THE FIRST STEPS

My musical career started in 1942 with the setting to music of the poem CÔ HÁI MƠ (The Apricot Picking Girl) by Nguyễn Bính. There were also a few poems by Huy Cận, Xuân Diệu and others. which I did not complete working on, and the song CON ÐƯỜNG VUI (The Happy Road) written together with Lê Vy, a musically talented young man from Hưng Yên, about that time.

CÔ HÁI MƠ was one of the first songs in the ''reformed music'' style. During the years 1943-45, I had the great fortune of being the country's first itinerant singer, travelling all over the country to demonstrate a new type of music, more attractive than the older styles which were gradually becoming neglected. CÔ HÁI MƠ made its appearance during this period.
CÔ HÁI MƠ
THE APRICOT PICKING GIRL
(from a poem by Nguyễn Bính)
On the darkening path, an aimless wandering poet
Dreamily looks at the blue mountains in the distance
The air is clear and gentle
In the apricot forest he glimpses an apricot picking girl.
Dear picker of old apricots!
You are not heading home yet? The road is long
And the dusk is waning.
Maybe you can come back with me
My place is by the willow tree
Half a mile from the Hương Sơn grottoes
By the singing brook
With sweet smelling flowers on its banks.
Dear apricot picking girl!
You don't even answer me
Just silently walk, and disappear
The leaves are falling in the gloomy forest...

I performed CÔ HÁI MƠ with the travelling show of Ðức Huy-Charlot Miều, together with other songs such as BUỒN TÀN THU (End Of Authumn Melancholy) by Văn Cao, CON THUYỀN KHÔNG BẾN (The Boat Without A Port) byÐặng Thế Phong and BẢN ÐÀN XUÂN (Spring Sonata) by Lê Thương. I was also the first person to sing reformed music on RADIO INDOCHINE in 1944.

The songs that were performed on stage and radio at that time all conformed with people's taste at the time, especially that of younger people, who were yearning for a new direction in Vietnamese music.

It was also the time of World War II. The colonial regime in Indochina was shaken to its roots when the Japanese army disarmed the French. The people began to hope for independence and freedom. We young musicians needed no prompting and started to write patriotic songs.
When the Autumn Revolution of 1945 broke out, we strongly supported it by singing the heroic history of the fatherland, with heroic songs and Revolutionary songs.

HEROIC MUSIC
From Knights To Soldiers
I started writing heroic music with songs that contained classical images of knight warriors with sabres, bows and arrows, of legionnaries in armours and battle dresses. The first song written on my own was GƯƠM TRÁNG SĨ (The Warrior's Sword). When printed, it was dedicated to the Lake of the Returned Sword in Tha(ng Long (ancient Hanoi).

GƯƠM TRÁNG SĨ
THE WARRIOR'S SWORD
(Hà Nội -1944)
I am the sword of a brave warrior of old
Together we had our share of glory.
A young man of great vision I could recall
He put aside his scholar's tools.
The delicate hands of a scholar
Became tainted with the blood of ennemies
And the colour of his fatherland.
His sword flew like the wind and the rain
Empowered by the spirits of past heroes
And by the will of his people.
When in his deadly hand the sword flew
Ennemy heads rolled among the screams
His name is forever imprinted in history
The magic sword is still as sharp as ever
Who will take up this sword once more ?

After the warrior came the legionary and the soldier's wife. Although I followed the Revolution and joined the Resistance when the French army reoccupied Saigon at the end of 1945, in my artistic temperament I was still confined within the framework of ancient epics. In that respect I was similar to Văn Cao who in CHIẾN SĨ VIỆT NAM (The Vietnamese Warrior) wrote of men who coldly marched brandishing their sword to the battlefront expecting to die and be buried in their horses' hide. I wrote CHINH PHỤ CA (Song Of The Legionary's Wife) while participating in the resistance in the South:

CHINH PHỤ CA
SONG OF THE LEGIONARY's WIFE
(Bà Riạ 1945)
Since he went away in campaign garments
The nation's flag in his soul
She stops spinning whenever he comes to her thoughts
The golden silk threads soak up her tears
In the saddle his thought wanders
To her amid the smoke and dust of battle
As he looks at his sword
His tears are shed for his beloved.

