A couple who love Trinh's music wrote a song using the names of 139 of his songs.

"Please pay your debt"

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh (Philosophy lecturer, Nghe An Provincial Political School) knew about musician Trinh Cong Son when she was a first-year student, when she happened to pass by a CD store. She recalled: “At first, I was impressed by singer Khanh Ly’s voice. When I got home, I looked for that song again to listen to and realized that the lyrics and melody really touched people’s hearts. I have loved Trinh’s music ever since.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh. Photo: Thanh Cuong

At that time, her family was poor, Ms. Oanh had to sell bread to earn more money for school fees, and a tape player to listen to music was a luxury item for her. Therefore, when a relative gave her a cassette player and a tape of “Sơn ca 7”, she happily cherished it like a treasure. She listened to it anytime, anywhere, listened until she knew it by heart, listened until the tape broke, she painstakingly used tree sap to re-stick it together to continue listening. During that time of information shortage, whenever she found a newspaper or a picture of musician Trinh Cong Son, she would cut it out and paste it into a thick notebook.

From this love, Ms. Oanh wrote a poem composed of 39 song titles of the musician Trinh, while sitting in the lecture hall. She confided: “Until now, after so many years, the emotions in me every time I listen to Trinh's music are still intact like the first time. I listen to Trinh's music just to listen, without analyzing or commenting, I love Trinh's music just to love, without scrutinizing his private life or side stories."

The songs ofmusician Trinh Cong Sonis an indispensable part of Ms. Oanh. She listens to Trinh's music when she is sad or happy, happy or disappointed, ups and downs or leisurely... "I feel like this musician has condensed his sadness into clear drops, naming his emotions with very simple lyrics and a caring attitude. Trinh's music is really sad, but listening to Trinh's music does not make me feel sadder, but that sadness seems to be shared, melted away, gentle and beautiful" - Ms. Oanh shared more.

From her passion for Trinh's music, she connected with her soulmates and found her soulmates. It seems that for Ms. Oanh, Trinh's music is not simply a hobby or a passion, but has permeated her like blood and flesh, becoming an indispensable material to paint the picture of life. Perhaps that is why her friends like to listen to her sing Trinh's music, even though she sings very simply, purely, without sophisticated techniques.

In 2013, her idea of ​​writing a poem using the names of Trinh Cong Son's songs came back to her once again. And on the occasion of the 13th anniversary of the late musician's death, she completed the poem with 18 stanzas, including 71 verses, listing 139 names of Trinh Cong Son's songs.

As a literature lover, Ms. Oanh has composed many poems, but this poem is completely different from her previous works. Ms. Oanh shared: “The difficulty is that the poem does not simply flow with the flow of emotions, but requires me to calculate the placement of sentences and titles so that they are reasonable, rhyme and meaningful. Moreover, each added word also needs to be carefully considered, not to destroy the “Trinh quality” of the whole. There are verses that make me think for days, there are stanzas that I cannot count the number of times I turn and invert...”. During the 1 month of composing, she thought of the poem anytime, anywhere. There were nights when, even though she had already gone to bed, she suddenly thought of a good idea, a reasonable arrangement, she had to jump up immediately to write it down, in case she forgot it tomorrow.

Indeed, the logicality of the poem’s meaning and rhyme makes it difficult for an outsider like me to recognize which words are the author’s and which are the song’s title. In the 636 words of the poem, Ms. Oanh only added 84 of her own words, all of which are extremely smooth. For example, the following stanza:

"Cry baby, drown in the rain

The smoke of the sky is immense, the call of eternity

The flower of impermanence, who knows the origin?

White SummersulkPink Rain, remindThe story of the night-blooming cereus flower

The whole stanza only has two words "sulky" and "remind" added by Ms. Oanh, but the meaning of the poem is absolutely reasonable and appropriate.

Give all your love

Born into a family with a tradition of art, growing up with hymns in the church, Mr. Bach Duy Hanh (Ms. Oanh's husband) has the ability to compose and play the piano even though his current job is the service director of an auto trading company. He loves Trinh's music partly because he feels that the philosophical and melancholy quality of Trinh's music is very close to Buddhist philosophy and the melodies of hymns.

Although he works in business and engineering, Bach Duy Hanh has a great love for music. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Mr. Hanh is the one who composed the music for Ms. Oanh's poem "Please pay the debt to someone". The motivation for him to complete this piece of music was not only his love for the late talented musician but also his love for his wife. To come together and stay together until today, they held hands to overcome many obstacles and experienced countless challenges.

In 2013, when Ms. Oanh completed the poem, Mr. Hanh had the intention of composing music for this work. However, because the poem was too long, requiring a lot of effort and research, and his work was busy, he had to put it aside. Until last year, after writing a song for his wife on their 20th wedding anniversary, he was determined to return to his wish of composing music for the poem. For 7 months, he devoted all his heart and soul, determined to complete this work.

Mr. Hanh's 7 months of composing music were 7 months of sleep that was always disturbed by the melody, and his mind was always mumbling the lyrics. He shared: "When composing music for other poems, many musicians can cut words to better fit the melody. But with this poem, I had to keep the entire sentence intact, without adding or changing even a single word. Furthermore, I wanted my song to be completely suitable for Oanh. Oanh cannot sing too high or too low, so the high or low notes need to be just right. That is also the reason why many of my friends feel that the melody of the song has the deep, steady sound of a hymn."

During the time of composing music, whenever he found a suitable melody, whether it was when he was about to sleep or driving on the road, Mr. Hanh had to save it on his phone to write it into music when he got home. Because the poem was so long, it became harder to find music later. When he was stuck, he would take a few days off and then continue working. On the days when she was away on business, over the phone, he played - she sang, he wrote - she gave comments, just accompanying each other like that on every word.

Mr. Hanh completed the work just a few days before the 20th anniversary of the death of musician Trinh Cong Son. The moment he heard Ms. Oanh perform his song in its entirety, right after the last note was completed, he was extremely happy. He was moved: "This song may not be up to standard and professional standards, but it is a work of love that I have entrusted to you."

Although I cannot evaluate or comment on this work from an expert's perspective, to me, the song by Ms. Oanh and Mr. Hanh is extremely special. Because it not only shows the emotion for art, the appreciation for talent, but also tells a story of simple, lasting love between people.