Forever dedicated to the world the love song of the Southern Land
Musician Lu Nhat Vu (real name Le Van Gat), born in 1936, in Thu Dau Mot, Binh Duong. With more than 200 musical pieces, dozens of books on folk songs, vi songs, lullabies... poet Lu Nhat Vu was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2001, and many other noble awards.
Hien Anh• 02/04/2025
In the days leading up to the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country, a friend from the Association of Former Teachers of the City named after Uncle Ho announced the "Returning to the Source" meeting program of a group of education and health officials who crossed Truong Son to the Southern battlefield in early 1970, half of which would be in Ho Chi Minh City, the other half would be in Tay Ninh to revisit the old battlefield. He also added that the city was preparing a poetry and music night for Le Giang - Lu Nhat Vu, if our group happened to meet, we would find tickets to go together. Our hearts were anxiously waiting for the day to meet again the poet and musician couple whom we once admired and worked closely with in the Lo Go - Sa Mat Tay Ninh war zone. But then suddenly we received news that musician Lu Nhat Vu passed away on March 29, after 7 months of fighting the disease, so many memories came flooding back.
Still remember the end of 1970 and beginning of 1971, until April 30, 1975, in the base of R (Central Office of the South), by Cay stream - a small branch of the Dong Vam Co river, wherever there was a chance to gather, brothers and sisters would tell each other the legendary love story of the resistance literature and art couple, poet Le Giang and musician Lu Nhat Vu.
Musician Lu Nhat Vu (real name Le Van Gat), born in 1936, in Thu Dau Mot (Binh Duong). He soon joined the struggle movement of Saigon Gia Dinh students. In 1955, the organization arranged for him to go to the North by sea, following fishermen's fishing boats across the Ben Hai River. In the North, he continued to study at the Southern Students' School. Right from his school days, he showed his musical talent and had his first works broadcast on the Voice of Vietnam Radio. In 1962, he graduated from the Vietnam Music School, the predecessor of the Hanoi Conservatory of Music, and was assigned to the Youth Volunteer Units and art troupes, both to penetrate reality and to compose. During his vibrant youth, Lu Nhat Vu was already a famous musician with more than 20 songs broadcast on the Voice of Vietnam Radio and staged by many art troupes. The most typical songs are:Afternoon on the Cat village, Remembering Mr. Tran Van On, The Saigon girl who carried ammunition...
Lu Nhat Vu composed the song "Co gai Sai Gon di duoc ammo" in 1968, in Kham Thien (Hanoi). At that time, he had just seen off his friends Diep Minh Tuyen and Le Anh Xuan who were going to the South to fight. Lu Nhat Vu often went to Hoan Kiem Lake to watch the news of the South. When he saw the images of Southern girls carrying ammo to the battlefield, he had the idea of writing something about the girls who were directly fighting, so that night he stayed up all night to finish writing the song "Co gai Sai Gon di duoc ammo". In the morning, he wrote two versions, one to send to the Arts Department of the Voice of Vietnam Radio, and one to the Southern Song and Dance Troupe, where he was working as an orchestrator.
Just one week later, the Voice of Vietnam radio station broadcast the song "Saigon Girl Carrying Ammunition" led by artist Vu Dau, accompanied by a group of female musicians. The song had a Southern folk melody with a lively, pure rhythm, describing the optimistic revolutionary spirit of female liberation army soldiers... quickly spreading to the public in both the North and the South. In early 1970, Lu Nhat Vu and a number of artists were sent to reinforce the battlefield in the South.
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After 4 months of crossing Truong Son to the Central Bureau base in Tay Ninh war zone, Lu Nhat Vu was assigned to the Southern Literature and Arts Subcommittee led by musician Luu Huu Phuoc. Unfortunately, he was tortured by a severe malarial fever, his body was weakened. At times, it seemed that he would not survive. During those life-threatening moments, there was a female doctor who not only monitored and treated him with Western medicine, but also went into the forest to find medicinal leaves to pound and patiently feed him spoon by spoon, taking care of him with each meal of porridge and vegetables. That female doctor also had an artistic streak, passionate about poetry since the 9-year resistance war in the Ca Mau battlefield. She was Dr. Tran Thi Kim, born in 1930, on the banks of the Ghenh Hao River (Ca Mau), active in the revolution since 1945, joined the Party in 1949, and gathered in the North. She used to be the Head of the Department at the Viet Duc Hospital. She returned to the South in 1963, when she met musician patient Lu Nhat Vu at the Regional Civil Medicine Hospital, she was holding the position of Chief of Office of the Regional Civil Medicine Department and a doctor at the Civil Medicine Hospital.
In the last months of 1970, in the old forest canopy by the stream, the love affair between the female doctor and poet Tran Thi Kim, pen name Le Giang, and the patient musician Lu Nhat Vu blossomed. After that, Ms. Le Giang, commonly known in the war zone as Ms. Nam Kim or Ms. Nam Le Giang, was transferred by the Central Bureau to the Regional Arts Department of the same agency as musician Lu Nhat Vu to live and compose.
