Chairman of the Vietnam Musicians Association, shared: "Since musician Tran Kiet Tuong went to join the revolution, we were still very young. When we were young, we grew up with our mother's lullabies, including lullabies and folk songs that musician Tran Kiet Tuong brought from the South to the North. Musician Tran Kiet Tuong's music is imbued with the warmth and sentiments of folk songs, and he wrote masterpieces, of which "Ho Chi Minh is the most beautiful name" is a masterpiece that is not easy to come by. Writing about the leader, talking about love and respect for the leader with a folk melody and flexibly transforming the melody with the musician's talent; the work has lived on until today and certainly will for a long time to come.

During the time of regrouping to the North, musician Tran Kiet Tuong was the only person at that time who popularized Southern folk songs to the North. Later, his students also absorbed and developed the Southern folk songs in their songs. Musician Hoang Hiep relied on the ending line of the song "Ly con sao" to get inspiration to write the ending of the song "Cau ho ben bo Hien Luong", musician Lu Nhat Vu developed the unique features of the "Ly con sao sang song" to open the song "Co gai Sai Gon di tai am"... as well as the Southern folk songs imbued in many of his other compositions.

It can be said that musician Tran Kiet Tuong is the one who has made great contributions in popularizing Southern folk songs in the North, helping people in the great rear understand a part of the Southern people's soul with the melodies and songs from the front line of the Fatherland. Tran Kiet Tuong's songs are imbued with Southern folk melodies, blending with the deep longing of a child far from home when thinking about his homeland, so they have a very special place in the hearts of the public.

The enduring vitality of the songs that musician Tran Kiet Tuong wrote 50, 60 years ago until now is the clearest proof of this: When a work of art is written with emotion, is the voice of the soul, of the heart, and not for anything else, it will have vitality.

Source: http://baolamdong.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202410/tran-kiet-tuong-nguoi-dua-tam-hon-mien-nam-ra-dat-bac-a28334c/