The Migrating Birds
In Saigon at the beginning of 1975, with the premonition of a bird before an impending storm, I foresaw the need to leave the country and told my poet friend Phạm Thiên Thư about my intention to write another song cycle with the title Bầy Chim Bỏ Xứ (Migrating Birds), which would be about freedom loving birds leaving their country. Phạm Thiên Thư wrote for me a few short songs in that theme. While Con Ðường Cái Quan was realistic and Mẹ Việt Nam was symbolic, I wanted Bầy Chim Bỏ Xứ to be allegorical. I called it a "tổ khúc" ("song nest") instead of song cycle in accordance with the theme. The song nest was written in Saigon a few weeks before the events of April 1975 and completed in Fort Walton Beach, Florida USA. As a counter-theme, I brought birds of preys: crows, bats, eagles, hawks, vultures, falcons, buzzards, owls, exerting their evil rule on a land where benevolent birds are absent. Of the birds exiled in a cold foreign land, some died spitting blood, some killed themselves tearing their own neck, some drowned in the river, some are lost in the woods. Then flocks of swifts and swallows came to remind them of the old times when they were among friends and families in flocks and nests. Then historical or mythical birds like the Hồng, the Lạc, the Hùng, the Việt, the Rồng (Dragon), the Tiên (Fairy), ancestors of our people, came from the caves of Bắc Sơn, the fields of Phù Ðổng, the grottoes of Hoa Lư, the river Bạch Ðằng, the gate of Chi Lăng, the hills of Yên Thế... They called to the migrating birds, urging them to come back to help those still fighting in the motherland, to create an everlasting spring. The song cycle was completed during my fourth tour of Europe with the program LÁ DIÊU BÔNG-THÔNG ÐIỆP MÙA XUÂN 1985. Following is the complete verses of the songs. It may be that further changes will be made before I publish them with music, since that's my usual practice. Written in London, Paris, Stuttgart,
During my first year of exile, with five songs, I was not satisfied with this work because it was too short, too sad, and only mentioned a few types of birds. Furthermore the main character, the quyên bird, had been killed off in the winter of 1975. The songs also lacked a soaring melody, which was very important for me: music must soar, even though it may be sad.
For ten years, from 1975 to 1985, I had played with the manuscript, trying to edit and complete it. I agonized endlessly in this artistic impasse. I did not force the theme, quite the contrary! I only found a way out when a solution suddenly came to me on how to resolve the central song, which talked about the death of quyên. This bird was the soul of the emperor of Thục, who lost his country in the North and came to perch in the forests of the South, and became a bird whose call always wakens our love for the homeland. Now it had to leave the ricefields of the South to take refuge in the West, then to die of sadness in a foreign land... to once more become a patriotic bird. In the cold snowy winter its cry continues to express its longing for the homeland. Like the mythical phoenix, quyên has been reborn from its ashes.
To complete this allegorical song cycle, I re-read and re-sang all the folk songs about our birds, and solemnly brought them into the work. In addition to those already mentioned: quyên (swamp-hen), chào mào (red-whiskered bulbul), chích choè (magpie-robin)... I introduced the gia, cuốc (swamp-hen), phượng (phoenix), công (peacock), hoàng khuyên, én (swift), nhạn (swallow), bồ các (magpie), ri (quail), sáo sậu (black-necked starling), sáo đen (myna), tu hú (cuckoo), hoàng oanh (oriole), bói cá (kingfisher), bồ nông (pelican), cò (stork), yểng (hill mynah), chèo bẻo, uyên ương (mandarin duck), hạc (heron), kim tước, thiên nga (swan), gõ mõ (woodpecker), hải âu (gull), bìm bịp (boucal), giẻ cùi (green magpie), chim yến (canary), bồ câu (pigeon), mountain birds, forest birds, river birds, seabirds... and even the bắc quang bắc mục (from its call) which I came across in Hà giang - Tuyên Quang in 1947. In ađition, a very special songbird of Vietnam with a time-transcending voice was also brought into the song cycle: the "Thanh" bird, which had remained silent for ten years but had begun to sing again for freedom and love, just as the song cycle was completed.