I was lucky that in the last years of the resistance war against the US, I was close to Lu Nhat Vu and Le Giang. They were at the Regional Arts Department base, secret name B2, we were at the Regional Education Department, secret name B3, the two bases were close to each other, separated by a forest by a stream and a 20-minute walk on a small trail. The leaders of the two agencies were also active in the Central Propaganda Department, knew and were close to each other since the 9 years of fighting the French, on the Arts side were Uncles Luu Huu Phuoc, Ly Van Sam, Thanh Truc... on the Education side were Uncles Nguyen Huu Dung, Nguyen Van Nhat... Every time the Arts side had the opportunity to perform art, music, introduce new compositions, or stage new programs, they would inform the Education side to come and watch. Or even when one side or the other had someone hunted a deer or wild boar, they would share it with each other. Once, Uncle Luu Huu Phuoc invited Uncle Tu Dung (teacher Nguyen Huu Dung, Head of the Education Subcommittee, from Nam Dan) to visit and have dinner. At that time, I worked in the Propaganda Department and was allowed by Uncle Tu Dung to accompany me. That time, I met Mr. and Mrs. Nam - Lu Nhat Vu and Le Giang, at the Trung Quan thatched house of musician Luu Huu Phuoc. The meal included braised river fish, a specialty of the Southern Ca Mau region, cooked by Ms. Nam Kim. With just a few catfish and snakehead fish sent by the brothers at the farming camp, with simple spices including coarse salt, palm sugar, pepper, chili bought at Trai Bi border gate, a plate of wild banana flowers mixed with sour giang leaves... Ms. Nam arranged them on a tray, looking delicious, everyone who ate them praised it as delicious.
After the meal, we were invited to visit their house. Their house was a small thatched roof house, with a basement underneath, and two hammocks hung together. An old guitar hung on the wall. Uncle Tu Dung praised the house of the musician couple "chim chich" as warm and beautiful. The song "Co gai Sai Gon di duoc ammo" begins with the line"birds call from the forest and streams, calling us to set out on our heavy shoulders", was very popular in schools in the resistance zone, so teachers and students often said the song CHIM KEU and affectionately called musician Lu Nhat Vu the musician CHIM KEU.
After that time, every time the Liberation Radio Station recited Le Giang's poems or sang Lu Nhat Vu's songs, I still remembered the image of Mr. and Mrs. Nam. Mr. Nam was a tall, quiet musician, Mrs. Nam had white skin, black hair, pink lips, and a charming smile. She was beautiful in the black Ao Ba Ba, a typical dress of Southern women. During the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, musician Lu Nhat Vu joined the Can Tho City Military Management Committee, then was transferred to the Ho Chi Minh City Arts Department with his wife and the couple stayed in an apartment on the 6th floor of Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street.
In the early days of liberation, art troupes from Hanoi often had performances at the Opera House near the headquarters of the City Military Management Committee, later the City People's Committee. At that time, we were at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education, 70 Le Thanh Ton. Thanks to our personal relationships and passion for the arts, we had tickets to see them every night and met Lu Nhat Vu and Le Giang, neighbors in the forest of the D war zone. Seeing her still simple in her Ao Ba Ba and a scarf around her neck, still with a warm, clear voice, they sat humbly in the lower row, even though they were guests, and more importantly, the authors of the songs in the performance.
In early 1976, we returned to the North for work, and no longer had the opportunity to meet the poet and musician couple, but we followed the radio and newspapers every day and learned that he was involved in many important responsibilities such as Deputy Secretary of the City Musicians Association, Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Musicians Association, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts in Ho Chi Minh City. In particular, we learned that the couple had been together for more than half a century, traveling across the three regions of the North, Central and South to collect folk songs, folk songs, lullabies... especially the Southern Delta to pan for gold, take notes, record, take photos, film, preserve the invaluable spiritual heritage of our ancestors, cooperate with film studios, publishing houses to release dozens of films and books on Southern culture, and at the same time, compose many songs, choirs, musicals, and film scores with the breath and soul of the South.
In 1997, the song "DAT PHUONG NAM" was born (music by Lu Nhat Vu, lyrics by Le Giang). This is a song written for the movie of the same name, but the song has its own unique value, was arranged by many famous singers, and quickly spread to become a song that goes with the years. With more than 200 songs, with dozens of books about folk songs, vi songs, lullabies... poet Lu Nhat Vu was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2001, and many other noble awards.
And every time we remember the memories with Mr. and Mrs. Nam Lu Nhat Vu - Le Giang, we remember the symbol of the love of the resistance literature and art, bound together for more than half a century with passionate patriotism, profound love of literature and art, and eternal love between a man and a woman who together composed works of poetry, music, collected and researched, bearing the soul and aspirations of the people, the nation and the era.
Once, a journalist interviewed Ms. Nam. If she had to choose a folk song to describe their faithful love, she would choose:We are like brothers, we will hug each other for life.This spring, he has returned to the land of "blue sky and white clouds by the Mekong River", one of his legs has fallen from the tree, and his wife, 96 years old, is still cherishing her steadfast love with her life partner to continue to dedicate to the world the love song "Southern Land".
