Quang Dung's pay was equal to 3 bowls of pho and the turning point when he met Trinh Cong Son

Quang DungAs he said in "Saigon Memories", at the age of 20, he made an important decision in his life, which was to go to Saigon. From the time he left until the time he returned home for the first time was 4 years. During the 4 years of living alone in a foreign land, without relatives or friends, Quang Dung often felt sad and confused because he could not adapt to life in Saigon. He rented a house with students and ate monthly meals with them.

Life at that time was quite unstable, he did not stay in one place but changed constantly, sometimes in District 11, sometimes in Tan Binh, sometimes in Binh Thanh. When he was sad, he often took his motorbike and wandered around Saigon all night. He remembers that there were afternoons on the 30th of Tet, Saigon was deserted because everyone had gone home to reunite with their families, but he still had to stay. At times like that, he took his motorbike and drove around Saigon, sometimes while driving, he suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and burst into tears. He said, that was a memory that he would never forget in his life.

To be able to pursue the pathsingingQuang Dung was a professional singer in Saigon. At night, Quang Dung sang at tea rooms and dance halls, and during the day he took vocal lessons. He said that when singing at dance halls, each singer would sing 4 songs in different tunes. That helped him expand his repertoire of songs and singing styles. He learned and practiced singing and everything from dance halls.

Quang Dung in the past. Photo: NSCC

Quang Dung added that back then, when he was singing, he didn't have the money to wear suits like now, he mainly wore shirts and trousers, but he bought a lot of ties because just changing the tie would make him a new outfit. Every night, he sang from 6 to 8 shows.

He said that at that time, a bowl of pho in Saigon cost 5,000 VND, and his singing fee for a show was 15,000 VND (3 bowls of pho). He saved the money from singing in his piggy bank and used it to pay for rent and gas. He only dared to spend whatever was left over.

Although singing in tea rooms can help Quang Dung make a living, according to him, a young singer needs to step onto the big stage. He said that was also a big difficulty because at that time, he was too familiar with singing in tea rooms. When singing on a big stage like 126 Trong Dong, the audience could reach 3,000 - 4,000 people, so he felt a lot of pressure. However, he overcame that challenge and officially became widely known and noticed by the audience after exactly 4 years from his hometown to Saigon.

Also in the program, singer Quang Dung mentioned his relationship with musician Trinh Cong Son with deep respect and gratitude.

Turning point: meeting musician Trinh Cong Son

According to him, the happiest thing for him was meeting musician Trinh Cong Son and being guided and taught how to sing his works. He said he met musician Trinh Cong Son at the musician's sister's tea room. At that time, he was singing a Trinh song when someone announced that there was a musician sitting below.

Quang Dung sings Trinh's music. Photo: NSCC

Hearing that, he trembled so much that his hands could not hold the microphone firmly because since childhood he had loved Trinh's music but never thought he would meet him one day. After the performance, he went down to say hello and was invited by musician Trinh Cong Son to his house for dinner the next day. And from that day on, every noon he went to musician Trinh Cong Son's house and sang at his house from 12 noon to 2-3 pm. When he made his first album: Bien Ngan Thu O Lai (this is also a song written by musician Trinh Cong Son for Quang Dung), in this album there were many songs that helped him win the Lan Song Xanh award such as: Con ta voi nong nom, Vi do la em...

After more than 20 years of singing, Quang Dung said what makes him happiest up to now is still maintaining the love and support of his early audiences.