Tao Songs
In The Walls Of Mist

As the 1970s began, a meeting between me and the poet Phạm Thiên Thư -- also known as the monk Tuệ Không -- steered my music sharply towards the spiritual, which I had only touched briefly in my Songs of the Heart and in a few short pieces such as LỮ HÀNH, XUÂN HÀNH etc. Shortly before, I had used Phạm Thiên Thư 's beautiful verses to write ethereal songs such as ÐƯA EM TÌM ÐỘNG HOA VÀNG (With You I Search For The Yellow Flower Grotto), GỌI EM LÀ ÐÓA HOA SẦU (I Call You My Flower Of Sadness), EM LỄ CHÙA NÀY (You Are Praying At This Pagoda) and now he gave me some religious poems to be made into MƯỜI BÀI ÐẠO CA (Ten Tao Songs).

Among the articles that have been written about this work, I will use that of Georges Etienne Gauthier to introduce it. This review started in #332 (November 1970) of the literary magazine BÁCH KHOA (Saigon), continued through nos. 334, 335, 337, 339, 340, 342, 345, 346, 347, 350, 354, 355, 363, 367, 372 and finished in no 375 (July 1972). The Vietnamese translation was by the writer Võ Phiến, under the penname Thu Thủy.

Georges Etienne Gauthier
Ðạo Ca: Towards The Light

In America where I live, skyscrapers, rockets and machines are to us a kind of reality. In Indochina and elsewhere in the world, the reality of everyday life seems to consist of guns, death and hatred. These are realities that deceive, realities that are lies. But I want to remember that I am human and I need a reality that is greater, more tranquil and sweeter, and more permanent. The search for reality is the journey that Phạm Thiên Thư and Phạm Duy have offered me when I started to look at these ten poems and songs.

But the search for reality is not quick and easy. The ten TAO SONGS are like a song cycle with its clear direction, its shifting between the characteristic colors of poetry and music, which eventually merge into a painting of unique quality. Let's not linger too long in this introduction and set out on our search for reality. And to strengthen our resolve on this journey into our deepest self, let us first bring some shade to our soul...
PHÁP THÂN
ESSENCE OF BEING
Once you were a bird, dead and rotting on the path
I was a tree trunk mourning, waiting many years
Once you were a leaf, fallen into the autumn brook
I was the autumn rain, sheđing tears of longing
Once you were a flower, withering in the meadow
I was a dew drop, for you my tears fell
Once you were the wind, or perhaps a cloud
I was a robin, perching on a stick and singing
Aha, we are two but also one! Aha, we are one, but also two!
Aha, we are two but also one! Aha, we are one, but also two!

The gate leading into the first Tao Song is immersed in an ethereal harmony, strange and spellbinding - a shifting harmony that is very suitable to express a transcending, for singing of the mystical love between humans. Phạm Duy's melody, working its way through the G major key, resting temporarily in the key of E flat, can only exhaust its meaning through this impressionistic harmony with a modal character. In fact, it can be said that the melody comes out of the harmony.

We are two but also one. We are one, but also two... these verses by Tản Ðà appear suddenly in the song. The universe is one; we don't have to find the truth, for the truth is us. And in a section of strong contrasts, Phạm Duy's music will stress the veracity of this oneness. Therefore, the ethereal and fluid G major ends with with the solid and resolute E flat, to express the happiness felt by the artist. I love the triumphant joy of the E flat key, which is so typical of Phạm Duy's music.
Once you were a pond thoughtful resting at Summer's end
I was a kingfisher reflecting through the moons
Once you were a letter in a book of prayers
I was a melancholic monk reciting under the moon
Once we promised to find each other in the ephemeral world
I changed into an ink drop to seep into the book of prayers
Wait for me tomorrow, be reborn into a flower
In the cloudy future, wait for a bird's song
Aha, we are two but also one! Aha, we are one, but also two!
Aha, we are two but also one! Aha, we are one, but also two!