Munchen, Salzburg, Venezia,
Pisa, Roma and Midway City
Summer 1985
By spring 1990, the world situation had changed completely after the Beijing summer, the Berlin autumn, the winter of Poland, Tchekoslovakia, Romania, etc. The "song nest" was hurriedly completed and published with music and verses as a book weighing two kilograms, with nearly twenty illustrations and 40 commentaries by overseas artists and political personalities. It was recorded on cassettes and compact discs and enabled me to go on tour to sing the victory of democracy after nearly a century of oppression in the communist nations.
The Migrating Birds
Music and lyrics by Phạm Duy
Arrangements by Duy Cường
Sung by Kim Tước and Vũ Anh.
Since Quyên Left the West Hamlet
Over the bright sky
Black clouds suddenly come
Saddened, the birds
Rise up together
O birds ! O birds ! (4 times)
And Quyên, with her heart-breaking voice
Calls on her flock to leave.
Quyên is the soul of King Thục of old
Having left his suffering country in the north
His soul went south and perched on a tree,
Reincarnating in Cuốc
Reincarnating in Ðỗ Quyên
Ðỗ Vu (1) never stops singing his loss
Calling for his country (2)
As the partridge calls for his family... (3)
Quyen laments endlessly
Big changes have come over his land
At dawn, the fading stars have fallen
The hawk's wings have pushed the sun back into the dark
The eagles' wings have crushed my heart.
He flew to a sad snowy land
Spitting out his blood, he died.
He died as night was falling,
His flesh was not yet dissolved
When he was born once more, Ðỗ Quyên
Ðỗ Quyên ! Ðỗ Quyên !
In the wintery desert
He called: O sacred Fatherland !
The reincarnated bird continues calling
Even if he has to die again
Quoc is calling for his land
His cry wrenches the heart of the exiled
The birds sadly called to each other after leaving their land
Why give up the country to drag out their lives in exile?
O birds O birds
O birds O birds
Since Quyen left Trầu hamlet (4),
The fields in my village have lied empty except for the crows
Empty of words of love
Hawks and vultures rule the land
Ruthless red beaked devils act like tyrants
Cruel birds of prey oppress the weak birds
Since Quyen left
My village lie desolate
As dawn rise parrots intone their propaganda
At nightfall the owls hoot...
(1) Another name of Dỗ Quyên
(2) The water-rail's cry quoc quoc (or cuốc cuốc) recalls the Nation (Quốc Gia)
(3) The partridge's cry gia gia recalls the Family (Gia Ðình)
(4) Hamlet with 18 gardens of betel
If the bird Quốc is the symbol of patriotism, then the blackbird and the wren represent the youth, the age of dream, of innocence. Their sufferings from persecution by the dominant birds are described in these three following pieces of songs. Like bird Quốc, they escaped from Vietnam.
The Wren, The Hoopoe
From The Southern Ricefields
Little birds,
Yoúre just like Quyên
Why should hawks and falcons
Have pity for young birds?
Big birds oppress little birds
Ferocious birds persecute gentle birds
The starling ate at his oncle's
He drank at his aunt's
He broke a bowl of corn
Now they want him to pay for it
The wren he perches on the lemon tree
I throw a piece of faience
I make him fall
The wren he's on the tree
I stand under the tree
I've got him!
The hoopoe he's perching on the reed
I slash at him
I tear his crest, I cut his feathers
Frightened, the little birds scatter
Away they fly
Leaving their homeland
Pious as a monk, why does the brown-clad dove
Have to be in chains?
In a doleful voice he sings
Plunging his head into the waves
Disappearing into the night
Still singing, he calls me
With his doleful voice.
In the pine forest
The hoopoe is learning a new song, a strange song
Stammering, he falls silent
The little birds are terrified
They are afraid of the vast world
Yet they flap their wings
And take off in all directions
From the southern ricefields they fly
Crossing the oceans, heading for the Western vales.
They remembers their tree
A man away from his kind, how sad!
How sad for the man
How sad for the man
How sad for the man
How sad for me !
The Oriole On A Golden Branch
A pair of noble phoenix, alas!
