Youth Songs
Our troupe started out from Vĩnh Yên and visited Phú Thọ, Việt Trì, Tuyên Quang, Yên Bái before reaching Lào Kai. I was entering the reality of the Revolution and Resistance, and, as the Liberation Art Troupe reported directly to the Bureau of Youth, I had to write songs for young people. I wrote a number of joyous, youthful sounding songs which I termed thanh niên ca (youth songs). (Later, to satisfy the demands of duty, I created two more styles, quân ca (military songs) and dân ca (folk songs). The first youth song I wrote during the Resistance was:
SONG FOR YOUTH
(Phú Thọ-1947)
One Autumn the Revolution came
The country shook as the young broke their chains.
Starting out on an awe-inspiring march
''Fight to the end! '' was their rallying cry
Parting with their dreams
Waving the blood colored standard,
They set out to avenge the years of suffering.
Willing to endure any hardship for the country
''Fight to the end!'' was their rallying cry
Men hardly out of adolescence
Youth is like the morning's rice seedlings
Life is bright when we are young
But war is waiting for us
Let's come and join our hands
To build a statue to victory
Our song carries to the sky
Let us go, and shed our blood on the flag
Let us go, and lend our youthful strength
To the banks of the green ricefields
You and I, together we shall fight for the day of peace
When we shall enjoy our young life
Let us go our own way, let us build our own house,
Let us till our fields and wait for the day
A happy day when the French are destroyed
And laughing we shall sing a song of Freedom.
VỀ ÐỒNG HOANG
BACK TO THE
WILD COUNTRYSIDE
(Phú Thọ-1947)
From the city, we head for the wild countryside
Our blood boils with hatred for the ennemy
Let's turn that hatred into good deeds
Let's dig trenches and erect strong forts
We shall sow our hatred on the land
And one day reap a thriving rice crop
We shall surmount all obstacles
Hills, fields and steep mountains
We shall turn this quiet village into a Resistance stronghold
A proud song rises from the potato patch
We sing in praise of the help of our young
As we wait for the glorious day of victory
Let's enjoy the quiet beauty of the countryside
Let's praise the vast rice fields
Which sustain our nation in this long fight
Sweet scented wind breezes through the tilled land
As we march forward to the joyful beat of life.
ÐƯỜNG VỀ QUÊ
THE ROAD TO THE
COUNTRY SIDE
(Bắc Giang - 1947)
On the long and hard road we tirelessly march
Our figures silhouetted against the blue mountain clouds
Following the resistance we leave home to find a new life
Looking for a new horizon in the countryside
Destroying the city and saying farewell to the luxuries of life
We rejoice in brown rags and forget all sadness.
Across the vast ricefields we eagerly marches
Our voices rising in song to the rhythm of our feet
Sometimes there were calls of joy among the dreamy singing
Of peasants enjoying life
Sometimes we laugh along with a young peđler girl
Walking home after the afternoon market.
When we stop and wait for the wind
By the clear stream
It seems that we hear the voice
Of old father echoing in the Eastern sky
In a group we march eagerly without thought of fame and fortune
Intent only on steeling our will
The swirling wind invites us to go forward
And look for a new horizon far away
When across the land a heroic song resounds
From the hills and mountains we join in with our voice
In the dark forests a group of men march through the night
Coldly the autumn rain falls on the rucksacks
Sometimes we are restless as a song full of expectations
Rises from a group of workers
Sometimes we think of home as a bamboo flute
Carries a sad melody on the autumn road.
When the autumn wind sings
As we head home across the fields
It seems that the whole world
Is waiting for us the young.
Continuing with my youth songs, I put to music a poem by Ðào Duy Kỳ:
THANH NIÊN CA
THE SONG OF YOUTH
With invincible force
They are smashing their chains with hammer blows
With boundless courage
They are breaking out of their prisons
Young people, women and men
Are fervently building their future
A multitude marching to a vigorous beat
While shouting a defiant cry
Towards a bright horizon they proudly walk
All as one they put themselves forward
In their passionate heart they hold
An ideal: to serve the nation
A resolve: to defend their homes
A tide of young people is rising
Their heart the crimson color
Of a sky engulfed in the flames of battle
Their soul the bright golden light
Of the star of dawn...
