Playing the melody of the homeland – Lesson 2: When will we return to the old days?

(QBDT) – Quang Binh is a never-ending source of inspiration in artistic creation in general and music in particular. However, in recent years, a series of new songs have not yet found a “place” in the hearts of the audience… This poses a big challenge for young musicians when composing songs. new.

Artist Le Duc Tri, Head of the Provincial Vietnamese Artists’ Association, said: It is not possible to accurately count the number of musical works written by artists and authors who are members of the Provincial Vietnamese Artists’ Association, Music Association ( Literature and Arts Association) composed about Quang Binh through stages. In addition to the number of published works, professional and amateur composers also have hundreds of unpublished works, mainly on the topics of the homeland, people, tourism of Quang Binh and songs temporarily called “commune”. singing”, “singing industry”…

There are more and more non-professionals who have “fell in love” with music through works of very good quality, typically Ngoc Tan (Quang Binh Vietnamese Artists Association, major in performance) with the song “Returning”. Let’s go to Quang Binh” (poem by Hoang Huu Thai).

Many good songs were introduced on Quang Binh Radio-Television, Quang Binh Newspaper and were chosen to perform at important cultural events of the province and locality, such as: “No can chi mo”, “Looking for a lullaby” (Quoc Nam, poem by Dang Thai Son), “Len Ha, an immortal epic” (Le Duc Tri, song awarded B prize at the 2022 Music Awards by the Vietnam Artists Association)…

Happily, in the midst of today’s “bustling” music market, Quang Binh’s artists are still focused on traditional music and compose well. That shows the spirit of hard and serious artistic work. However, they also encounter many difficulties in promoting and spreading their works, the common cause being lack of funding.

Artist Le Duc Tri shared: He personally sees composing as a personal need. To have a music video released, he has to spend money to take care of everything, such as: mixing, mixing, filming videos, staging… (not to mention hiring singers with good voices and techniques). show). Most of his works are sung without compensation by singers who are children of Quang Binh, such as: Hoang Viet Danh, People’s Artist Thuy Linh… If you have to pay the cost of hiring “star” singers to sing. The investment for a song is quite large and too much for most artists in Quang Binh.

NS only has money if the song wins prizes at competitions, the rest is mainly “spending money to have fun” to satisfy his passion. It’s so difficult, but as long as their song is staged, performed in art shows, and known by many people, every artist will feel happy. “The NS brothers are very worried when the songs spend a lot of time penetrating reality and writing but do not have the funds to invest to “come”,” Artist Le Duc Tri confided.

Today’s public not only listens to music, but also focuses on the visual aspect and has high artistic demands. For that reason, many artists have to “put it in their pockets” after composing and keep it for themselves. Many songs won awards through competitions but were not widely popular afterward, so they remained “unfamiliar” to the public. Some artists with passionate songs spent their own money to make simple MVs, then posted them on social networks for their friends to know about…

Artist Nguyen Minh Tam, Deputy Director of the Center for Culture, Sports and Communications of Tuyen Hoa district, expressed: “I compose mainly on the topic of my hometown Quang Binh, most of which is my hometown Tuyen Hoa. We can list a series of songs, such as: “Dong Le’s love”, “Tuyen Hoa a love”, “Half of Tuyen district” (poem Ly Hoai Xuan)… and the latest is “Quang Binh song of pride” , “Triumphant Lullaby”, “Tuyen Hoa, my motherland’s return”, “Thuan Hoa’s words of love” and many songs praising the Party, Uncle Ho, and love for the homeland and country. There is a lot of writing, but publishing and spreading the work is quite “modest” because there is no funding. A complete song depends on many factors, including the harmony, arrangement, and singer performing. If they are very frugal, the artist will have to “spend” a few million dong, a few tens of million dong if they are aggressive, and there are even songs that cost up to hundreds of million dong.”

Because he has no budget, his works are mainly “self-composed and self-performed” or ask friends and colleagues to sing and post them on Facebook. In particular, most of the works he composed were to serve political events of localities and units in the district.

Not only is it difficult to publish their works, most artists have difficulty building their own music collections because of insufficient financial resources…

Despite the development of the music market in modern life, works about the homeland still have their own vitality. It is a quite complete Quang Binh in “Go back to Quang Binh” (Ngoc Tan, poem by Hoang Huu Thai), “Phong Nha the number one wonder” (Le Duc Tri, poem by Thanh Trac Nguyen Van)… If invested methodically, Quang Binh music lovers will certainly receive many new songs, especially songs suitable for the innovation of their homeland.

Nhat Van