Musician Trinh Cong Son

8/6/2019 Musician Trinh Cong Son

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MUSICIAN TRINH CONG SON.

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Trinh Cong Son, an anti-war musician in the pre-1975 Republic of (South) Vietnamdied on Sunday, April 1, 2001 at the age of 62. He was dubbed the "Bob Daylan of

Vietnam" by American singer Joan Baez.

He has been author of more than 600 songs which are popular with Vietnamese

youth, even those in North Vietnam. Many songs are about love, but the majority of

his works were written with anti-war theme, in the late half of the 1960's when theVietnam War came to its peak.

Born in the Central Highland province of Darlac in 1939, Son spent many years inthe ancient imperial capital of Hue. Graduated from a Teacher's School of South

Vietnam, Son served as a teacher for a short time then quit his job to begin

composing love songs in the late 1950s. His has had a great love of music since hisearly childhood. His first song, "Uot Mi" (Tearful Eyelashes) was composed in 1957.

He attained a reputation for a number of his songs with melody and lyrics that some

critics appreciate as the most popular songs.

He was somewhat a draft dodger who would have been trained in ROTC School if hehadn't found some loopholes in the conscription procedures to stay away from the

South Vietnamese military service.

After the Communists defeated South Vietnam, most of his close relatives fledVietnam, while he chose to stay with a hope that the new rulers would accept him

and would rebuild a better unified nation.


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A typical song of Trinh Cong Son would describe things such as "the sound of

artillery reaches the city every night," or "whenever the war ends, the old mother

would climb the mountain to search for her son's remains," or anything ranging fromblood to tears of the innocent peasants shed by the civil war. Many of the songs

implicate the destruction of lives and houses and crops done by bombs and shells of

the South Vietnamese military and American forces. Only a few of his compositionslay blame on the Communists for their internecine killing and for instilling false

animosity into the innocents to promote Communism.

His love songs' melody and lyric are so attractive as musical value is concerned.

Their words sound like that in the sweetest poems written for a lover. But his one-sided anti-war songs earned him disdain and hatred from the anti-Communist

Vietnamese, even today after 26 years the country is under the Communist regime.

Trinh Cong Son's songs were not banned in the pre-75 South Vietnam, although hisanti-war musical works obviously parallel with the Communist propaganda themes

were not allowed on state-controlled TV and radio broadcast. It's worth mentioning

that his songs were not welcomed by the North Vietnam Communist rulers either.

His pacifist songs about the futility of war were even praised overseas. One of his

most famous songs, ``Lullaby'' (Ngu Di Con), about the pain of a mother mourning

her soldier son, became a hit in Japan in 1972.

The talented composer was not a true Communist party member or activist despitethe allegation that he might have had some covert relations with Communist

activities in the South. However much he might have appeared to be a pro-

Communist artist, South Vietnamese authorities had not imposed any prison sentenceon him while other overt Communist supporters were court-martialed and given a

term of imprisonment.

The Saigon government did not exert any harsh suppressive action on him only

because it had to prove itself a democratic regime. And Trinh Cong Son's case doesstrongly justify that during the Vietnam War, the South Vietnamese were living

under a true democracy though a certain limit was enforced due to the life or death

struggle against the most brutal and wily enemy from the North.


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If Trinh Cong Son peace advocating attitude were endorsed by a large portion of

South Vietnam population before 1975, he has damaged his reputation a lotafterward.

On April 30, 1975, right after the Communist army overran Saigon, Trinh Cong

Son's voice was heard on Saigon Radio, calling the youth to welcome the Communist

soldiers with his song "Noi Vong Tay Lon" (Join Hands in a Greater Ring) praisingunification of Vietnam (under Hanoi control). His quick and complete devotion to the

conquerors hurt the feeling of many people who had appreciated him as an attractive

heart's songs writer.

After just a few months in favor of Communist authorities after April 1975, Trinh

Cong Son was given unfriendly treatment by the new regime. He was sent to serve as

a common laborer in some "new economic areas" along with others who had been

serving the former RVN regime at low ranks. His pre-1975 songs were not permitted.He was under security surveillance for many years.

