The unfinished love story of musician Trinh Cong Son and a Japanese girl on film

In the early 70s of the last century, Trinh Cong Son's music was not only famous in the S-shaped strip of land but also spread to the world community. In Japan, many songs by musician Trinh were released and in 1972, Trinh Cong Son won the Golden Disc Award (Award for records with a circulation of over 2 million copies).

In 1979, Nippon Records (Japan) invited singer Khanh Ly to record Trinh Cong Son's songs. Among them, the songGo to sleep, baby.performed by Khanh Ly became a hit that year in this market. That shows that Trinh Cong Son's music is loved by many people in the land of the rising sun.

Michiko Yoshii as a young woman

In the late 80s, a Japanese female student studying at a university in Paris (France) also fell in love with Trinh Cong Son's songs. That girl was named Michiko Yoshii. From her love for music, Michiko Yoshii studied Vietnamese to understand more about the beauty and goodness in Trinh Cong Son's music. And Michiko Yoshii decided to do her master's thesis on Trinh Cong Son's anti-war music.

To have materials for her research, Michiko Yoshii met the talented musician many times and gradually, from love for music, they turned to love. Music became the bridge for their love.

According to Ms. Trinh Vinh Trinh (Trinh Cong Son's younger sister), "I met Michiko once before. She was a slim, graceful Japanese girl. She held a guitar and sang many Trinh songs passionately and emotionally, making everyone moved. Through my feelings and perspective, I think Mr. Son was very touched at that time that a foreign girl understood and loved his music so much. He was very impressed when Michiko knew hundreds of his songs. Maybe that was the reason that brought the two of them together."

Musician Trinh Cong Son

According to Trinh Vinh Trinh, the love between the two people had become so deep that they planned to hold a wedding. At that time, the Trinh family was abroad but was very excited to know that their brother was about to settle down. The whole family planned to return to Vietnam, make wedding clothes, and buy wedding rings for both the bride and groom. On the bride's side, because Michiko Yoshii's parents were too old to come to Vietnam to attend the wedding, Michiko Yoshii asked the Japanese ambassador to Vietnam to represent the bride's family.

All the preparations for the wedding were completed, however, for unknown reasons, the wedding was cancelled at the last minute. “I don’t know how it happened or why because I was in Canada at the time. But when we heard the news that the wedding was cancelled, everyone was very sad. Many people wanted to ask, but Mr. Son is discreet, profound and sensitive, so the matter was rarely discussed,” Trinh Vinh Trinh said.

Ms. Michiko Yoshii in 2018

Their love affair in real life was unfinished before marriage, but music was always the bond that connected two kindred souls. In July 1991, in Paris, Michiko Yoshii successfully defended her master's thesis on the influence of Trinh Cong Son's anti-war music on Vietnamese society during the war. This thesis was rated excellent by the examiners of the University of Paris VII.

In 1993, Michiko Yoshii returned to Vietnam to work. They also met a few times before Michiko Yoshii married another Vietnamese man. Also because of her love for Vietnam, Michiko Yoshii contacted the organization Friends of Street Children in Japan to expand its activities in Vietnam. Through Michiko Yoshii, many Japanese people donated money to build dozens of bridges, hundreds of poor children were helped with money to go to school.

After Trinh Cong Son passed away, Michiko Yoshii often returned to burn incense for him. According to Trinh's family, for someone with a deep and secretive nature like Trinh Cong Son, he only knew how to pour his feelings into his works. Trinh Cong Son composed a song specifically for Michiko. But this piece of music was never published.

In addition to the film project, in 2019, Trinh Cong Son's family will organize a week named after him on the 18th anniversary of his death. Three Trinh music nights will take place. Of which, the night at Military Zone 7 Stadium will take place on March 30, with singers and musicians: Bang Kieu, Quang Dung, Duc Tuan, Hong Nhung, Le Quyen, Tran Manh Tuan... A program at Nguyen Van Binh Book Street (District 1) will take place on the afternoon of April 1.