Musician The Anh: "Soldier's quality" gives wings to music

(Baonghean) - Youthful short hair, mischievous and bright smile, small tablet bag crossed across his chest, sneakers, musician Tran The Anh surprised us because we thought the author of songs about soldiers that were so heroic and touching, must be quite experienced and seasoned. The story with this young man approaching the age of 30 became more and more interesting, when behind that very young face was an unexpectedly deep and thoughtful nature. And his passion for melodies drew us in…

Dream of the Guitar

Born into a “soldier family” in Trung Do ward (Vinh), The Anh started his music career from his mother’s singing. His mother was a performer of the Dong Loc Performing Arts Troupe (Division 441). Every time he heard his mother sing, little The Anh seemed to be immersed in a melodious world.

Musician Tran The Anh (middle) in the studio.

On his 6th birthday, his mother gave The Anh a Chinese plastic toy electronic piano. The Anh remembers the moment he opened the gift box and his hands touched the tiny piano keys. The sudden sounds made his heart tremble with emotion and curiosity. Experimenting with that piano, The Anh was able to create his first melodies, such as “A duck spreads its two wings…”, “Dad loves me because I look like Mom…”, then moved on to longer, more difficult songs. So on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, his grandmother organized a Mid-Autumn Festival for the children in the neighborhood, and The Anh was “introduced” to perform many songs. The children “adored” him, and he realized that he had a talent for music, and from then on he occasionally brought his piano to “serve for free” to the children around the house. It was the mother who recognized the passion for music growing in her eldest son's soul. She took The Anh to the house of Musician - Meritorious Artist Hoang Thanh. Musician Hoang Thanh also "saw" the musical talent in The Anh. He told the mother and son: "I will guide you to grow up".

Knowing his family's difficult circumstances, Thế Anh only dared to see his own organ in his dreams. Even later, when he studied at the Military University of Culture and Arts, Thế Anh had to borrow the school's organ to practice. After a period of saving and working part-time, Thế Anh was able to buy his first organ worth 6 million, an old organ but a huge dream. The second organ, the one Thế Anh is currently using, is also an old organ, worth 17 million. The songs that are well-known, sung, and won high prizes in competitions and performances also began to play the first notes from those old organs...

Become a soldier

“I didn’t expect that the military life would come to me so easily that it would become a love, a lifelong relationship, along with my love for music,” The Anh confided. In the 9th grade, his passion for music urged the 15-year-old boy to boldly apply for the gifted class of the Military University of Culture and Arts (at that time the Military College of Culture and Arts). The admission notice came, but the whole family, especially his grandfather, advised him to wait a while longer, to finish high school, and when he was strong enough, he would go far away. The Anh put aside his artistic dream, stayed home to finish high school, then packed up and left for military service. “It was also to make me more mature, and besides, my family has a tradition, from my grandfather to my parents, we all wore military uniforms.” The life of a young soldier away from his family for the first time was full of hardships and confusion, but filled with the warmth of brotherhood and comradeship. Thế Anh no longer thought about his dream of becoming an artist, but deep in the young soldier's soul, his passion remained intact. After hours of hard training on the training ground, Thế Anh's singing and playing the guitar resounded again, becoming an indispensable spiritual food for his friends and comrades.

Musician Tran The Anh.

After completing his training, he was assigned to the 414th Engineer Brigade of Military Region 4. The opportunity came to The Anh when he was offered a place to take the entrance exam to the University of Culture and Arts of the Army. Happiness exploded when The Anh received another admission notice with a fairly high score. Always reminding himself that he was a soldier, The Anh diligently practiced and followed discipline. The simplicity, sincerity, and hard work of the young soldier received the love of his teachers and friends. Studying with his teacher, musician An Hieu (son of musician An Thuyen), The Anh became his teacher's favorite student. He often asked his teacher to let him go along to observe and learn. Every time he went with his teacher, The Anh agreed to carry the guitar for him. The guitar was big and as heavy as The Anh, but fortunately, he had been trained during his time in the army, so "even though it was so heavy, I could still carry it, and being allowed to carry the guitar was also my luck".

After graduating from the course, musician - Major General Duc Trinh intended to let his excellent student stay and continue studying, but the soldier's duty to the unit urged The Anh to return. The Anh was accepted to the Cultural House of Military Region 4. And from here, heroic and passionate songs written about soldiers, written with a "strong soldier's soul" came to the public one after another. After that, The Anh was transferred to work at the Propaganda Department - Logistics Department of Military Region 4, assigned to participate in staging and organizing art programs of units in the Military Region. From last year until now, The Anh has continued to study at his old school: the Military University of Literature and Arts. During the more than 5 years of composing, soldier The Anh said: Most of the songs I wrote are about soldiers, aboutYouth. So much enthusiasm, so many dreams, so many ambitions compressed in every note that The Anh's songs always bring excitement. Loved by friends in and out of the army.