He was composing many new songs but only a few were passed by Communist

censors although he did nothing wrong against the Communist regime. Meanwhile,

his songs even the anti-war, are still widely performed and recorded in commercialCD's in the overseas Vietnamese communities.

Only since early 1990's have his songs been performed in musical events andentertainment's in Vietnam as the Communist regime accepted market economy

reform. He had told AFP recently that Communist government surveillance had

stopped a long time ago. However, he was never given any decent position as a

popular songs writer. He also told AFP last year that he had written "nothingbeautiful" in the decade after 1975 and had not published a single song.

On Sunday, April 1, Trinh Cong Son passed out at Cho Ray hospital. He had suffered

a long time from diabetes that might be aggravated by his way of life. He was aheavy drinker and smoker - 5 packs a day. Medical authorities said that he died of

liver and lung complications from diabetes.


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His funeral drew a large gathering of many ten of thousands of his fans and other

common people. But the news was not immediately reported in major party-controlled newspapers until 3 days later, probably the media had to wait for decision

from the top party leaders.

Then the party-controlled media published a series of articles praising the late songs

writer of his patriotism and musical talent. Local authorities sent representatives andflowers to his funeral. Two of Ho Chi Minh City's top officials, Saigon Communist

Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Minh Triet and Deputy Chairman of Saigon

People's Committee Le Thanh Hai, visited the mortuary Tuesday where the singer'sbody had lain in state. Only two among the party top leaders, former prime minister

Vo Van Kiet and his successor Phan Van Khai sent wreaths to his funeral, on behalf

or their own families. The two are known as reformers.

Though Communist government allowed a large funeral service with tens ofthousands of attendants, Trinh Cong Son was not interred at the Saigon's Communist

martyr cemetery where composers and singers faithful to the Communist Party are

laid to rest. He was buried at a common graveyard in Binh Duong province, about 20km northwest of Saigon.

The honor granted to Trinh Cong Son by the Communist leaders, higher than to some

other more faithful Communist Party members who had contributed betterachievements to the party in the cultural front is unexpected and unprecedented. The

honor, while burial in martyr cemetery was denied, could be an act of "psychological

warfare."

After 26 years under Communism, people in South Vietnam (south of the 17thParallel) are still acting and thinking as if they were living in a separate country.

Prevailing in business management, in science and technology, South Vietnam areattracting more foreign investment than the North. Production and growth in Saigonreach higher rate.

Trinh Cong Son, whether he was a Communist or not, is still a symbol of the

advanced South Vietnam, a musical talent having had no relations or services with


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the nationalist regimes. His funeral might have been taken as the lawful occasion to

vent South Vietnamese dissatisfaction on the incapable but arrogant Northern

leaders.

The Communist top leaders' decision to honor Trinh Cong Son might aim at taking

advantages of his popularity of the people to calm down the disaffection that is

burning in people's hearts especially when religious protests have been going on inthe Central Highlands and other places, Hue and An Giang.

Trinh Cong Son was born in Daklak, Vietnam on February 28, 1939. He was a

musician, song writer, poet and painter. He grew up in Hue (central Vietnam) andattended school there. In 1965 he moved to Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh

City). In his life time, Son had witnessed constant war and deaths in his homeland

which led him to become a peace activist. He was and still is famous for writing anti-

war songs during the Vietnam War era.

To understand why he wrote anti war song we must understand a little bit of history

of Vietnam.

When he was young, he witnessed brutal French occupation of his homeland:Vietnam. Vietnam was once a valuable French colony that specialized in rice

cultivation, rubber and other natural resources. However, the people of Vietnam

received no benefit from this wealth because everything was exported to France. In1954, Vietnamese nationalists lead by Ho Chi Minh defeated the French at the battle

of Dien Bien Phu and freed Vietnam from French colonial power. After the French's

defeat, America entered the war and split the country: North Vietnam and South

Vietnam. The North was backed by China and Russia. Meanwhile the South wassupported by the United States and her allies. This marked the beginning of what

Americans know as the "Vietnam War".

