I've loved my homeland since I was young...

People express their love for their homeland through the pages of books; I express my love for my homeland through old songs…

In the past, there were musical pieces written about the beauty of our homeland, down to every kilometer. But today, our homeland has changed every centimeter, so the old songs about our homeland are sometimes considered outdated; if they still exist, they only remain in the memories of… the elderly!

Music written about the homeland during wartime is a source of pride not only for music lovers, but "songs that have endured war" will be an "intangible cultural heritage" within the Vietnamese musical legacy of peace.

I would like to "turn over the pages" of one or two songs about homeland from among the thousands of songs written by many musicians during the war, which now remain in peacetime and in people's hearts...

Composer Truc Phuong, "the lonely composer" (lonely in a positive sense). He doesn't compose with anyone, he doesn't set anyone's poems to music, and his music is only about "afternoon" and "evening." He lived for a long time in Binh Tuy, now La Gi - Binh Thuan , and he considers Binh Thuan his second home.

I've written quite a few songs by Truc Phuong: about fate, love, the harsh realities of life during wartime. It seems that Truc Phuong, the composer, simply stood "alone beside life," waiting for the evening to fall and night to arrive. And life brought him much hardship, separation and reunion… and it was these "impermanent" things that gave him the material to write his "ordinary" songs.

In writing about him, I inadvertently forgot about him, the musician who "loved his homeland from the time"... He has two songs about his homeland that are no less impressive than any homeland songs by his contemporaries: "Deep Love in the Countryside" and "Evening in My Village".

I don't know which of these two songs he wrote first, but either way, it's a song about "loving one's homeland," ever since he became a musician, living in "The Ways of the World" (the title of his song).

“Deep Love in the Countryside” (Dm-style, Bolero Mambo): “…Passionate love permeates through thatched roofs/ Sweet fragrance lingers in green hair/ Deep love is simple love/ My homeland is still beautiful, beautiful with innocent love/ The village evening is intoxicating with songs/ Villagers love the rice blossoms dearly/ Old mothers sit watching children playing in the village below/ Their lips tremble with smiles as if they were still in their twenties…/ The evening falls on the dike, hearing someone's voice/ Dating, happy love between young men and women/ The singing drifts aimlessly when the moon is languid/ The village night is bustling with the sound of pestles pounding…”.

The lyrics contain such beautiful words: "Deepest love is simple love," "The villagers love the rice blossoms dearly," "The old mother's lips tremble with a smile like she did in her twenties," "The twilight falls on the dike, hearing someone's voice..."

“Evening in My Village” (Game A, Rumba): “…My village is bathed in pale golden sunlight / A few white clouds drift lazily towards the horizon / A wistful folk song echoes through the deserted hamlet / The evening smoke seems to want to stop time / One evening you arrived / The coconut trees swayed in the wind on the porch / Searching for colorful wings / My eyes spoke a thousand words… / My love, remember to visit our old village / To hear the sweet sound of the coconut trees swaying in the breeze….”

Again, words so beautiful, so gentle, so graceful, so captivating… Truc Phuong uses words to describe "Evening in My Village": "Faint golden hues in the village," "A few white clouds drifting lazily," "Evening smoke stops time," "The coconut tree's shadow leaning," "Sweet sounds lulling the coconut tree's shadow," "Your eyes speak a thousand words"… These images are hard to forget, even though today "the countryside has transformed into the city" and ways of thinking and living have changed to compensate for the years of poverty and suffering caused by war.

Long ago, Thanh Thúy's singing and Trúc Phương's songs were so popular that people wondered: Did Trúc Phương's music make Thanh Thúy famous, or did Thanh Thúy create Trúc Phương's music? And Dr. Jason Gibbs, an American who came to Vietnam to study Bolero music, said: Trúc Phương's music, sung by Thanh Thúy, is truly the best!

I also love singer Thanh Thúy's renditions of Trúc Phương's songs. And I've also heard singer Hồng Trúc sing Trúc Phương's songs, which is quite unique. But I was startled when I heard singer Ngọc Ánh (who is very enthusiastic in revolutionary songs like "Nổi lửa lên em") sing "Chiều làng em" (Evening in my village). Ngọc Ánh pronounced the words "dật dờ" in "Vài mây trắng dật dờ về cuối trời" (A few white clouds drift aimlessly towards the end of the sky), and hearing "dật dờ," I imagined white clouds drifting aimlessly... And personally, I think no singer can surpass Ngọc Ánh when singing "Chiều làng em," not even Thanh Thúy.

Truc Phuong's two songs about his hometown are truly love songs about "a homeland that once shone brightly." Singing them again, listening to them again, allows us to see the image of our homeland, even though it is lost, even though it is far away...

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