THE YOUNG PEOPLE SHALL ADVANCE
(Yên Bái-1947)
The young of Vietnam advance like many heroes
On this historic day, their courage is awakened
The young of Vietnam advance and stir the world
Their heart burning with a firm resolve
Here is a group of young people
Ready to offer their lives
In sacrifice for their people
Happily they march among the hardship
Passionately they go to battle
A defiant avenging flame they raise high for ever
We are the rising young men
Marching in step on the long road
Sharing the same sacred pledge
Vietnamese youth, we shall advance
Youth! Unification! Unification!
Youth! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!
Youth! Defiantly we march.
Youth! We shall fight! We shall fight!
Youth! We shal win! We shall win!
High we shall raise the name of our nation!
During my time with the Liberation Artistic Troupe, I wrote a song
to express the joy of a young man doing artistic duty for the Resistance:
THE CULTURAL UNIT
also known as
ÐÀN NHỊP TRẦM HÙNG
BEATING A VIGOROUS RHYTHM
(Phú Thọ-1946)
We raise our eyes to the radiant skies
We bask our soul in glorious nature
Our heart is filled with love for humanity
Striving to break free from hardship.
We walk along the long wide road
Listening to love vibrating
In the silken strings amidst the tempests of life
Tears of joy swell in our eyes
The joy of Spring when new life is born
Let our music beat a strong rhyhm!
Let our poetry bear strength and courage!
We know our life shall be proud.
O painful is the past
When feeble hearts with sadness were filled
And lives passed in silent suffering
Sound the music ! Lift the spirit ! Let life reach out !
Here comes Light ! Here comes Joy !
Our singing can be heard everywhere
The sound of an abundant life
Extend our greetings to the whole world!
Bring love to music ! Rouse our spirit!
Cheer up the world !
Once we wallowed in desperation
Cowering, lonely, abandoned, orphaned
But now our souls are lifted high
In the beautiful scent of eternity
Like waves swelling across the ocean
Like clouds unfurling in the sky
Like winds blowing in all directions
We go everywhere
Spreading the message of Love
Singing incessantly to bring joy to life.
We look back at the abyss and pity the shadows
Caught in the sufferings of life's struggle
Beat a vigorous rhythm! Sing a bright poem!
Our song is filled with glorious thoughts.
Like waves swelling across the ocean
Like clouds unfurling in the sky
Like winds blowing in all directions
We go everywhere
Spreading the message of Love
Singing incessantly to bring joy to life.
MARTIAL MUSIC
DEPARTURE
(Tuyên Quang - 1947)
Full of confidence and pride,
Bearing on their shoulder a debt of blood
The young men joyfully set out without a regret
A smile on their lips, a piercing light in their eyes
Quietly they pledge to the nation to spread to all horizons
A sea of fluttering flags
In the golden sunlight
And a glory built of blood
A beloved Viet sky
A boundless Viet sky
Drive these proud young men forward.
Remember the day our people fell
When their corpses littered our cities
By the walls, headless they lay
In the streets drenched in blood
In the night they fell, filling the trenches.
From our bloodstream comes an avenging cry
A passionate call to all young men
Forward we march, sharing a loving heart
Forward we march, sharing our of patriotism
And the nation returns our love
At this moment of parting
We the soldiers leave without a regret
One day we shall come back
Bringing glory to the nation
For now forward we march...