The Vietnam War was brutal. Millions of lives were lost, and property and natural

resources were being destroyed. There were protests around the world to end the warand in Vietnam there was Son protesting to end the war and bring about peace

through his music. "Trinh Cong Son,[was] an antiwar singer and song writer whose


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melancholy music stirred Vietnamese on both sides of the war " (SETH, 2001) Hisanti war songs were so powerful they made soldiers from both sides lose the will to

fight. His songs were banned by the government from both sides: "Both the South

and North Vietnamese governments banned the sale or broadcast of his music, butblack market tapes of his songs flourished. To avoid being arrested, Son often had to

hide."(PBS, 2008)

His songs are full of sadness and sorrow and they exposed the ugliness of war. Whensoldiers listened to his music they no longer wanted to fight. "For Vietnam, the songs

of TRINH CONG SON provided the audio track for the war. Hauntingly sentimental

and filled with the sadness of separation and death, they always seemed to be driftingfrom some battered tape player in a cafe or at an army checkpoint on the road to

nowhere." (Hillenbrand 2001) Some soldiers just abandoned their weapons and gear,

left the battle fields and returned home to their families. The government did not like

that. Both sides labeled him as a traitor for advocating peace.

He wrote thousands of songs, but most of them are not translated into English. Only

some of them did, which include "The Great Circle of Vietnam". The subject matter

of this song is life, love, and peace. This song was meant for peaceful unification of

all Vietnamese people, regardless of political differences. It talks about people from

mountains, land, sea, and all regions to join hands and reunify the country throughpeace and not war. The content is, of course, peaceful reunification. For centuries

Vietnam was a battle field. Throughout history, War is what people knew Vietnam

for. Generation after generation of bloodshed...I'm confident that the content of thissong was meant to advocate peaceful reunification of the Vietnamese people. The

country was split in halves by two world supper powers (Russia and the United

States) and people were dying fighting for ideologies. The artistic form of this song isstrong imagery, and beautiful melody. The song stirs emotions of sadness, sorrow,

and was meant to wipe away one's hatred. For example in this verse: "Of one blood

our hearts ablaze,

Reconciled, a new day." He is saying that we should forget the past and focus a newday. We must forgive each other and move on with our lives. Hatred causes divisionand war, which lead to deaths among millions of people.

Even though the people love his songs, the government from both sides did not like

him: they both labeled him as a traitor. "After the end of the war, he spent four yearsin a "re-education camp" after his family fled to the US." (BBC News, 2001).However later the government released him and showered him with gifts and honors,however, he was forced not to make any more anti-war songs. After the war, he spent


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his entire life making romantic songs. On April 1, 2001, Trinh Cong Son died at the

age of 62 in a Vietnam hospital. Out of respect,"Tens of thousands of fans lined the

street of Ho Chi Minh City to pay respects to his funeral cortege."(Hillenbrand, 2001)

Even after his death, people till this day still play his music in Vietnam. "He, along

with Pham Duy and Van Cao, is widely considered one of the three most salient

figures of modern Vietnamese music."(Wikipedia, 2008). Till this day, his songs arestill being sung by modern Vietnamese artists. Even though he might no longer be

with us but as long as the people keep singing his song, in a way, he has never left us.

The world needs more peace-loving anti-war artists in this age we live in. War

always exists and so should anti-war artists, because they remind us of our humanityand the ugliness of wars.

s is often the way with the poets and artists of this world, true appreciation for the

anti-war singer, songwriter and poet Trinh Cong Son was only acknowledged afterhis death on 1 April 2001 in Cho Ray Hopital, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) at the age

of 62. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese people lined the streets to pay tribute to the

man known as the "Bob Dylan" of Vietnam.

Trinh Cong Son was born in Dac lac on 28 February 1939 and during his lifetime

composed more than 600 songs. During the sixties, he became known as an

outspoken critic of the war. His openly anti-war songs angered both governments buttouched a chord in the heart of the ordinary Vietnamese person (both North andSouth) during a long and tragic war which left no Vietnamese person unaffected.