Autumn, Winter then Spring came by
She feels the cold in the Summer night wind
As the night retreats and the moon begins to fade
She lies awake, listening to the lonely lute.
There is no joy in battle marches
Three drum beats echo in the night
Among the forest's continuing murmurs
Amid the songs of the cicadas.

I dream of the day though I don't know when
A flock of homeless swallows will come back.
With the wandering winds and the rosy clouds
I dream of the clear sound of kite pipes
And through the window overlooking the river
I'll see my hero on his battlehorse
Lovingly coming back to me
Bringing with him our golden days.

During the Southern Resistance (1945-46) I wrote four more heroic songs. The first was XUẤT QUÂN (The Troops' Departure) written on the Southern March road and completed in the Mây Tào military zone, which still bore classical images:
XUẤT QUÂN
THE TROOPS' DEPARTURE
(Chiến Khu Mây Tào -1945)
This is the day our brave soldiers advance
Their battle cry rings all over the country
Proud and stern they march to the sound of gunfire
Vietnam's troops, pledged to rebuild the nation.
Go and fight !
Fight till victory !
Go and avenge the nation!
Go and fight !
Fight till victory !
Advance, brave people of Vietnam. (THE END)
. . . . . . .
Trumpets blare to the soldiers' footsteps
Passionate calls
Voices of righteous anger
Thundering battle cries
Mixed with gunshots from faraway battlefields.
Their souls are drunk with vengeance
The enemy's bones scatter
Hatred is thick in the air
A hurricane blows
The enemy's blood flows
As the bright sword flashes
(D.C. del FINE)

The second song was THU CHIẾN TRƯỜNG (Authumn In The Battlefield), which although still classical in character with its calls ''O Autumn, O Autumn'' was somewhat less bellicose. I painted the image of an evening on the frontiers, with a soldier tapping on his gun and singing for an autumn when permanent peace would come. Peace, at the beginning of a war! This humanistic spirit would follow me for the rest of my life. This song uses the ''oo'' sounds to evoke feelings of autumn.

THU CHIẾN TRƯỜNG
AUTUMN IN THE BATTLEFIELD
(Huế, 1946 on returning to the North from the War zone)
The sun is setting set on the battlefield one autumn day
The sound of hatred is heard no more
The forest wind sings its eternal lullaby
Soothing the wanderer's soul
Autumn is in the air, the soldier stops and listens
Warm in his heart is his love for the motherland
O Autumn ! O Autumn !
The battered wind whispers in a war-ravaged land
The rustling leaves grieve for fragile human lives
O Autumn ! O Autumn !
Life has come back to the war-wearied soldier
Peaceful songs are being heard in the green fields
Autumn has come back to us
With regrets but no hatred
Don't you hear ?
Under the vast Autumn sky explodes the last bomb
Though war is still here
The flowers are blooming on our beloved land.
Regret but suffer not
Don't you hear ?
Autumn is coming in permanent peace
Autumn ! Dear Autumn
Tapping on my gun I sing
I'm singing for Life, for Autumn and for me.
Here in the battlefield I dearly long
For a song of peace for all of us.

The third song, CHIẾN SĨ VÔ DANH (The Unnamed Soldiers) was also very ''classical'' in character, but it also had a surrealistic flavor, with the image of a ghost army marching in the evening forest...