During the formative period of Modern Music, there had been songs in the march style, such as Hoàng Qúy's GỌI BẠN LÊN ÐƯỜNG (Friends, Let's To Set Out), Lê Như Khôi 's TRÊN ÐƯỜNG XA (On The Long Road), Thẩm Oánh's THANH NIÊN ƠI (O Young People) etc... But only with the Revolution and Resistance did marches come alive, with Ðỗ Nhuận's DU KÍCH CA (Song Of The Guerilla), Nguyễn Ðình Thi's DIỆT PHÁT XÍT (Destroy The Fascists), Phan Huỳnh Ðiểu's ÐOÀN GIẢI PHÓNG QUÂN (The Liberation Soldiers), Văn Cao's TIẾN QUÂN CA (Song Of The Advancing Soldiers) and CHIẾN SĨ VIỆT NAM (The Vietnamese Soldier). As for my part, in addition to the songs written for the National Defence Corps, I also wrote marches for the thiếu sinh quân (Young Cadets), dân quân (Militia), du kích quân (Guerilla Corps), etc...
YOUNG CADETS
(Việt Bắc-1947)
Crossing many obstacles we carry out our great mission
All over Vietnam our people are calling
Forwards we march, to the beat of our rising people's footsteps
A call is resounding: Young people, forwards we march!
Forwards we march
We march as one, intent on victory
Kinh, Mán, Mường, Thái or Ðê, there is no distinction
We are Vietnam rising up
To avenge our grievances.
Joyfully we march in the golden sun
Our spirit radiant like the light
Young Cadets! Young Cadets!
We are young shoots growing in a forest of hatred and grievances
Calls of wrath against the invaders echo everywhere
Urging us on, Young Cadets of Vietnam
The songs I wrote for the armed troops or the militia
included QUÂN Y CA (Song Of The Medics), VIỆT BẮC (Northern Zone),
ÐƯỜNG LẠNG SƠN (The Road To Lạng Sơn), MỘT VIÊN ÐẠN LÀ
MỘT QUÂN THÙ (One Bullet, One Ennemy), LẬP CHIẾN CÔNG (Achieving
Victory), RÈN CÁN CHỈNH QUÂN (Teach The Cadres, Train The Troops),
DÂN QUÂN DU KÍCH (Guerilla Militia), NGỌN TRÀO QUAY SÚNG (The
Turning Tide Of Guns). I have forgotten the words of many of these.
SONG OF THE MEDICS
(Bắc Kạn-1947)
Smiling they set out, the Medics
Since...
(verses forgotten)
MỘT VIÊN ÐẠN LÀ MỘT QUÂN THÙ
ONE BULLET, ONE ENNEMY
(Thái Nguyên-1948)
One bullet, one enemy,
Gun in hand we build a prosperous future...
(verses forgotten)
DÂN QUÂN DU KÍCH
GUERILLA MILITIAMEN
(Việt Bắc-1947)
Advance guerilla soldiers
Everywhere we roam, an invisible force
Take their guns! Destroy their men! Ambush them! Kill them!
The guerillas fight with swords and lances...
(verses forgotten)
THE TIDE OF TURNING GUNS
(Bắc Giang 1947)
A tide of turning guns are destroying the colonialists
O brothers, let's come back to the Vietnamese nation
O gallant soldiers and heroes
Destroy the despised ennemy's prisons
Come back to us in a race for victory
Come back to us and listen to the forest
Trapping the souls of the cruel French troops
Come back and sing loudly on the glorious road of uprising
Come back and share our happiness
Turn your guns! Turn your guns! Kill the colonialists!
Turn your swords and kill the exploiters!
Vietnam! Vietnam!
A clamoring Nation is eagerly waiting for her children
. . . . . .
The flag is fluttering on top of the bamboo pole
At the sight of the returning soldiers, our heart fills with country love
O homeland, paths of the resistance
Following Mr Hồ the people are rising...
(verses forgotten)
THE NORTHERN REGION
(1947)
Việt Bắc, Việt Bắc
Land of jungles
Land of mountains
Land of dark mist veiled evenings
Here the people of the frontiers
Advance in the steps of Old Father, one autumn...
