Proud of "Half a Hundred Year City"

Reporter: What material did you use to compose the song "Half-Hundred-Year City"?

- Musician TIEN LUAN: Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City is honored to be the place where Uncle Ho left in 1911, and has followed his path with the whole country, creating miracles in the cause of national liberation and national unification. Proud of the city named after Uncle Ho, I want to include in the song the large construction works and impressive relics of the city such as: Vo Van Kiet Avenue, Thu Thiem Bridge, Thu Thiem Tunnel, Phu My Bridge, Cu Chi Tunnels... Our city is also a pioneer in building and developing many new models in the market economy , commodity production; is the pioneer locality in the country in implementing smart urban management methods, building the Eastern creative urban area - Thu Duc City. Ho Chi Minh City is also a locality that always strives to think, research, build and develop major cultural and social movements such as the "Building houses of gratitude" movement to give to families of martyrs, war invalids, and people with meritorious services to the country who are facing housing difficulties; the movement to support heroic Vietnamese mothers... These bright spots are the main material of the song "Half a Hundred Year City".

Nhạc sĩ Tiến Luân: Tự hào về — Musician Tien Luan. (Photo provided by the character)

After attending the first Music Exchange program - the preliminary summary of the song composition campaign "The Country is Full of Joy" organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, what do you think about the program's influence?

- I was very moved, especially the image of musician Pham Minh Tuan, singer Cam Van, and People's Artist Thanh Thuy improvising the song "City of Love and Nostalgia" that musician Pham Minh Tuan composed in 1980. It was such a beautiful moment.

The six songs in response to the first round by musicians Nguyen Ngoc Thien, Nguyen Van Hien, Quynh Hop, Thai Hiep, Mai Tram and Hoai An show the great pride in the musicians' hearts for Ho Chi Minh City - a place that has been promoting very well the tradition of resilient, united, dynamic and creative revolution to be worthy of the great sacrifices of previous generations and the trust of the city's people. This affirms the creativity, dynamism, and always being devoted "for the whole country, with the whole country, for the happiness of the people" through each song.

According to you, to spread songs about Ho Chi Minh City, what key issues do we need to focus on?

- Ho Chi Minh City is a major cultural center of the country. With the development of digital platforms, cyberspace and multimedia forms, we only need to invest in building an app that contains all the songs of 50 years about Ho Chi Minh City, about the heroic history of Ho Chi Minh City, we will certainly have an attractive entertainment information channel for tourists and audiences nationwide. The problem is which typical images the musician chooses to put in the song, so that young people know and learn about the data and information about that place. From the access of young people, the love for the song about Ho Chi Minh City will spread.

Song "Half a Hundred Year City", performed by: Singer Quoc Dai

What suggestions do you have for organizing the promotion after the song composition campaign with the theme "The Country is Full of Joy" of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper?

- The day I attended the Music Exchange program, I was moved to know that after the "Mai Vang Nhan Ai" program - the program that helped me overcome difficulties in medical treatment, a new program "Mai Vang Tri An" has been developed. From that, I can see the increasingly sustainable humanistic value of the Mai Vang Award. I believe that from the force of artists who are awarded and nominated every year, there will be a place to provide many good voices for the creative movement.

What do you expect from the results of the creative campaign?

- Up to now, the first round has had 23 songs by 18 participating musicians. I believe that in the near future, the organizing committee will receive many products demonstrating the intelligence, sensitivity and adaptability to the integration process and trend of the city named after Uncle Ho. The songs written will be musical products demonstrating the tireless efforts of the city's people. The results of the campaign will bring practical effects, with political , economic, cultural and social significance of noble humanity.

I have witnessed the remarkable development of Ho Chi Minh City. Urbanization and infrastructure construction continue to be promoted. Urban construction projects have sprung up, bringing modern and convenient living spaces to the people. In recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has continued to maintain an impressive growth rate. Investment in infrastructure, transportation and information technology projects has helped improve the quality of life and attracted more foreign investment. Ho Chi Minh City is constantly innovating in its thinking and working methods, ready to accept and welcome improvements, and its musical composition must also keep up with that development momentum, so that musicians can have works full of emotion when writing about the place they have contributed to building Ho Chi Minh City to become more and more beautiful, civilized, modern and affectionate.

The songwriting campaign "The Country is Full of Joy" is organized by the Lao Dong Newspaper to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025). The Organizing Committee will select the 20 best works for the final round. The final round will take place in February 2025. During the time of receiving works and preliminary screening, the Organizing Committee will select good works to stage and introduce at the 30th Mai Vang Awards Ceremony (around January 2025). At the same time, the Organizing Committee will also post the works on the newspaper's social networking platform to introduce to the community.

Each author can submit up to 3 works. Works sent to the Organizing Committee must have full music and Vietnamese lyrics, and must be accompanied by a CD of the recorded song or an MP3, MP4 file. The works must be new, unpublished in any form and free of copyright disputes. The Organizing Committee will not consider or award prizes for works that copy or imitate the ideas, melodies, and lyrics of other authors at home and abroad.

The award ceremony will take place in April 2025. The award structure includes 1 first prize (100 million VND), 1 second prize (50 million VND), 2 third prizes (30 million VND/prize), 3 consolation prizes (10 million VND/prize).

Place to receive entries:

- Event and Brand Development Department of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper. Address: 123-127 Vo Van Tan, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Phone: (028) 39301820; Email: [email protected].

- Form of submitting entries: Directly; by post or by email.