Musician - Singer Minh Vuong: Cherished to write about Nghe An

Musician - singer Minh Vuong. Photo: NVCC

- What makes Minh Vuong sing so "lovingly" about Nghe An?

This also has a deep origin, and is also a bit “private”, that is, for a long time I worked and was attached to a company of the Ministry of National Defense. Luckily, when I was here, I had the opportunity to meet and be attached to many Nghe people, they are teachers, respected brothers, talented, passionate. I recognized the outstanding and precious personalities and qualities of Nghe people: talented, upright, decisive and full of affection.

I have secretly carried that love, affection, and respect, so that every time I go to Nghe An to perform, I feel like I am returning to my hometown, to my home. I can speak and sing with a Nghe accent like a Nghe person. And I am proud of that. Is that why you see that when I sing songs with Nghe melodies or sing about Nghe An, I feel "emotional"?

- Returning to his composing career, as a musician and singer pursuing chamber music, Minh Vuong has had works in many different styles, for example "Night Sea" written in the style of lyrical songs, "Back to Quan Ho region" in the style of chamber music, "Life is the journeys" in the style of rock. I'm curious, so which style is truly Minh Vuong?

I came to music quite late compared to those who work in the profession, so perhaps my view of music is a little different. In life as well as in music. I like to be unconventional, I like to live freely. It is not accurate to say that I pursue chamber music. In school, I was trained to sing chamber music, but I pursue music in general and the music that my soul speaks in each particular moment. My main profession is singing. Composing is just writing down emotions in moments of sublimation. I also do not define for myself a style of writing, so perhaps I consider myself a case of "deaf and not afraid of guns" in the profession.

- The song "Vietnam thanks you" has recently made waves again, topping the 100 Rock songs chart on Zingmp3. I understand that Minh Vuong released the album with the same name 4 years ago and received quite a bit of skepticism?

Thinking back 4 years ago, when I released the album “Vietnam thanks you”, I received a lot of… skepticism. An outsider in the writing profession had a strange song. No one had ever written rock about Uncle Ho before. Yet I dared to do it. It was really difficult to face those skepticisms. That day, I released the album and asked a friend of mine to upload it to Zing. When Zing uploaded my album, I didn’t understand why the 8-song album was missing the album’s title song. But I didn’t know how to contact them. Partly because I didn’t know and partly because I was shy. Maybe for some reason the song wasn’t uploaded. Luckily, at the beginning of this year, I released the album “Highland Melody”, I sent a letter to Zing’s management and received a reply. After that, I asked Zing’s technical department to add this song to the album. I never thought that after such a short time the song would climb to number 1 in the top 100 best rock songs on Zing for 3 consecutive weeks. I was really touched because what I did was more or less accepted and supported by the audience.

- Likewise, what can Minh Vuong say about the songs in the album "Highland Melodies" which have recently had very positive effects from the audience, ranking at the top of the ZingMp3 chart, a worthy position for the work that Minh Vuong has devoted a lot of effort to?

What can I say? Actually, I work almost without any purpose. It's embarrassing to say it because people will think I'm a person who lives without any purpose. And maybe it's true. The things I do come naturally like breathing, when I'm hungry I eat. During my collaboration with VTV's Ethnic Arts Department, I had the opportunity to travel a lot and sing a lot about ethnic minorities. I cherished the idea of ​​releasing a product to express my gratitude to my compatriots and also to collect memories after the trips. So when I had enough songs, I released an album. You see. The process of making my album was nothing special. It was as simple as the lives of my compatriots. I often joke with my friends like that.

I was really surprised by what happened. I am very happy that the audience accepted my music. I am very grateful to the audience for following and supporting me to have more motivation to work more.

Minh Vuong plans to write about the affectionate and loyal Nghe An. Photo: NVCC

- So, what are Minh Vuong's plans for Nghe An?

I have always cherished the plan to write about this land, about the affection and loyalty that I always feel present in the mountains, rivers, and people here. But let me keep it a secret, because “telling it in advance might make it impossible to get through”

- How does Minh Vuong feel when performing his own work?

This is the real advantage. Songwriters often have to ask singers to record their songs. Two things happen. One is that the singer will create more to make the song more perfect. Two is that they cannot fully express the emotions that the author wants to convey. I am a singer, so when I sing a new song, I often meet the author to hear them talk about the circumstances of composing the song, what state of mind the author wants me to sing in. Some people confide and want me to sing however I want, according to the emotions I have heard and I will sublimate on those emotions. But some people want to keep it exactly as the author wants to convey. It is not true that just putting the mic up to sing with a voice given by God is enough. If you are dedicated to your profession, you will sweat a lot when you encounter a new song. But for me, when I get to sing my own song, you know, it is when I am floating on my emotions.

- Vietnam's music scene has changed a lot in recent years. How do you plan to orient yourself in the Vietnamese music scene?

As I shared: My music is like my life… no destination. Just the journey and sublimation in every moment. I like things to come naturally and don’t like to draw up a vision and then when I don’t achieve it, I see my life collapse because it’s not as expected. I’m enjoying life and will record it on my life’s journey.

Thanks Minh Vuong for this interesting conversation!