To love others is to love oneself. To save others is to save oneself... This is the theme stressed in the Second Tao Song. Over the sophisticated and tranquil verses, Phạm Duy's melody glides like a cloud in the vast and clear space of the key of C major. This morning breeze seems to have inspired in the artist a gentle fading melody, a soft and passionate waltz. Phạm Duy is in love!
ÐẠI NGUYỆN
THE GREAT WISH
All beings are like a mist falling,
I wish to be a white flower to stop them falling
The flower is in love with the mist so exquisite
All beings are like white sand, I wish to be a clear stream
Flowing to the cool ocean, stream and sand remain faithful
All beings are like a blue cloud, I wish to be the sky
To carry the floating clouds, like mist in the myrrh woods
All beings are like flowers, I wish to be a ray of sunshine
Greeted with joy by the plants, among the strange bird songs
Love others as you love yourself! Love others as you love yourself!
Love others as you love yourself! Love others as you love yourself!
Love others as you love yourself!

All beings are like a sweet fragrance, I wish to be a morning breeze
Carrying the scent to all horizons, to feed the moonlight and the starlight
All beings are like a brook, I wish to be the thirsty sea
When life is sad, rain will come to cleanse the mountain
I wish to be a flower's color, yellow flower of life
To be the green of grass, in autumn and winter
I wish to be a seed that brings spring to the world
I wish to be a woodpecker, to shatter the world's sufferings
Love others as you love yourself! Love others as you love yourself!
Love others as you love yourself! Love others as you love yourself!
Love others as you love yourself!

Tao Song #3 has a completely different atmosphere. It talks about a knight riding a horse on a journey to find an ideal woman, until at the end the horse changed into that woman: illusion became reality. Here both poetry and music are vigorous and uplifting. Phạm Duy is realizing his dreams, a Phạm Duy at the pinnacle of his art. From the first beat to the last, the music rushes forward vigorously and skillfully. The metamorphosis in the song is matched by that in the melody. As the words shift from one mood to another, the melody is at times lively and frenetic, at times majestic and imposing, at times - in the sections marked Andantino and Andante - passionate, proud and slightly theatrical; back to the first section - Moderato and then Rallentendo - a spirited opening in D minor, a short ending in D major, bring to a perfect conclusion this great work of sound with its rare expressiveness. In Art, there are joys so great, so deep and noble, that we must be forever grateful to those who gave them to us. But do I need to quote Sacha Guitry. For a long time now Phạm Duy has been deserving of those words.
CHÀNG DŨNG SĨ VÀ CON NGỰA VÀNG
(Ảo Hoá)
THE KNIGHT AND THE YELLOW HORSE
(Metamorphosis)
A knight on a yellow horse travels the desert
A knight on a yellow horse rides through time
In his eyes a sadness like the light of the golden moon
In his heart a burning desire to search for his love

One morning he stops on a mountain top
Lines of flowering white apricot... white flowers falling
Like a silken cloak
One evening he stops on the deserted riverbank
Wave after wave heading downstream, dreamy waves
Like a vast sadness
One night he stops on a hillside field
A drizzle murmurs on the battlefield
Like a woman's steps far away
One day he stops by a stream
Thinking of her hair, adorned with flowers and silken threads
He has searched everywhere in vain
No sign of her
The road is long, the shadow has fallen,
In wind and weather the yellow horsés color has changed
Still he rides, still he rides, still he rides
In the mist, his cloak has faded

Then one day he comes back
The horse stops by a brook
And takes a plunge in the clear water
He feels love rising
Then one day he comes back
To plough the destitute desert

Spreading seeds of gourds and melons
Butterflies fluttering around yellow flowers
Remind him of her footsteps
Remind him of her footsteps

He climbs up the mountain to tend the apricot tree
Winter has come, flowers are falling in the wind
The flowering apricots remind him of somebodýs smile
The wind is blowing on the river
He rides his thoroughbred across the bridge
Suđenly the faithful horse is transformed into the lady of his heart
The yellow horse has miraculously become his lifelong love
The yellow horse has miraculously become the love of his dreams.
His eyes gleaming like sunshine,
The knight and his lady walk through life in love.
A song about the Way for all the world to sing!