Criticism followed Trinh Cong Son throughout his life. During the war he was

persecuted for his outspokenness. Trinh Cong Son's immense popularity exceededthat of any South Vietnamese military or political figure. Students attended his

concerts at universities, soldiers on both sides carried tapes of his songs and both

North and South governments were unable to silence his anthems to peace. In the

South, the government banned Trinh Cong Son's public performances, distribution ofhis recordings as well as radio and television broadcasts of his music. He was even

prohibited from entering Saigon. Notwithstanding this, black market tapes of his

songs flourished. He was harassed by secret police as his songs which called forpeace and one Vietnam were perceived as advocating reunification with the

communist North.


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The antiwar themes questioned the rightness of the war on both sides. Much as the

song "Lorena" was banned during the American Civil War as it made soldiers on

both sides so homesick that it made them unwilling to fight, Trinh Cong Son's songswere regarded as weakening the people's fighting spirit by the Southern regime and

"defeatist" by the Northern regime. As his lyrics frequently suggested that "the

American War" was a civil war between the North and the South, this clashed withthe official Communist line which maintained that the war had been a fight of the

Vietnamese people against American imperialism.

Trinh Cong Son's dream of "peace" was finally realised in 1975. Although most of

his family and friends fled Saigon in the final days of the war, Tring Cong Son choseto stay: "If I leave my land, I am nothing," he said. The consequence? Trinh Cong

Son spent four years in a "re-education camp".

In 1979, Trinh Cong Son was permitted to return to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) andbegan writing songs again which did not contain any political content but were

purely love songs. These songs have introduced Trinh Cong Son to a new generation

of Vietnamese.

Yet again, he was the subject of criticism from many Vietnamese who had fled

Vietnam and settled abroad. He was condemned for not denouncing the the current

Vietnamese government. Some called him "a communist stooge" and "a traitor."

For me, such denunciation is outrageous. If you read the lyrics to his songs, you willsee that he never wanted to be a political spokesman. All he wanted was peace and a

unified Vietnam where he could walk from North to South without fear. One has to

respect him for he could have fled, but being a true patriot he chose to stay.

Although Trinh Cong Son said: "The young people now don't understand what washappening in the war .... It has no meaning for them", my favourite songs are his "Ca

khuc da vang" - a common name for his war songs which are like a historical

commentary on feelings of Vietnamese during the war years. The beauty of thesesongs is that it is impossible to tell whether they are sung by Northerner or

Southerner - their relevance is blind to political affiliation and that in itself explains

their universal appeal.


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His Songs

Rose: Real folk singers write their own stuff - say what's on their mind. They're theones who can make things happen.

Eddie: How's that?

Rose: Their music can change the world

Eddie: Well if you want to change the world Rose, why don't you join the marines

and start shooting? Shooting changes things real quick.

Rose: I can't believe you just said that

Eddie: Well I just did.

Rose: that's ridiculous. Shooting doesn't solve anything. You shoot at people -

what? You got people shooting back at you. When you sing to people, your message

goes straight to the soul. You open up a whole new point of view - you disarm them.

.......................- Dogfight

Why do I like Trinh Cong Son's music? My Vietnamese is poor, I was only two at

the time we left Vietnam ..... yet I grew up listening to the songs of Trinh Cong Son.

One of my earliest memories is singing along to "Nguoi con gi Viet Nam da vng"even though at the time I had absolutely no understanding of the meaning of the

lyrics.

I always thought it was just a song that said that Vietnamese girls have yellow skin.How would a five year old have any comprehension of this song - regardless of the

language:


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You've never known our land in peace.

You've never known Olden Viet Nam.

You've never sung our village songs.

All you have is an angry heart.

For me, Trinh Cong Son's songs are a time capsule of a war in which more than amillion Vietnamese soldiers and 2 million Vietnamese civilians died in the hostilities

- a senseless war in which more than 2 million Vietnamese were disabled and which

has scarred the country forever. Trinh Cong Son's lyrics spoke of a yearning forpeace and healing in a divided country and called for an end to bloodshed and

tragedy.

You'll be able to tell from my quote from "Dogfight" that I do believe about theimportant role that music can play. I mentioned the American song "Lorena" above.

This song which was one of the most beloved songs of Confederate soldiers during

the American Civil War was actually written by a Northerner and first published in

Chicago in 1857. It was reprinted in at least nine different pirated editions in theSouth, and virtually every pocket songbook carried by Southern soldiers included

Lorena. Even Northern soldiers sang Lorena.