(verses forgotten)
The forests are lying darkly
In wait for the ennemy
Mountains and jungles
Will be the colonialists' tombs
ÐƯỜNG LẠNG
SƠN
THE ROAD TO LẠNG SƠN
(Lạng Sơn-1947)
Dark
is the road to Lạng Sơn
A lonely rooster announces the dawn
Gently the forests stir in the mist
The mountains drowsily stretch
To dispel the long sleep
Suddenly the birds loudly sing
Frontiers! Frontiers!
The hills and terraces are talking
People are coming to this remote wooded land
To live in peace and
grow potatoes and corn.
Green terraced hills and blue mountains
Green forests full of flowers
Indigo shirts fluttering in the clouds
Tall pole houses with rustic roofs
People lingering by the
picturesque stream
Warm fires burning in the cold winter evening.
A climbing,
winding trail
Hangs precariously on the towering mountains
Waves
roll on the ripened ricefields at the foothills
Standing on giddy
heights
We look out at the peaceful
Of dark forests yielding
to agelong labor.
Frontier! Frontier!
You still echo to the
battlecries of Chi Lăng
The forests show no trace of the souls of
yore
But on dark nights there echoes a plaintive cry.
Frontier!
Frontier!
We look at defiant Cai Kinh
We wait for the wind from
Bắc Sơn
We delight in the heady life of Vietnamese youth
On
the winding trails, over the winding streams
A pole carrying group
march in the distance
Wearing indigo clothes, exchanging jokes
Life is like a clean smelling shirt
In the blue mist the afternoon
market is breaking up
Melancholy comes to the remote hamlet...
Also around Lạng Sơn and also during the frontier campaign
of 1947, I wrote a march bearing the name of a battlefield: BÔNG LAU. I
can recall only a smattering of the verses and tune.
THE BLOODSTAINED FOREST OF BÔNG LAU
(Lạng Sơn - 1947)
Bông Lau! Bông Lau!
Your trees are stained with blood
. . . . .
When our troops advance
The French army will not come home
Love Music
During The War Of Resistance
During the Resistance war, in 1947, I met an ex-dancer by the name of Mai, who worked as an informer in a tearoom in Lào Kay. This gave rise to BÊN CẦU BIÊN GIỚI, which was both a love song and a spiritual song...
BY THE BORDER BRIDGE
Pausing by the fast-flowing stream, I look at my reflection
A tall bridge spans the deep river
A sadness drifts in the wind
Suffering has engulfed the old village
Homesickness rises in the traveller's heart
On the wings of the breeze have old loves been forgot
Youth is but an autumn leaf falling
The night brings sweet dreams to the unlined brow.
The sun stops by the border bridge
From afar drifts the carefree sound of a guitar
And the image of a girl comes back to the dreamer
By the border bridge
I listen to life slowly flowing
The river, the clouds and the mountains remain wordless.
O passing dreams
Dreams of travelling the world
Of living by the beautiful girls of Tô Châu
Of dying by the Danube
On those nights
When the stars shine brightly
When the road is long
When a flagrance lingers
My heart returns to the border
Where my life has stopped
O soft streaming hair
O soul engulfing eyes...
Fleeting dreams of lasting love...
I was just over 20, caught in the miđle of an earth shaking revolution,
but when standing by a lover near the border bridge at Lào Kay in that
year1947, I suddendly caught a glimpse of another glimmering border, that
between love and hate, between war and peace. BÊN CẦU BIÊN GIỚI
was a traveller's love song, but it also had a spiritual factor.
Another song about a wanderer's love was TIẾNG ÐÀN TÔI (The Voice
Of My Guitar), which I wrote also in 1947 at Chợ Ðại Cống Thần,
where I had a love affair with a very pretty girl by the name of Hiếu.
Here are the verses, although I cannot remember why I later changed
both lyrics and music.
THE VOICE OF MY GUITAR
(1947)
Life coldly flowed on a stream of tears
Silken strings sang of sufferings
As love died that night
When the moon was young
Memories have faded on the wings of music
But I still yearn for that song of love
When my fair lady left one autumn.