We now comes to the fourth song. In a moving poem, Phạm Thiên Thư tells us the story of a mother looking for her son, until one day she died and became the mother of us all, mother nature who protects us. Evoking this image, Phạm Duy's music wanders melancholically in the somber E minor key, lit up only by the occasional variation in harmony. The heavy hearted lullaby is about the lost son, and although the words lighten in the final passage, the melody remains no less dolorous right until the last note, leaving us with an indescribable feeling. QUÁN THẾ ÂM
(Hoá Thân)
MOTHER OF US ALL
(Transfiguration)
A mother is looking for her son on the white orchid hill
A mother is looking for her son in the yellow orchid cave
A mother is looking for her son on the banks of the blue river
A mother is looking for her son in the grassy valley
Standing on the hill in spring she loves the forest
Standing by the reed covered riverbank in summer
She loves the melancholic song of the cicadas
Lying in a bush she thinks of clouds and blue sky
In the snowy winter she feeds the orphaned birds

In the four seasons flowers bloom, in the four seasons she wanders
Her eyes are half blind looking, her voice hoarse calling
Her eyes dried up crying for him, her heart emptied by love outpouring
Her heart overwhelmed by longings, her soul broken from waiting
Her hands are groping like a dry branch
She looks everywhere until even time is weary
Once she was young, a fragrant orchid flower
Now her hair is white after all these moons searching.
Then one day she dies but her breath lingers
As humanity mourns she takes the whole world in her embrace
Her heart becomes the ocean, her blood becomes the rivers
In love of the suffering world she shines a loving light
Now she has become a dream, her breath becomes the breeze
Through the seasons we hear her soothing voice
Once she searched for her son, her sad lullaby echoing everywhere
Now she is mother to all of us, her lullaby is sweet
Sweet lullaby
Sweet lullaby.

I love the symbolism in Songs Three and Four. The mother and the knight are poignant creations, one looking for a lost son, the other searching for an illusion, until both are dissolved in love and truth, the only and final transfiguration.

If we place ourselves in the stream of life of all humanity then death no longer holds any fear. Death is joy: that is what Phạm Thiên Thư and Phạm Duy try to reveal in Tao Song #5 as an explanation of the self immolation of young Nhất Chi Mai -- an act which troubles most Westerners, including this writer. The melody of this song, achromatic and with a strange fragrance, is built on a series of rising chords - simple in concept but used with sophistication. As in Song #1, melody and harmony are closely related, each one leading the other. Starting in a hypothetical F major, the melody seems to swim around, with a modal character, until it finally settles down on the key of A major. After coming back to the opening's F major, the song ends rather unexpectedly in a bright A major, as if Phạm Duy was receiving grace and was liberating himself from the world of desires, to reach the non material world...

MỘT CÀNH MAI
AN APRICOT BRANCH
The child cries for its father, the mother cries for her son
The husband cries for his wife, the lover cries for his lover
Tears are still welling, life and death are still with us
Life after life, life and death are still with us
Oooh...
Blood have made rivers, bones have formed mountain
Hatred has spread like the sea, anger seethes everywhere
Death is still here, the world is still blind
Clamouring for revenge, generation after generation
Tears are the ony thing offered
Oooh...
Suđenly the tears stop flowing when you offered
Your body as a fiery torch, so that riceplants blossom
What is life? What is death? Sufferings will be no more
To bring oneself into the lives of others is to escape
from the cycle of life and death.
The apricot branch has broken, it has fallen from the world
A fallen branch whose fragrance is enduring
You belong to no one, humanity belongs to you
To place yourself in the flux of mankind
Is to know joy in life and death
An apricot branch, eternal, eternal
An apricot branch, eternal, eternal

What can I say about the great emotion that filled me when I scanned through the verse of Song #6 for the first time? I live in a cold country, where peoplés hearts seem to be frozen by the climate. I would imagine that if my mother had soothed me with similar lullabies during my childhood, I would, yes I would have become a better person, a more artistic person. Phạm Thiên Thư and Phạm Duy believe that lullabies, breast milk and cuddling are what make the child's soul. How true that is! It's the primordial truth, the truth of life's beginnings, a truth that Vietnamese mothers must find again: My child! I am God... A thousand years of love are in this, the lullaby that runs in the vein of the East... I want to quote every line of this stunning poem. In a country that has given rise to so many useless war songs, I believe that this simple lullaby can crush all the other songs. This song was written for Vietnamese mothers, but I wish that all mothers in this world can hear it one day, so that not only Vietnam but all mankind will become better, better from the root.

