TRỊNH CÔNG SƠN

The present writer is only one of many millions of fans of Trịnh Công Sơn. Having met and chat with Son casually only once many years ago, but I like him enormously (he probably can not remember me for I was only a little student at the time). However, I am writing these lines as a personal tribute to the great musician, the only one that I truly admirẹ I know that by writing these mean lines, I may have done unjustice to Trịnh Công Sơn. But as I said earlier, it is only a personal tribute.

Trịnh Công Sơn was born in the 28th February 1939 at Lạc Giao in central Vietnam. However, Son was grown up in Hue, and he has a warm lovely Hués accent. He, nevertheless, finished his baccalaureat in philosophy in Chasseloup Laubat in Saigon. Trịnh Công Sơn started writing music in 1958 with his first and famous song Ướt Mi. Until now, Son must have written more than 600 songs, which can be broadly categorised into three groups: Quê Hương, T́nh Yêu, and Thân Phận. Trịnh Công Sơn once said that "Tôi chỉ là một tên hát rong đi qua miền đất này để hát lên những linh cảm của ḿnh về những giấc mơ đời hư ảo ...". Well, I think Son is more than a "hat rong" guy, but a real philosopher and thinker.

Sơn is sometimes a controversial musician; people in both sides of politics had given him all sorts of hats. before 1975, he was regarded as a communist sympathizer. After 1975, he was called a traitor. Some extremists even blamed him for the fall of South Vietnam and threatened him with violent action.

However, regardless of whatever he has been accused of, it is undisputable and crystically clear that Trịnh Công Sơn loves Vietnam and the people of Vietnam. His music testify that. His music is not only loved in Vietnam, but also admired overseas. For example, the song "Ngủ Đi Con" (about a mother mourning her killed soldier son) was sold over 2 million copies in Japan in 1969. Son was dubbed as "the Bob Dylan of Vietnam". However, I think the analogy is not quite correct.

It is indeed difficult to find another musician which has a stronger feeling about the war in Vietnam than Trịnh Công Sơn. If I remember correctly, as early as the 60s or 70s, Son had voiced his anger in the Vietnam conflict:

Một ngh́n năm đô hộ giặc Tàu
Một trăm năm đô hộ giặc Tây
Hai mươi năm nội chiến từng ngày
Gia tài của mẹ để lại cho con
. . . là nước Việt buồn.

And, during the fierce fighting in the 70s, Sơn had captured the mood of the war so accurately:

Đại bát đêm đêm dội về thành phố
Người phu quét đường dừng chổi đứng nghe

I was born in the countryside of South Vietnam, and had witnessed the horrible image of children whose limbs were cut by minẹ No one has capture my feeling more accurately than Trịnh Công Sơn with his very simple lyrics:

Một sớm mai, một em bé ra đồng
. . . đạp trái ḿn nổ chậm

And in "Nước Mắt Cho Quê Hương", he has recorded the thoughts of most Vietnamese students at the time and perhaps even now:

Giọt nước mắt thương con
Con ngủ me mừng
Giọt nước mắt thương đất
Đất cằn cổi bao năm
Giọt nước mắt thương dân
Dân ḿnh phận long đong . . .

and many many more wonderful lines, which I can not include all in this short messagẹ

But Trịnh Công Sơn has not only written about war or Vietnam, he has also written about lovẹ His writings on love have a sense of "thánh thiện", not ""bi thảm" as many others. But his love is not personal; he expresses love by contrasting it to natural beautỵ His imagination of ocean is simply rich and wonderful:

Ngày mai em đi,
Biển nhớ têm em gọi về,
Gọi hồn liểu rũ lê thê,
. . .

and his famous lines

Gọi nắng . . . cho tóc em cài loài hoa nắng rơi
Nắng đưa em về miền cao gió bay
Áo em bây giờ mờ xa nẻo mây
Gọi tên em măi suốt cơn mê này ...

or

Nắng có hồng bằng đôi môi em
Mư có buồn bằng đoi mắt em
Tóc em từng sợi nhỏ
Rớt xuống đời làm sóng lênh đênh

Then, in a late 70s and 80s, he started concentrating on "Thân phận". But his writings in this subject also link to natural environment:

Từ khi trăng là nguyệt
Đèn thắp sáng trong tôi
Từ khi trăng là nguyệt
Em mang tim bối rối

and, in late part of his life, the lyrics becomes more philosophical:

Bao nhiên năm rồi c̣n măi ra đi
Đi đâu loanh quanh cho đời mỏi mệt
Trên hai vai ta đôi vần nhật nguyệt
Rọi xuống trăm năm một cỏi đi về

I believe that Son is the most original thinking musician. To my knowledge, he did not translate foreign lyrics nor borrowed ideas from others. In a recent commentary on Sơn's music, Nguyễn Xuân Khoát remarked that "Son writes music as easly as pick words from his own pocket". I think the comment is very accurate and truẹ His music has been written from his heart and feeling and in his own words. He has translated his feeling into lyrics so smoothly that one has a feeling that words just keep pouring from his pen. However, Sơn's lyrics is sometimes abstract, but it does reflect the deep and philosophical thinking of the man:

Hạt bụi nào hóa hiếp thân tôi
Để một mai vương h́nh hài lớn dậy
. . .
Hạt bụi nào hóa hiếp thân tôi
Để một mai tôi về làm cát bụi

May be I am ignorant, but I am not aware of another song, which could translate this scientific/philosophical theory as beautiful as Son's.

Indeed, Son is now being transformed into "cát bụi" as he once asked.

In a conversation with Khanh Ly in her latest tape, Trịnh Công Sơn comments that "Sống ở trong đời, ai ai cũng cần có một tấm ḷng" and "sống tử tế với nhau". Yes, Anh Sơn, I am writing these lines to reflect my "tấm ḷng" with you, whom I greatly admirẹ I am sorry to see you go, but I have lost a great philosophical companion. I wish you will finally find peace in another lifẹ

T V Nguyen

Bone and Mineral Research Division
Garvan Institute of Medical Research
384 Victoria St, Darlinghurst, Sydney 2010 Australia
Phone: +612 9295 8246, Fax: +612 9295 8241
email: t.nguyen@garvan.unsw.edu.au