CHIẾN SĨ VÔ DANH
THE UNNAMED SOLDIERS
In the dimming twilight
Pass the faint shadows of the ghost soldiers
The mountains and the woodlands
Stand in solemn silence
As the heroes' shadows march by
To the urgent beating of drums
And the cold, still night start to fall
On the cultivated hillsides.
They went to battle one gloomy evening
Shrouded in haze and smoke.
In the howling wind the spirits of the dead
Cry revenge for the people of Vietnam.
Sworn to avenge their country
Their solemn words still ring
Their heroic spirit still aim for victory
Dreams and lives now lie buried
Many times their sacred swords were stained with blood
Now their bodies serve to build the nation
Coldly time flows, indifferent
As the fragrant forest fades into darness
And the faint shadows of anonymous soldiers pass

NỢ XƯƠNG MÁU (Debt of Blood), the fourth song, is completely surrealistic, with headless corpses wandering on the battlefield, with their shrill laughter. I wrote this song before coming back to the North from the Southern war zone,and sang it in the NGHỆ SĨ (Artists') cabaret in Huế together with Bùi Công Kỳ.

NỢ XƯƠNG MÁU
DEBT OF BLOOD
(Huế -1946)
Now white bones lie thick on the fields
And red blood darkens the nation's soil
Do you hear the howls from the battlefield ?
The sound of agony that people have forgotten.
Whose headless corpse is wandering
And bursting into shrill crazy laughter
From them blood is spurting
A piercing sound rips the night
Have you paid your debt to the nation ?
Debt of bone and blood
Among the scattering leaves
The soldiers are passing through the village
Swords broken, clothes tattered, arms severed
They float into the sky
Through the white clouds
The battlefield shakes with the rumble of gunfire
Young man sharpening your sword under the moon.
Do you hear that shrill laughter ?
Someone is screaming, footsteps from afar
Whose cadaver is walking
Whose laughter pierces the air
Who wanders headless yet happy.
They fought and fell in the fields
Their debt to the nation they have paid in full

LOVE MUSIC
Early Resistance Period

During the years I wrote heroic music, to go along with the tide, I continued to write love songs. In 1942, CÔ HÁI MƠ was a ''stuttering love song'', written for an idealized love which remained unanswered. CÂY ÐÀN BỎ QUÊN (The Guitar I Left Behind), written on Phan Rang's beach while I was joining the Southern Resistance, was also a stuttering love song, expressing the feeling of a young musician who did not have the courage to declare himself openly to the girl but only asked himself does she - does the world - love me or merely love my guitar?
CÂY ÐÀN BỎ QUÊN
THE GUITAR I LEFT BEHIND
(Phan Rang Beach - Southern Resistance 1945)
I said good-bye to her the other day
And realized I'd left my guitar behind
Only when I got back to my place
I tossed and turned all night
I dreamt of her in the late hours
Longing for the morrow to see my lovely maiden again.
At daybreak I went to her place
My guitar I found, but no trace of her
A nice flower pinned to the strings
That must be my angel's gift to me.
I held my guitar closed to my heart
I cherished the flower, till it withered
Sadness filled my heart, I wondered
Was it her that I missed, or the scent of her flower?
My dear guitar, keep singing that sound of sorrow
Or of happiness on my long journey
Tell me, 'cause I long to know
That gift of flower that she gave to me
Was it for the love of me
Or of my melody?
Did she love me?
Or my melody?

KHỐI TÌNH TRƯƠNG CHI (Trương Chi's Love) which I wrote soon later was again a stuttering, silent love. It appeared about the same time as Văn Cao's TRƯƠNG CHI. Văn Cao wrote about Trương Chi's inner feelings, while I told the story of a love in which the parties did not say a single word to each other.
KHỐI TÌNH TRƯƠNG CHI
TRƯƠNG CHI's LOVE
(Huế - 1945)
One night long ago
When the voice of silken strings rose
Flowers forgot to close
And white clouds drifted in search of company
A lonely soul stirred in her chamber
One night long ago when dreams arose from a lute's voice
Lovingly raising her fan
A kiss she sent into the wind towards a faraway boat
As the voice from the waters lullabied the angels
Sweetly, sweetly floated the sound
Of the Nam and Thuong strings
She fell in love with the riverman
She longed for the musician.
Away, far away drifted
The Nam Ai's haunting melody
Night after night she sat in her lonely chamber
Her yearning remaining unanswered.
When the music stopped, her heart was under a spell
O music! I dare not hope for a love tryst
Must my life draws to its end without hope of spring
As that voice sings?
I hold an unrequited love
And wait for the moon to rise and wash away my hurt
My eyes are damp with tears
My hair is disheveled, my lips without color.
One night long ago a maiden cherished golden dreams
Then she saw him
And her dreams were shattered.
One night long ago on the lonely boat
A lovestruck young man
Separated by fate from the one he loved
Knew unending bitterness.