Over this poem of poems, Phạm Duy's melody soars, simple and pure, using the light and graceful key of A flat major. Here, love, passion and emotion are cleverly woven into a painting of sound, which possesses a unique magnetic attraction. Art is happiness, for an instant in art is an eternity.

LỜI RU, BÚ MỚM, NÂNG NIU
LULLABIES, BREAST MILK, HUGS
She soothes you with her warm embrace, yoúll love her sweet voice
She soothes you with her warm milk, blessing you with her love
She sings to you a short lullaby, yoúll love music and poems
She sings about clouds and winds, your heart will know no bounds
She sings about forests and mountains, about rain and sunshine
She sings about the hills and the brooks, and you will not know hatred
She sings about young grass and new flowers, the moon and the stars
You'll love mankind and all creatures, you will not live alone.

Oooh, she sings to you:
Love is the first word you learn
A thousand years this song remains
A lullaby that runs in the veins of the East.

Her heart is the new dawn that gives your life blood
She sings to you a young fragrance, the fragrance of life
In her arms you hear of rights and wrong
Her lips are a divine flower that bathes you in sunshine.
My child! Mother is God, she gives you the primordial soul
With lullabies and milk, she teaches you a wonderful truth
Here's what she sings: Life has many ways,
Like clouds that gather and disperse
Your body reaches the sky, your heart is heaven on this earth
Oooh, she sings to you:
Love is the first word yoúll learn
A thousand years this song remains
A lullaby that runs in the veins of the East.



In this life, all things are only clouds floating like streams, beautiful and tranquil, if only we can converse with this tranquillity: that's the meaning of the seventh song, which tells the tale of this well known Great Silent War. Let us see how Phạm Duy use music to sing the strength of that silence.
QUA SUỐI MÂY HỒNG
(Vô Ngôn)
CROSSING THE STREAM OF ROSY CLOUDS
(Wordlessness)
A wonderful morning
My. Nương came to the mountain top
A stream of clouds
Lifted her up gently
Golden cranes danced
To the soundless melody of bamboo flutes
In the blue sky the mountain was wrapped in silk
Flowers on the branches offered their fragrance

The song opens with a narrative instrumental section, building up a mythical atmosphere, then on an elegant interval of a sixth, the melody begins, noble and passionate, like a deliberate waltz. There is much allure in this B flat major key, a key that recalls the joy of the mountains; then rather suđenly the theme pauses on a D major which tarries for nearly three measures. This chord is very important as it will reappear in the song several times, in different keys, like a repetitive echo. The D major chord then leads to G minor, the relative minor of B flat, to open a second theme which evolves logically from the opening B flat.
The sound of flutes made a light rain
Which rocked the palaces of the Water King
Startling him from his bed of jade
Rising he called his armies
The lady was gone!
A stream of rose tinted clouds
had taken her to the mountain's top
In the walled city flowers were still falling
Rubies and gems could not win her eyes
Power over the four seas could not win her heart

In the third section, in D major yet still closely related to the previous two themes, the Water King declares war on the couple. Vietnamese who are not trained in music will not fully realize the importance of modality and harmony in Phạm Duýs music, however I would like to stress that these are essential to a deep understanding of his artistic inspiration, of the sophistication, depth and perfection of his musical gift. Modality and harmony to a musician are as important as colors to a painter. In the first part of the song, the melody is reminiscent of the bel canto style of 10th century Italy - Bellini, Rossini and Verdi would surely love this inspiring melody but only Phạm Duy could have brought to it such a special and atractive character - while the second part has a more moving and exciting atmosphere.
We shall not live under the same sky
Shouted the Water King as he swung his sword
Give me back my rose
Shouted the Water King as he swung his sword
But from the mountain's top
No answer came
Mad with anger,
The Water King drove his army forward
Sitting on the mountain with the princess
The Mountain King smiled
Filled with rage, the Water King
Threw his troops into the battle