The song so affected soldiers of both armies so much that commanding officersordered that it no longer be played as the it made the soldiers so homesick that they

didn't want to fight. Naturally most soldiers sang it anyway.

The songs of Trinh Cong Son appeared to have had a similar effect. His lyrics are astrange mixture of tragic and joyful, morbid and light.

My father, who I constantly harass to translate the songs for me, tells me that they are

very metaphorical and hard to understand. Trinh Cong Son liked to adopt extremely

obscure and poetic terms which he regards as being almost "impossible totranslate". According to my father:


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"One would need to be a poet, on his wavelength and armed with 2 thesauruses,

one English and another Vietnamese to do the job".

It's true that there are lots of little things that you need to know to be able toappreciaet the songs. I once asked my father why "hai muoi nam" (twenty years) was

such a significant period of time in so many of Trinh Cong Son's songs. His resopnse

was that Trinh Cong Son wrote the songs in the sixties and seventies; the Vietnamwar started from either the later 40s (French war) or the fifties (American war).

Sad songs

In "Ngu Di Con" ("Lullaby"), a mother mourns her soldier son, contrasting the sleep

of a baby with the sleep of death.

"Rest well my child, my child of the yellow race.

Rock gently my child, I have done it twice.

This body, which used to be so small, that I carried in my womb, that I held in my

arms.

Why do you rest at the age of 20 years?"

In "Ngu Ngon muo deng", we hear about a man who "dies two times", referring to

the fact that the cart which carries the coffin containing the corpse.

I remember feeling a bit appalled and disbelieving when my father first told me aboutthe lyrics to "Ht trn nhung xc nguoi" (Ballad to the Dead (Hue 1968)) which is

basically a song about corpses. Did anyone really write songs with such stark and

tragic lyrics?

The bodies of the dead lie floating in the river


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They lie in the field,

On the rooftops of the city

And in the winding streets

The bodies of the dead lie lost

Under the eaves of the pagodas

In the churches of the city

At the doorsteps of the deserted houses

Oh Spring - the bodies of the dead bring a scent to the rice paddies

Oh Vietnam - the bodies of the dead add breath to tomorrow's soil

The way there, though full of obstacles (literally - spikes)

Because around here - here were humans

The bodies of the dead lied all around here

In this cold rain

Near the bodies of the old and weak

Lie the bodies of the young and innocent

Which body is the body of my brother

In this cave

In those burnt out areas

Next to the maize and sweet potato field


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Which body is the body of my brother

In this cave

In those burnt out areas

Next to the maize and sweet potato field

Themn the are the haunting lyrics of "Tnh ca nguoi mat tr" (Love Song of a

Madman):

I had a lover who died at the Battle of Pleime

I had a lover in the Tactical Zone D

died at the Battle of Dongxoai

died out there in Hanoi

died in haste along the border

I had a lover who died at the Battle of Chu Bruang

I had a lover whose body was floating in the river

died in the paddy field

died in the thick jungle

died cold and lonely, his body charred

I want to love you, love Vietnam

On a windy day, I would go calling quietly

Calling your name, the name of Vietnam


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Feeling closer in the voice of the yellow skin


The day I have just grown, my ears are used to bullets and mines

My hands between my lips

As of today I have forgotten the languages of humans...

I had a lover who died at the Battle of Ashau

I had a lover who died curled in the foetal position

died in a ravine

died near the bridge pylon

died in an anguish with not a rag on his body

I had a lover who died at the battle of Baza

I had a lover who died last night

died all of a sudden

died without any warning / any appointment

no hatred, died peacefully as if in a dream

I really love the chorus in this song:


In a windy day, I go, calling quietly


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Calling your name, the name of Vietnam

feeling closer in the voice of yellow skin

There's something chillingly poignant about the refrain "without any warning - no

hatred, died as in a dream" which then fades away into an uneasy silence. For me thesong evokes an imagery of a sad and lonely ghost walking across a deserted,

transformed where each location is simply another monument to death.