Fluff their plumage in the winter rain
They look enviously at the dancing peacocks
Then go down to the river.
The rain is falling. The birds shiver
Then snow falls and they die
Snow is falling
The birds have lost their nest
The ghosts have lost their graves.
From a denuded golden branch, under the snow
Rises the oriole's melancholic voice
Clouds float past in the blue sky
The mellifluous voice still sings
These clouds are not violet
The oriole continues to sing her dreams
Fast move the clouds, dark grows the sky
Nobody's listening
The oriole stops her doleful song
On the mountain she remembers the night
When Ri called on her
To join Quốc and Gia in the exodus
Now nobody listens to the oriolé song
Tearing her throat, she dies in silence.
I stand there holding a mouldy guitar
The earth's shaking, the strings have broken.
Swallows Fly High and Low
Birds Of The Same Family
In a cave the nostalgic birds
Are consumed with grief
Suddenly a flock of swallows arrive
Singing happily
In a moment of loneliness, the swallows' song
Pushes back the sadness in the birds' hearts
Blue swallows fly in quick succession
Bringing the news daily
The swallows fly low bringing rain to the pond
The swallows fly high stopping the shower
They take pity on their confused friends
If you miss your village banian
If you don't want to fly all over the world,
Then go back home
You lived in a corner of the world
Now you have the whole sky
Love yourself, but remember to love others also
You were lonely, now you're with a crowd
You are not alone.
The swallows fly low so they do not fear the eagles
The swallows fly high so they don't have mishaps
The swallows take pity on their unfortunate friends
Are you sad because you miss your village
Listen to the tale of the root of our family.
The turtle dove is the uncle of the humming bird
The humming bird is the aunt of the starling
The starling is the sister of the blackbird
The blackbird is the brother of the cuckoo
The cuckoo is the uncle of the oriole
The oriole marries the kingfisher's brother.
The kingfisher is the mother of the pelican
The pelican is the grandfather of the stork
Poor black mynah is cowardly
When he sees anything red, he wants to kills himself
Flycatcher is very brave
When he sees the raven, he attacks at once
In the forest, the peacock is crooning
Birds in the sky, fish in the water,
They gambol in all directions.
Bird songs are infinitely precious
The peacock is crooning, let him
In the forest, there are thirty six kinds of birds
The fly-catcher is brave
Everybody saw him attack the raven.
In the forest, there are thirty six kinds of birds
Some have flown away, some stayed
You can see they have not surrendered.
Once upon a time, there was a songbird
With a voice that transcended time
She sang to life, she sang to love
The Thanh bird, her voice was so pure
But she stayed home and stayed silent
Nothing could make her sing
Even though she wanted to cry and laugh
But you can understand, as I do
Why she is keeping her voice to herself...
Swallows Darting This Way And That Way
Birds Of The Same Nest
Swifts and swallows
Have brought good news
Birds from thousand land
Have brought more news
All over the world
Spring has awakened
Even in our native land
Spring is approaching.
The swallows sing in the blue sky
Spreading their wings all around the world
Flying low along the seashores
Flying high across the continents
They announce the end of autumn chill
Winter cold is coming to an end.
In the free sky the free birds fly
Free to do what they want
The wall of shame has fallen
The bamboo and iron curtains have shaken
Freedom is their song
Flying low the swallows hear the people's voice
Flying high they see the tide of events
They're calling to all bird friends
Spring is on the way!
Theýre singing with the voice of spring
Uyen and Uong (1) are faithful birds
In Heaven lives the heron
To the sound of music the phoenix descends
With the rising sun sings the warbler
Gracefully glides the swan
Always dreaming is the woodpecker
Daring the waves and the wind are the seagulls
Offsprings of the Dragon Bird we are
The coucal comes out of water to cheat people
The swift spits blood because he trusts people
The jackdaw has an elegant plumage and a good voice
But he lies and cheats so nobody will have him.
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(1) Mandarin ducks (Uyên and Ương) are symbols of love and faithfulness.