Now the battle between the Water King and the Mountain King has started, as illustrated by a new theme full of vigor and impatience, running excitedly through a series of key and mode changes until it comes to a rest on a C sharp major, rich and very rare. A lesser musician may have chosen to render this section with a descriptive tune, easy to listen to and of limited artistic value. Not Phạm Duy. A descriptive intention is still there but only of secondary importance to music itself, the artistic creative need is dominant as always.
Roaring, roaring leaped the waves!
Howling, howling blew the gale!
Black, black gathered the clouds!
Foaming, foaming swelled the flood
Up, up rose the land
Clouds melted into rain
Mountains rose higher and higher
Silent war, silent war
Silent war, silent war
Swinging his sword, the Water King shouted
The mountain remained silent
The Water King drove his waves forward
Flowers scatter under the waves
The more he shouted
The more mist covered the mountain
Raging impotently
He withdrew to the sea.

From C sharp major, we move through the related keys of B flat minor and D flat major to sing about the Water King's defeat. This section is closely linked to the previous two themes, but is enriched and ennobled by the use of several flattened notes. The melody then tends towards a peaceful ending in B flat major, but unexpectedly ended with D major, lie rose tinted clouds floating in silence... So ended Tao Song #7, matched in beauty and strength of musical ideas only by Song #3.
One morning when petals fell
The Princess and the Mountain King
Rode to the eternal world
On a stream of clouds.
Only an epic remained
A heavenly book without word
A magic flute without hole
Echoing in mankind's hearts
Urging them to cross
The space of illusions
And come to the world of serenity
Where the streaming clouds leads...


Tao Song #8 is about pagoda bells, which in Vietnamese Buđhism have awakened people's hearts in their lonely life. The song evokes memories of the great monk Vạn Hạnh who came down from the mountain to follow the sound of the Great Bell Of Blessing, holding winter in his palm, planting his staff on time and space, to save Vietnam and to save mankind. The melody is in the pentatonic scale, peaceful and well delineated, like a portrait of the ambling monk. The sound of bells is evoked by harmonies extended by ađitional notes. The musical effect is that of a magninifent composition, with pure, strange and wonderful sounds, light and transcending like the sound of bells. Debussy and Ravel may love such a work, but in my opinion only Phạm Duy could write like this.
GIỌT CHUÔNG CAM LỘ
BELL OF BLESSING
The shadow of night is passed, the shadow of night is passed
The bells are tolling, the bells are tolling
Among mankind the bells are tolling
Sweet and cool, drop by drop
A flower is sleeping in the field
A drop of dew on a leaf welcomes the morning sun
A brook stirs and awakens
A mossy pagoda perches on the side of the hill
The great bell of blessing has tolled
A peaceful smile in the scent of incense
Amida Buđha, a prayer
Sweet and cool, drop by drop the bell rings

At daybreak the sound of bells awakens the world
Ethereal sound announcing the red dawn
Glorious sound bringing joy to trees and rocks
Stirring birds, villages and hamlets
Up in the mountains the heady sound penetrates the fruit
In the furrows rice seeds come out
The Cam Lộ bell brings the good news to the anxious world
And relieves mankind's worries.

An apricot flower blooms in the forest breeze
Leaning on his staff, a monk walks slowly down the mountains
In the palm of his hand the chill of winter
On his golden staff a glinting raindrop
The Zen staff brings boundless space
The Zen staff brings the world of permanence
Eternal time, glowing bell sound
The monk has come down to save the world
Sweet and cool, drop by drop the bell tolls...