Memories with those"brainchild"

The Anh's first song, which was also the song that was cherished and refined for the longest time, was the song that won the Gold Medal in the 2007 Army Singing Festival: "Green forever at 20". The Anh recalls the memory of that first melody: That time, I was in the training period for new soldiers, when my parents and girlfriend came to visit. I saw everyone and burst into tears. At that time, the longing for home and mother over the past days seemed uncontrollable. I read in my mother's eyes an endless love for her child. Perhaps she saw that I was too thin and dark. So the first lyrics came in a choked voice: "The first time away from mother at the age of 20". "The first time away from mother" and getting used to collective life, learning to take care of myself, putting aside many private matters to go on duty, ready to protect the Fatherland. Full of longing but also filled with pride..."

Then, one by one, collecting his emotions after each march, Thế Anh continued to write: “…generations of young people set out on the road, selflessly serving the Fatherland, they left with the sound of marching songs forever…”. “At that time, I knew nothing about composition theory. It was a very real emotion in the daily life of a soldier. At first, I had no intention of writing it down to later put it to music. It was just like a diary recording the emotions of a young soldier full of pride for having contributed his small efforts to building and protecting the Fatherland.”

During a march from Nam Dan to Thanh Chuong, The Anh walked and recited the words he had written. The melody of the song followed him on the march. He forgot about the dirty, sweaty shirt and the heavy backpack on his back. When they reached Thanh Chuong, everyone was exhausted. After eating and living, everyone went to bed early. The Anh sat down with the lamp on to write music. Halfway through, he stopped because he was too tired.

Until the unit organized an activity, dividing each group of 3 people into groups to talk and confide. Many happy and sad stories, love stories were shared, stirring up strong emotions in the new soldier's soul. He continued writing the unfinished song in excitement and enthusiasm.

In 2007, The Anh was working at the Cultural House of Military Region 4 when he received an invitation to join the 92nd National Defense Economic Group, A Luoi District, Thua Thien Hue Province to stage a program to participate in the Army Singing Festival. The song “Green Age of 20” was included in the program and won a Gold Medal. The song quickly became popular throughout the army and among the youth. “Green Age of 20” has since been played in many programs for soldiers on television stations, in military parades, on the launching day of youth movements, and on campfire nights. It speaks for the hearts of young soldiers towards their country and homeland…

Another song that Thế Anh also spent a lot of effort to complete was “Soldier’s Faith”. When he wrote the lines: “A new day begins at dawn/ Every inch of the homeland has the sweat of soldiers/ The direction we go is the direction of the rising sun…”, the musician-soldier felt his heart filled with emotion and pride. In front of him at that time was the image of his grandfather with shrapnel still in his body, his father, his mother, his friends, his comrades. Each of those dear faces was like a note ringing in his heart. The melody of the song was like a continuous army heading towards the front line, like waves rushing to surge with joy on the shore…

With the song “Return”, Thế Anh recalls the memory of the day he and his unit went to burn incense for the female youth volunteers at Đồng Lộc Junction: “Coming to burn incense for them, listening to the explanation, everyone in the group was sobbing. At that time, I don’t know why, I tried to hold back my tears, I had a very clear feeling that they were somewhere. So I wanted to find them, wanted to call them, wanted them to come back, to live their youth in their peaceful homeland…”. After writing the song, Thế Anh suddenly felt light in his heart, the feeling like a silkworm that had spun silk.

For Thế Anh, each song is his own flesh and blood. He does not write quickly, only about 10 songs in more than 5 years of composing, but it is also "very hard and difficult". Known as a promising young musician, Thế Anh chose "a quiet corner" for himself. He said: Many young musicians and singers choose the path of "getting rich": spending money to promote themselves, or in this way or that, but I am a soldier, I want to live my true life as a soldier, like many other comrades. And I want to write more about soldiers. It can be said that it is the "soldier quality" that has given wings to Thế Anh's music.

Sharing about his future plans, The Anh confided: “I will persistently pursue chamber music, aiming to praise my homeland. In my next compositions, I will definitely incorporate Nghe An folk songs to soften and refresh the songs about soldiers. Because Vi Dam folk songs are a precious treasure that I always long to explore and apply to my musical works.”

Article and photos:Thuy Vinh - Nguyen Le