Defiant songs

Then there are the songs with a touch of anger and defiance in them. Gia ti cua me

(Mother's legacy)

A thousand years of Chinese reign.

A hundred years of French domain/oppression.

Twenty years of brother fighting brother each day,

A mother's fate - left by her child,

A mother's fate - a land defiled.




A mother's fate - bones left to dry,

And graves that fill a mountain high.


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Refrain:

Teach your children to speak their minds.

Don't let them forget their kind--

Never forget their kind, from old Viet land.

Mother wait for your children to come home,

Childern who now so far away roam.

Children of one father, be reconciled.




A mother's fate, our fields so dead,

And rows of homes in flames so red.




A mother's fate - her children half-breeds,

Her children filled with disloyalty.

Joyful songs


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The songs like most though are the joyful ones, filled with hope and aspirations for

the future. Sadly though, even joyful songs like "Cho nhn qu huong sng chi"

(Wait to see the brilliant father land) contain an element of wistful sadness.

Here I wait, there you wait,

In a small house, mother sits and waits too,

The soldier waits on the deserted hilltop;

The prisoner waits in total darkness

How many years have we been waiting?



Waiting for ever when we all awaken with a large shout of joy

Waiting for the heart of hatred to sink deep

Waiting for the peace to come, waiting for the sound of the three regions

Waiting for the steps to be made on roads with no mines and spikes

Waiting for the roads to be reconnected and vehicles to travel through all threeregions

Waiting for the good news that the whole nation has been waiting for

Waiting for mother's forehead to lighten with the dawn

Waiting for the tears to dry,

waiting for the stones to sing

Waiting for foods and clothes for the children without homes

Waiting for the day Vietnam reunites for the love without borders


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Waiting for the bugle to sound to bring home all the boys

Waiting for hearts to no longer hold any hatred and grudges

Waiting for nights without curfews and mornings with comfort

Waiting for the aromatic rice to grow under the hands of our own people

Waiting for the hearts that love the country and are determined to build the peace

Waiting for the hearts that are happy throughout the villages

Waiting for the land to resound of songs of freedom

Waiting for trees to change leaves; waiting for flowers to blossom

Waiting for us to go around streets that are not strange

Waiting for a bright country and the mothers' eyes are no longer blurred with tears

Waiting for the bugle to sound to bring home all the boys

Waiting for hearts to no longer hold any hatred and grudges

Waiting for nights without curfews and mornings with comfort

Waiting for the aromatic rice to grow under the hands of our own people

Waiting for the hearts that love the country and are determined to build the peace

Waiting for the hearts that are happy throughout the villages

Waiting for the land to resound of songs of freedom

Waiting for trees to change leaves; waiting for flowers to blossom

Waiting for us to go around streets that are not strange

Waiting for a bright country and the mothers' eyes are no longer blurred with tears

Then there is also "Ti se di tham" (I shall go visiting) which was my initial re-

discovery of Trinh Cong Son and Khanh Ly.


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When my country is at peace, I shall go visiting

I shall go visiting, a district full of caves

Visiting a road with many holes

When my country is no longer at war

A few of my friends will have their graves covered with grass

When my country is at peace, I shall go visiting

I shall go visiting, bridges broken by mines

Go visiting traps with barbed pickets and machetes

When my country has no more killing (each other)

Children will go out and sing nursery rhymes in the streets

When my country is in peace, I shall go non-stop

From Sai Gon to the Centre and from Ha Noi to the South

I shall go amid the collective joy

And hope will forget

My country's story/saga

When my country is in peace, I shall go visiting

I shall visit many sad graveyards

To see tombstones as numerous as mushrooms

When my country is no longer at war


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Old mothers will climb up to the mountain, to look for her son's remains

When my country is in peace, I shall go visiting

I shall visit, villages and hamlets that are now plains

To see bamboo-forests that are now charred

When my country has no more killing (each other)

Everyone will go out cheering each other with broad smiles

"Hue Si Gn, H Noi" (Hue Saigon Hanoi) was my original inspiration for wantingto visit Vietnam again, although I did it in slightly different order - going from

Saigon, Hue to Hanoi.

