Playwright Nguyen Trung Phong: A life devoted to Nghe An theater

Trung Phuong is a peaceful village on the famous Hai Vai cliff of Dien Chau. The small house of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Suu is located in the middle of hamlet 2, quiet and shaded by trees. She lives alone in this house, at the age of nearly 90, with photos and memories of her husband - playwright Nguyen Trung Phong.

Playwright Nguyen Trung Phong was once the Deputy Director of Nghe Tinh Department of Culture. But before becoming a leader and manager devoted to art, he was a farmer in this small village. He wrote many plays under his quiet roof in Trung Phuong village, including the once famous play “The Girl of Lam River”.

Mrs. Suu said: When he came back to write The Girl of the Lam River, he was almost absorbed, rarely paying attention to anyone, although normally he was very funny and talkative. When I came home from farming, if I saw my father and son happy, I knew that he had written a lot and had many ideas, but if I saw his face gloomy, I knew that he had not written anything satisfactory. At times like that, my mother and I did not dare to ask. Because even if we asked, he would not say anything. For Mr. Phong, writing plays was the reason for living. Even though he was a farmer, he was proficient in all kinds of plowing and harrowing, and often went to the fields with his wife and children when he visited home.

Born in 1928, since childhood, the folk songs and folk songs of Nghe An countryside have permeated the soul of playwright Nguyen Trung Phong. He innocently grew up with the fields, his artistic soul always cheerful with the many changes of the times. His singing voice rose on the plowed furrows, blending with the enthusiastic rhythm of the villagers' work. "Back then, he was in charge of the youth team, and I was in the team's activities there. We got to know each other and became friends from there. Later, he went to work in propaganda in the district, then went to the province to work in culture and arts. But every time he came back, he would share about his work as a playwright, or sometimes he would spend time at home writing plays for peace. I was the opposite of him, I didn't know how to sing or write poetry, but I always listened to him talk, he told stories, and every time I watched his plays performed in the countryside, I was moved and proud," Mrs. Suu confided.

Having never attended any music or screenwriting training, Nguyen Trung Phong wrote music and plays with his instincts, his innate artistic talent, his absorption of the folk culture of Nghe An countryside and all his life experiences. He lived and wrote very innocently.

Poet Thach Quy - who once lived next door to playwright Nguyen Trung Phong in the Nghe An Literature and Arts Association said: “Since my youth, when I was still in my hometown (Dong Bich village, Trung Son, Do Luong), I have seen people perform plays in which the author’s name was Nguyen Trung Phong. Those were plays about land reform. It seems to have been around 1956-1957. I can’t remember the name of the play, but I remember the character was Mrs. Hoe Ton.

Later, I never expected that there would be times when I would be in the same group as Trung Phong. He was many levels above me at that time (he was a leader) but he lived a very simple and rustic life. He could sing to anyone he met a few melodies that he had just composed. He always patted them on the shoulder and asked: “Nha (you) write down the lines, let me see if it’s okay”. He sang like that, without knowing how to notate music. He asked for opinions and sincerely listened to suggestions, working hard to correct them (not on paper but on his own voice). And so, one by one, his musical works and scripts were born…”

Nguyen Trung Phong with “Lam River Girl”…

It is difficult to name all the works that Nguyen Trung Phong contributed to Nghe An drama. From: Dung di, Khi ban doi di nang, Hat lua que ta, Van con rai tran, Co gai song Lam... he was recognized as the most famous scriptwriter of Nghe An during the years of fighting against the US. But it can be said that the two most outstanding works that are still remembered by the public are the song that people once mistook for a folk song of Nghe An in the play "Khi ban doi di nang", the song (which some people call a melody): "Giận ma thuong", and the play "Co gai song Lam" - the play that took the stage of cheo, folk drama... all over the country in the 60s and 70s and won many gold and silver medals for script, music, and actors at festivals. The roles left such a deep impression on the public that the names of the actors were forgotten and replaced by the names of the characters in the play when they met in everyday life.

With “The Girl of the Lam River”, Nguyen Trung Phong wrote it in 1959, when the Nghe An Art Troupe had just been established and he was working at the Department of Culture. He was assigned to write a script for the Cheo stage to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Nghe Tinh Soviet for the troupe to bring to the National Theater Festival. There were many worries and concerns because this was a genre that was not the forte of the Nghe Tinh theater, many actors were also new to Cheo singing, but after only 1 month, he completed this play. The play was first performed in 1960 to serve the 30th anniversary of the Nghe Tinh Soviet. In 1962, the Cheo play “The Girl of the Lam River” was brought to the National Professional Theater Festival and brought resounding success with 4 Gold Medals, 4 Silver Medals (for the play, director, music, scriptwriter, and some roles). After that, the Cheo play continued to make waves on the national stage with hundreds of performances. The play was then adapted into a folk drama of Nghe Tinh in 1974 and continued its journey to conquer audiences throughout the countryside of Nghe An.

The names of the stage artists have been “nailed” to the play, helping them step up to the podium of glory, helping them have unforgettable memories in their lives. One of the most profound memories, perhaps, is the time the play was performed in the Presidential Palace for Uncle Ho to see and the scriptwriter Nguyen Trung Phong had his badge pinned on his chest by Uncle Ho.