The Viets have always been considered the descendants of the mythological and miraculous birds whose images were engraved on the Viet ancient bronze drums. In the joy of the victory of democracy over tyranny, the Viet birds hear the voice of their ancestors coming from millions or thousand years away, taking wing from the cavern of Dong Sơn, from the skies of Phù Ðổng, Mê Linh, from the ancient dynaties Lê, Lý Trần... inviting the migrant birds to return to Vietnam to rebuild the national nest after the failure of the cruel birds to bring Liberty, Independence and Happiness to the nation.
Birds Of Myth
The birds are wakened
By a divine call
From the mysterious land
It's the voice of the Fairy Bird.
Like an age old wind
The birds are rising
I hear the rumbling
Of a storm coming from space
A dragon's egg hatches into a dragon
A serpent's egg hatches into a serpent
A dragon's egg hatches into a dragon
A fairy bird gives birth to a fairy bird.
Listen to Hồng and Lạc (1)
Mythic birds from the sacred past
Birds of heaven and earth
Listen to Hồng and Lạc
Fairy bird and dragon bird
Whose wings reigned in Ðông Sơn
Balancing yin and yang
Leading the way, showing the path
Together in life and in death
They followed the Father to the sea
They followed Mother up the mountains
They flew from Mê Linh (2)
Soared in the sky of Phù Ðổng (2)
They flew from the caves of Hoa Lư (2)
Birds of the Lý, Lê, Trần kings of old
Listen to the birds of Hùng and Việt (3)
Who lived in the dream of our myths
And protected our land.
Birds of Hùng and Việt
Who assembled in the forum of Diên Hồng
Happy birds of Hồng Ðức
Who enlarged our country
Birds of the Bạch Ðằng River
Birds in the Tao Ðàn Garden
Birds of the Gate of Chi Lăng
Birds of the hills of Yên Thế
Birds who joined the hearts of the nation.
Thanks to them, the agressive birds of prey
Who want to build a totalitarian regime
Remain friendless among the flock.
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(1) Mythic giant long-legged birds, ancestors of the Vietnamese Nation.
(2) Historical locations
(3) Another name for the Vietnamese nation
This modest musical composition ends with the flock of birds returning to their natal country. From now on, it is a place of peace, so all the birds of Vietnam can sing together a magnificent song of love.
Quyên Goes Back To West Hamlet
Because they were ruthless
Because they have no compassion
The ferocious hawks are told
To go to protect our frontiers.
So the gentle birds
Can rebuild our land
With their happy song
They welcome eternal Spring
Vũ went away, Vũ will come back
When the invaders reach Bồ Ðề they will be beaten
The father's head will be joined to the child's body
After fifteen years the hard times will be over.
The birds went away but one day they'll be back
To make love bloom over the countryside.
Since they could not make a happy spring
The birds of prey will retreat one day
A country does not belong to any one bird
It belongs to all species
In the new wind many voices will echo happily
In songs of passionate love
The voice of Quốc Quốc will ring in defence of the country
The song of Gia Gia will echo as they guard the homeland
In the forest they assemble
The reborn birds call to their friends
From Bắc Quang, Bắc Mục to Mount Tản
Their reunion lasts several autumns and winters
Peafowls dance, mountain birds sing a hardy song
Seabirds soar, swifts and swallow dart about
Spring birds glides all over the fields
In the river fish swim about in wait
Lovingly the doves feed their nestlings
A dreamy smoke curls
Over sleepy thatch roofs
The birds have come back to warm the thatch roofs
The sun shines in the scented garden
Flocks of birds hug the homeland
Below their wings the waves sing in the evening
Like echoes in a songstress's heart.
O my country, how you love these birds
Over our homes they travel and sing mellifluously
The birds are returning to the beloved homeland
They will start a new season, then they will scatter
All over the world in shared joyousness
And into space to visit the infinite
Quyên has come back to the West Hamlet.
Following his destiny
His joys and sadnesses reflect an untarnished soul
Under this sky or over the whole wide world
In the material world or the incorporeal world
He sings but one song, the song of Spring Love
Good bird, you're coming back to the old bamboo
You and I we'll mend the future
We'll call to each other in deep affection
We'll sing of love many more times.
Started 1975
Completed 1985
Amended and recorded 1990
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