Musician Xuan Hoa and childhood songs
(Baonghean.vn) - With the clear notes and the years of writing music for children, the musician said that he was young again, living with a young poetic soul. And to him, that was the most beautiful and most worth-living period of his professional life.
From childhood songs…
The affectionate name “Teacher Hoa Ten-lơ-man” comes from the fact that musician Le Xuan Hoa has been associated with the Vietnamese-German Children's Cultural House (Vinh City) - formerly the Ten-lơ-man Children's Cultural House (named after Ernst Thälmann - the leader of the German Communist Party, the country that sponsored the construction of this cultural house) - from the late 90s of the last century until now.
The musician recalled that after returning from the army, he took a job at the cultural house with the responsibility of discovering and nurturing young musical talents in the province. At that time, the Vietnam - Germany Children's Cultural House did not have an art troupe or a professional orchestra until musician Xuan Hoa returned and established the Blue Bird Art Troupe - a "brand" that has been associated with them until now.
The Blue Bird Art Team operates very professionally, with outstanding young talents who later flew far away. The musician is the artistic director of the team, so his work is always closely associated with the children. To the point that there are weeks and months of practicing music with the children, having lunch with them, and in the evening assembling the stage and recording with the young people. The musician - the teacher is like a father and an older brother to the children. During performances, musician Xuan Hoa both "conducts" the team and takes care of the logistics. The children chirp along with their teacher like a flock of baby birds, calling him when they eat, and telling him when they argue.
“I still remember clearly the memory before the show, I called the children together to put on makeup, because I was afraid that each child would run off in different directions and I couldn’t call them, so I only did half of each child’s face, and after their turn, I painted the other half” - the childhood musician laughed and had tears in his eyes when recalling old memories.
The 13 years that musician Xuan Hoa taught at the Vietnam-Germany Children's Cultural House were 13 years that the Blue Bird Art Team always took the lead in national children's music competitions. In addition to songs, he also wrote plays, such as the Full Moon Festival, Team History... For musician Xuan Hoa, that was an invaluable period in his artistic career.
When mentioning musician Xuan Hoa, we immediately think of famous songs such as: Festival Night in Uncle Ho's Hometown, I Love My Teacher, Dear Hong Lam Land, The Three, Age 15... Songs written for children by musician Xuan Hoa praise love for the homeland, the relationship between teachers and students, with easy-to-remember lyrics and catchy melodies.
“At that time, I also had songs written for schools that became epic poems and were memorized by many generations of teachers and students,” he recalled. The songs he wrote for many schools in Lam Hong, their vitality was enduring with the development of the career of educating people, so the brand name “teacher Hoa Ten-le-man” was affirmed, loved and respected.
With remarkable contributions to the field of children's songs, musician Xuan Hoa has achieved noble awards: Central Youth Union recognized him as one of the three prestigious musicians of the three regions (Southern region has musician Truong Quang Luc, Central region has musician Le Xuan Hoa, Northern region has musician Hai Ha); Second prize in national specialized music with the work "The Three"...
In recent years, musician Xuan Hoa has not written many songs for children, but he still thinks deeply about this special area of composition. He confided that music for children must adhere to a narrower sound range than music written for adults, with short, concise, and familiar lyrics; in particular, the person writing songs for children must transform into a child, must be in tune with children in order to write well, to help children remember, learn, and love easily. He also worries a lot about the current lack and weakness of children's songs, and is often sad when hearing children choose many adult songs to participate in music competitions.
...to million-view songs
Musician Xuan Hoa said that, when he was young, while living with his family in Thai Hoa town, he was soon familiar with music. At that time, a Japanese musician working in Thai Hoa taught Xuan Hoa the first sounds, so he soon became passionate and practiced writing music from his teenage years. Growing up, joining the army, musician Xuan Hoa was fortunate to be in the same troupe as musician An Thuyen, and was directly taught by that talented musician, so he soon formed his style of writing music. Later, in addition to the song collections for children, musician Xuan Hoa had a huge collection of folk love songs for adults.
Songs such as “Giong Nghe tim ve” won the second prize of the Vietnam Musicians Association; “Dua em ve Ha Tinh”, “Ve xu Nghe cung anh” or “Lo hen voi dong Lam” have been well-known in the music life and among the public nationwide. Of the 180 songs he wrote recently, 14 have reached a million views or more on social media platforms. Many good songs have been chosen by singers as entries in professional competitions.
Musician Xuan Hoa believes that a good song must often speak for the listener's thoughts, or must summarize cultural aspects of life into soaring notes. A typical example is the song "Giong Nghệ Tìm Về", he came up with the idea for the musical notes when he suddenly heard Nghệ An accent during a business trip abroad. "Nghe An people only need to hear the voice to feel a whole sky of affection. Even though they have never met before, just hearing the sound, they do not hesitate to shake hands and get acquainted very intimately" - musician Xuan Hoa said. And after that business trip, the song that made Nghệ An people very proud when sung was born, resounding not only on the music stage but also in everyday life.
The lyrical music of the homeland has an everlasting cultural value and a lasting vitality because it speaks for the feelings of the listeners, speaks for the hearts of those who are far from home and also the people who are always proud of their homeland, Nghe An. Therefore, the songs “Dua em ve Ha Tinh”, “Lo hen voi dong Lam” by musician Xuan Hoa are often sung in everyday events, folk stages of Nghe An people, because singing them makes one feel the many sentiments, the very unique cultural qualities of Nghe An people.
Musician Xuan Hoa said that he did not want to talk much about the awards, because almost every competition has an award. According to him, the award recognized by the Vietnam Musicians Association is very prestigious, it is a certificate from professionals; however, for musician Xuan Hoa, the greatest award he received is the recognition and love from the audience. That value is what remains forever with time.