Artist Kim Tan - who played the role of the mother of the bell in the famous Cheo play Co Gai Song Lam in the past, was only eighteen or twenty at that time, and is now 75 years old. Still not over her emotions, she talked about the glorious years and memories of the time the Cheo troupe performed for Uncle Ho: "It can be said that Trung Phong's play brought me to the glory of acting when I was just a young girl, without much acting experience, without any formal training in acting school. We performed with all the sincerity, innocence, acting by instinct, guided by emotions. I could not have imagined that with only 2 short performances on stage, but with the role of the bell - the first and rare humorous role of my acting career - I won the Silver Medal at the National Theater Festival that year. At that time, Mr. Mai Vy was the Deputy Minister of Culture, after the festival she affectionately called me "Miss Mo Nghe An". Wherever I went, even on the Vinh - Hanoi train, people also recognized me and called me: Mom Mo!

We all loved the play, and were absorbed in it because it was written in a very honest and close way. It accurately reflected the life, mood, and people of Nghe village. A girl named Nghe was a poor country girl but full of resilience, courage, and wholeheartedly devoted to the revolution. A mother named Mo - a person from the bottom of society but still full of humor, intelligence, and a spirit of resistance, looking for ways to fight against evil, wickedness, and injustice...

The performance for Uncle Ho was the most profound memory in my life. Before the performance, Uncle told us to pay attention to dressing up like in 1930-1931, then told us to try our best to perform “for his guests to see”. When the performance was over, Uncle went on stage. We rushed to Uncle, and he gave us candy. Then Uncle asked who wrote this play. Nguyen Trung Phong stepped out. Uncle praised him, then took his badge and pinned it on his chest. Trung Phong was so moved that he could not speak.”

Box: The play "The Girl of the Lam River" was later adapted into a folk opera, associated with the names of the artists: Artist Minh Ngoc (later Artist Song Thao) as Ms. Nghe, Artist Dinh Tan as the Chief of the Village, Artist Viet Cu as the Village Chief, Artist Kim Tan, (later Meritorious Artist Hong Luu) as the Mother Seo (mother of the village crier), Artist Duc Hanh as Mr. Vinh (general committee officer)...

And with "Angry but loving"

As for the famous song “Gian ma thuong”, according to musician Thanh Luu - former Head of Nghe An Folk Song Group, it was in the years 1965-1967 that the mass art movement in Nghe An began to develop in the form of folk opera vi giam. During this time, Nguyen Trung Phong composed the folk opera “Khi ban doi di nang”. When transferring the play to the Dien Binh commune art troupe, Dien Chau district to stage, he saw that the actors kept singing the same original vi giam melodies over and over again, which sounded monotonous and boring, and did not portray the character’s mood, especially in the scene where the wife stopped her husband from smuggling. From there, Nguyen Trung Phong came up with the idea of ​​adapting a new melody to suit. After many days of pondering, Nguyen Trung Phong composed a melody that he named “treacherous” for the character of the wife to sing. When listening to Trung Phong’s performance and asking for advice, musician Mai Hong and musician Thanh Tung were very pleased, immediately suggested to the author to edit a few details and suggested changing the name of the song “Tran Toi” to “Giân Ma Thuong” to match the emotional tone of the character and the theme of the song. When the play was performed, that part of the song really moved the audience. From then on, the song spread throughout the countryside of Nghe An.

Musician Thanh Luu added: “Nguyen Trung Phong is not a composer, he is not well-versed in music theory, but thanks to the sensitivity of a stage artist, and having accumulated a lot of folk and cheo knowledge, he created the song by combining melodies that are commonly used by the people, connecting vi to giam very smoothly, like the way of reciting on the street (or history) and then bridging to singing in cheo. Of course, when linking vi and gam, he adapted them using the technique of imitating progression, repetition, and repetition, emphasizing the main sound image, keeping the characteristic timbre, it sounds very “Nghe”, very folk but also very modern, both rich in emotion and versatile. It can be said that the song “Giận mà thương” is one of the most successful stage adaptations of Nghe Tinh folk songs ever.

Ironically, over the past few decades, “Giận mà thương” has become a “signature” song of many professional and amateur singers, a “key” song in Nghe Tinh plays as well as folk music programs. People also printed it, recorded it on tapes and discs, broadcast it regularly on television and radio stations, and sold it in kiosks in the country and abroad... Yet the person who created that song did not receive any royalties, and even the author’s name was not listed. What a terrible copyright violation”. Also, musician Thanh Luu said: “With just “Giận mà thương” and “Cô gái Sông Lam”, playwright Nguyen Trung Phong deserved to receive the State Prize for Literature and Arts”.

Yet, until now, playwright Nguyen Trung Phong has not received this well-deserved award. However, everyone in Nghe An knows about “The Girl of the Lam River” and “Angry and Loving”. In my meeting with the artists of the past, I still saw, sparkling in their eyes, the love and respect for him – the one who brought them to the stage of glory, and still saw the lingering nostalgia in the eyes of his life partner who is now nearly 90 years old, saying: “Every time I think of him, I take out his photo taken with the old Nghe An art troupe to look at.”

Thuy Vinh