I can still hear the farewell bells.
O endless emptiness
The boat is come to the port of Passion
Mellow is the voice of my guitar
Hương Hương my fair lady
With the streaming hair, silently you left me,
Tears of sadness fall on my guitar.
Into the sun the boat sails
The color of flowers linger on my lips
Somewhere a soft lullaby
Soothes the sufferings of a lost soul
O vast emptiness
To the horizon the endless road runs
Coldly my love has left me...
(Another Version)
Life coldly flowed on a stream of tears
Silken strings sang of sufferings
As love died that night
When the moon was young
Memories have faded on the wings of music
But I still yearn for the song of love
When the sound of laughters
Joyfully floated down the river.
O endless emptiness
The boat has come to the port of Passion
Mellow is the voice of my guitar
The boat is heading to the distant horizon
Only a lingering melody remains
Into the sun the boat sails
How many evenings will pass before happiness returns?
Somewhere a voice is singing to my guitar
A soothing lullaby for a soul lost in passion
O endless emptiness
The boat is waiting for the wind to rise
Taking my guitar
To another port some day...
SPRING NIGHT
(Chợ Neo, Thanh Hoá-1948)
Music held me spellbound last night
A pair of lovebirds came by
Perching on my bed in my dream
They announced that spring is here
How I love this serenade
That softly sings in the veil of moonlight
How I love this air so serene
That brings me close to you
My soul embraces the night
My heart is in ecstasy
I have offered my love to you
Please don't let it fade
Once I had yet to know you
Then your serenade touched my soul
And love full of color grew
When the moon calls, the guitar
Sings a lullaby for my heart
My soul seeks a shelter
My heart awaits love
My love is still burning
Please don't forget our vow...
Once upon a time, there was a buffalo boy by the name of Cuội. Sitting under a banyan tree, he let his buffalo eat all the rice plants while he watched the clouds drift by and dreamed of a pair of golden wings or a magic mat to carry him to the moon on a beam of light, for ever. For Hằng Nga, the Moon Maiden, had come to Earth to find someone to look after her lute (again a lute!). Cuội was seduced by Hằng Nga's beauty and flew away (unlike in the olden tale where he was exiled to the moon for being an inveterate liar)
CUỘI, THE LIAR
(Chợ Neo, Thanh Hoá-1948)
Brightly shines the moon
In the ocean-like sky
A group of boys
Asked a group of girls
To come out and watch the moon
Listen to the moon man Cuội
Who sits under the banyan tree
O Cuội! You let your buffalo eat the rice plantings
While you watched the clouds drift in the wind
And sang incessantly:
I love Hăng Nga the Moon maiden
Who came down to Earth one night
Looking for someone
Who would take care
Of the Moon Maiden's lute
Please give me a pair of golden wings
Please lend me a mat of young clouds
So that Cuội can follow a moonbeam
To the secluded Moon
And leave his village for ever.
A golden moonbeam
A loving beautiful wife
A fairy dance
They make him forget the way back
Golden moonbeam
O golden moonbeam
On Earth there is a man
Who in the darkness
Is waiting for the moon
The Moon Maiden's love
Shines brightly every moonrise
The moon shining on young hair
Is walking the children home
On the country road
The children sing an old verse
"O Cuội the moon man
Who married a fairy maiden
O Cuội, you let your buffalo eat the rice
While you rode the wind
To your passionate love"
A WHITE FLOWER
(Thanh Hoá-1950)
A flock of white-headed birds
Came to the world carrying the news
About Giáng Hương the fairy maiden.
One night when the moon was waning
Alone in the heavenly palace
She decided to enter the forbiđen garden.
Love filled the heavens
As a song brought two lovers together
But the mutterings of many fairies
Disturbed the cold heavenly palaces
And the king of heavens condemned the maiden
To become a flower on Earth
In the darkness the mortal lover
Tenderly held the broken flower
A lonely shadow in the world.
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