Oh, Hue Saigon Hanoi, my country,

why are you so far away still?

Hue Saigon Hanoi, so many years have gone by,

why are you still so indifferent?

Oh Vietnam, for how much longer

Must people still sit missing one another?

Millions my feet, millions your feet,

All those people who rise for the call of revolution

It's time for linking our hearts together,

All us youths, let's be the pioneers

All over Central South and North, waiting eagerly,


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all those bundles of rice are symbols of freedom

The roads now lead to the prisons

tomorrow let us build schools and market places

Our people shall return to cultivate and ensure all are well clothed and fed.

All hands will work for the nation,

All hands will build, let the memory of hatred and pain fade away

We will keep building our houses, our gardens will prosper,

Let me go up the hill to sing with joy

North, South and Centre, let us unite and be one region again

All three frontiers open, roads built and peace returns to the country

Hue Saigon Hanoi, for 20 years, the cries of misfortune,

Hue Saigon Hanoi, in our hands, the heart of Vietnam

Bullets and bombs, human greed, what war machines destroy our kind

Oh Vietnam, stop dreaming, look forward and get rid of hatred

Let's wipe off all past sadness,

Tomorrow, all roads linking South and North covered with flowers

Loving hands and hearts with no frontiers

Brothers let's listen to all the love

The big joy shall pass hundred of bridges

The mother will enjoy the betel nuts


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Watching the two regions sharing the peace with hearts filled with warmth

Day in the South, night in the North,

Eyes taking in all the changes, seeing the sweet dawn breaking

Horses flying past with the wind, hearts beating with the galloping noises

Let us stand up in freedom

North South and Centre in deep love;

Stepping out together jointly building our shared thatched house.

Do wipe off all signs of past sadness,

Tomorrow all South North roads will be covered with flowers

Hands of love, hearts of no frontiers, brothers lets listen to the love,

The big joy shall pass hundred of bridges

Mother will enjoy the betel nuts

Watching the two regions sharing the peace with hearts filled with warmth

Day in the South, night in the North,

Eyes taking in all the changes, seeing the sweet dawn breaking

Horses flying past with the wind,

Hearts beating with the galloping noises

Lets us upraise in freedom

North South and Centre in deep love;

Stepping out together jointly building our shared thatched house


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My favourite line in that song is "cho em ra dau ni ca tnh vui" (let me go up the hill

to sing with joy). My favourite song is probably ong dao ha bnh (Nursery Rhymeof Peace):

Twenty years of hardship is now over

Today I see the sun shining brightly

In everyones heart - our heart, your heart

In the heart of the paddy field


Today sees the radiant smiles

On everyones lips, on our lips

On the lips of little children and the old mothers

The way we go is expansive/abundant - full of houses and shops of acquaintances

Our feet walking comfortably, our hands clasped in happiness

Returning to all mountains and forests, returning to all villages and hamlets

Singing together for the new land, let the sky join in to share our hearts happiness


Today sees the renewed faces of people

We love the sky (heaven), we love us, we love you (or children)

We love the warmth of the newly arrived peace


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Today sees each drop of tears flowing softly in the heart of the fathers and the

heart of the children

In the heart of the nice beautiful babies


Today sees the strange warmth of the sunlight

On the yellow skin, on the fragrant skin

On your skin, on the skin of all Vietnamese who have been waiting

Twenty years of imprisonment shall be forgotten

Today bowls of happy wine will be drunk for the joy of the mothers and the

fathers

For the joy of the children and the wives and husbands

The roads in Vietnam today will be the free paths

We Vietnamese today will live a genuine life

From every corner, there will be the sound of roaring (?) footsteps

The flags stand tall in the wind; the flags are high at the houses doors

Twenty years waiting every minute and second

Today we see the sound of peace

On everyones lips on our lips

On the childrens lips on the lips of the poverty-stricken Vietnamese


25/25

Twenty years of waiting, now the vital force has rushed back through the veins

Nourishing the hearts of the mothers and the heart of the fathers

Nourishing each others heart and the country now well-enriched.

Favourite line? "trong tim b hien ha" (in the heart of the nice beautiful babies)

Documents

Musician Trinh Cong Son