One night long ago a man holding an unrequited love
Buried his lute in the waters.
He died when the moon was full
His debt of love remaining unpaid.
One night long ago a love that was still burning
Was carried to the other world
And became a gemstone waiting.
Quietly passed the years
Time destroyed memories
Then by chance someone brought the gemstone to the palace
On a tray sat Trương Chi's heart
As the family enjoyed a gathering.
When tea was poured into the gemstone cup, the image of a fisherman
Floated around in his boat, amidst the sound of lute
And a voice sang a sad serenade
Lamenting cruel fate.
Lovingly holding up the enchanted cup
She saw in it his dreams of love
And realized how cruel she had been.
Her tears welled, trying to repay a debt of love.
One night long ago a maiden longing for her beloved
Raised a cup in her lonely chamber
And casting her thoughts far away
Shed tears of sorrow for the voice of old.
Love finally answered
The cup dissolved
Into a lullaby for my heart...

In 1946, I worked at one of the first two first cabarets in Hanoi, the THIÊN THAI (Fairyland) in Hàng Gai Street, where I helped launch a new voice, Thương Huyền. That was the time I was close to Văn Cao with whom I wrote SUỐI MƠ (Brook Of Dreams), BẾN XUÂN (Shore Of Spring), CHIẾN SĨ HẢI QUÂN (Navy Fighters)... I lived with a dancing girl of the HANOI BAR by the name of Ðịnh, and wrote a dance piece called TÌNH Kĩ NỮ (The Songstress's Love). To think of it, I should have titled it TÌNH Kị NỮ (The Cavalière's Love) in view of my then companion's profession.
TÌNH Kĩ NỮ
THE SONGSTRESS'S LOVE or THE DANCING GIRL'S LOVE
(Hà Nội - 1946)
Tonight two wanderers
Meet in fleeting love
For a moment they fall in steps
Their shoulders touching, they dream
Of building a house by a stream
Their lips touching, they dream of making music.
Tonight the dreamy scent of love is rising
And the strings sing a sad melody.
A lovely figure full of grace
But how long will a songstress's love endure
How lasting this indifferent music?
I hold her loveliness in my arms
But our souls are far away
I'm only holding the echo
Of a love of hers long ago.
Tonight when a golden dream dies
Someone will sit here dazed and sad
Gazing at wandering lovers.
I will keep the memory of a songstress's love
And of the music of that day long ago...

A SONG WITH SOCIAL CONTENT

At that time Văn Cao and I often dawdled at places of fun. Living the life of a night bird, I wrote the first modern song with a social content.
TIẾNG BƯỚC TRÊN ÐƯỜNG KHUYA
FOOTSTEPS IN THE NIGHT
(Hà Nội - 1946)
Slow footsteps echo in the night
Footsteps downstairs, dream of love dying
Footsteps that bear the burden of years
Footsteps of waning youth
Steps of a philanderer
Running away from a fading love
Steps of a abandoned lover sobbing.
Uncertain, hesitating
They grieve for a lost youth
They continue to lament
Telling a story
Of passionate love
Of torturing pain...
O sad sound of footsteps
Mixed with the dripping autumn rain
O sad sound of footsteps
Echoing a pauper's lament
A hungry cry
Rising to the sky
A discolored scream
Despondent steps of a pauper
Echoing in the night with a sad complaint
. . . . . . . .
Slow footsteps continue to echo in the rainy night,
Dazed footsteps enter my soul...

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