Tao Song #9 shows we must respect and love all things around us, because everything is sacred, and value scales are only an invention of man. Putting our hands together like a flower, we kneel to the world and bow to all things without exception. Keeping close to the verses, the melody proceeds in short section with changing rhythms. The C minor key gives the melody a solemn character, but a shifting harmony illuminates the song's progress.
CHẮP TAY HOA
(Quy Y)
CLASPING HANDS LIKE A FLOWER
(Initiation)
Hands together we bow to Man and ask for a smile
Hands together we bow to the Heavens and ask for rain
Hands together we bow to the Earth and ask for a young seedling
Hands together we bow to the Water and ask for coolness
Hands together we bow and bow incessantly
Hands together we bow again and again

I pray for the clouds to float away and reveal the vast skies
I pray for the river to wash away the pains of life
I pray to all that is
What is not Buddha? What is not God?
A seed of grass, a grain of dust
A mountain spring, a forest cloud
A great river, a golden moon
Open your heart and you'll see sky and earth
Your heart is a precious island in the sea of life and death
When gods are gone, only your heart remains
Here is Reality, without thought, without word,
I am not Me, Thou art not Thee
In all directions clouds are floating like flowers
Like waves in the sea, like the wind
Like far away clouds, like a wild crane
I am not Me, Thou art not Thee
Hands together we bow to Man and ask for a smile
Hands together we bow to the Heavens and ask for rain
Hands together we bow to the Earth and ask for a young seedling
Hands together we bow to the Water and ask for coolness
Hands together we bow and bow incessantly
Hands together we bow again and again
Hands together we bow again and again
Hands together we bow again and again



The music comes back to nature, family, society and the spiritual, it evokes the Vietnamese balance between emotion, intellect and action: that is the theme of Tao Song #10. However, in ađition to highlighting the essence of Vietnamese philosophy which originated from Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, Phạm Thiên Thư and Phạm Duy wanted to say that the resurgence of nature is also a vigorous awakening of our soul. Musically, we come back to a more stable and positive G major, although there were numerous modulations to nearby keys. The melody is gay with a brisk tempo, like a spirited and rhythmical village procession. Phạm Duy brings spring back to our heart.
TÂM XUÂN
(Tam Giáo Ðồng Nguyên)
SPRING IN THE HEART
(The Three Religions As One)
Spring is back with the breeze, flowers are gently swaying
Spring is back with clouds, butterflies, floating pollen
Spring is back in the earth, seedlings are coming to life
Spring is back in the mountains, birds rejoice and water sings

Spring is coming to the sea, boats are sailing fast
Spring is coming to the streams, fish are swimming around
Spring is back with the fragrant incense, gentle Buddha
You come back to nature, bathing in the fairy spring.

Yoúve come back to the hamlet, where love songs echo
Yoúve come back to light the incense on the altar
Yoúve come back to our village thanksgiving
In remembrance of our roots, our land, our ancestors
Yoúve come back to the spiritual world, to worship in our pagodas
To make offerings to Buddha, who will dissolve our worries
Yoúve opened your heart to rejoice with the plants
Spring has come back to the world! We have come back to our soul!

A new nature, peaceful and gentle
An incense burner, joining past and future
A temple roof, love of the nation
Liberating sound of bells, people transcending selves
Love and forgiveness like the four seasons.

Is spring there? Or is the World of Spirit?
Is spring there? Or is Nirvana?
Back to the roots! Back to the roots!
To reach forth with our hearts opened wide...

I love the truths that Phạm Thiên Thư and Phạm Duy discovered. For my part, those truths combined easily with my artistic truths, they added to the truths of my childhood, those of a Christian Westerner. Truth is Light. Therefore these ten Tao songs are a journey towards light. But the journey is not easy, for it must go through sufferings and anxieties.

...Limited beings with unbound spirits, we were born only for sadness or joy, and we can say that exceptional persons grasp joy by way of sufferings... So wrote Beethoven, a man who suffered in body and spirit. And for most Vietnamese, suffering is not a meaningless word. But regardless, Phạm Thiên Thư and Phạm Duy have invited us to join them on the road to joy in this selection. We may be enlightened people on the way to meet another light, that of the Truth. Each of us is called on to transcend this material world to reach the incorporal world, the source of light. Only that which cannot be seen can be truly beautiful.

Montréal, Avril 71

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