Derivative song, creative or destructive?(*): It's hard to avoid the story...

A while ago, the song "Little Frog" by musician Phan Nhan, a duet version, performed by child singer Huong Tra in the program Zecchino d'Oro in two languages: Italian and Vietnamese, made waves on the internet.

Respect copyright

The Zecchino d'Oro is an international music festival held annually in Italy since 1959 by Cino Tortorella, an Italian television producer. Since 1976, the festival has been held internationally. The prize is awarded to the composer of the song, not the singer.

Singer Hong Nhung has been highly praised for her children's music album "My Childhood". The album consists of 10 songs, all of which have become familiar and associated with the childhood of many generations of Vietnamese people, such as "Hat gao lang ta", "Cho con", "Di hoc", "Chu frog con", "Em di dau bien vang", "Bui phan"... These songs were all newly arranged by musician Hong Kien to suit new music trends, imbued with the breath of modern life.

Singer Hong Nhung believes that the target audience of the product "My Childhood" is not children but adults - those who always want to return to their childhood. Therefore, the album is like a "ticket" for listeners to return to their childhood memories. Singer Hien Thuc also often has children's songs sung in the way of a mature voice.

The song "Diem Xua" (Trinh Cong Son) has the original line "Nho mai trong con dau bui" which is often sung incorrectly as "Nho mai trong con dau bui"; and in "Thanh pho buon" (Sad city) (Lam Phuong), "tron phong ba" is often mistaken as "chon phong ba".

According to experts, in music, a variation is a way of composing based on a theme in an existing work and creating a new work. The person who makes the variation must show respect for copyright by clearly stating which theme and which work by which author the variation is based on. For composers who are the authors of the original work, musicians who want to create a derivative work must meet or discuss directly to ask for permission before doing this.

Insiders believe that adapting any song or musical work can be considered a way for young people to create art and respecting copyright is something that needs to be taken into account. "Whether a derivative product is aimed at profit or not, the dissemination of these works still requires civilized behavior, specifically respecting copyright," musician Nguyen Ngoc Thien said.

Singing the wrong lyrics - a serious illness

In the recent performance of the Vietnamese version of the show "Beautiful Sisters Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves 2024", singer My Linh and members Thu Phuong, Uyen Linh, Ninh Duong Lan Ngoc, Trang Phap, Huyen Baby and Lynk Lee performed a mashup of the two songs "Diem Xua" and "Dai Minh Tinh". The "beautiful sisters" appeared with attractive charisma, but the audience realized that the lyrics of the song "Diem Xua" were somewhat incorrect.

In the original version of the song "Diem Xua" provided by musician Trinh Cong Son's family, the lyrics include: "This afternoon is still raining, why don't you come back?/ What if tomorrow, in the pain, we are buried/ How can we have each other? The pain is engraved in my footsteps, please come back quickly". The version of "Diem Xua" on the stage of "Beautiful Sister Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves" was sung by singer My Linh's group as: "Remember forever in the pain buried"...

After the program aired, the program's organizers apologized to musician Trinh Cong Son's family and stated the reason for this situation: "Diem Xua" is a classic song, going down in history as well as being widely circulated, so the lyrics have many different versions. Therefore, in the process of making the song, we accidentally consulted and used an incorrect version."

Singer My Linh was once criticized by public opinion for singing the wrong lyrics in a music night. My Linh even got the lyrics wrong twice in two songs by Trinh Cong Son. My Linh innocently sang "Troi sao im vang" (original text "Doi sao im vang") in the song "Lullaby". In the song "De gio cuon di", My Linh sang "Mot mai chim bay di binh an" instead of the original lyrics "Mot mai chim bay di trien mien".

Not only My Linh, some professional singers who have been with Trinh's music for a long time also sing incorrectly. When performing the song "There is a river that has passed away", My Tam sang "Ten years when the street is in the hills" to "Ten years when the street is in the hills" to "Ten years when the street is in the hills" to "Ten years when the street is in the mountains and smiles". In addition, in the song "Dem thay ta la thac do", she changed the lyrics "Doi ta hot mang diei moi va. Toi da song sieu khoi" to "Doi em hot mang diei moi va. Toi da song sieu khoi". The "brown-haired nightingale"'s change of pronoun inadvertently changed the meaning of Trinh Cong Son's lyrics.

In addition, many songs by musician Trinh Cong Son are often sung with the wrong lyrics, such as the song "Chieu mot minh qua pho" - "co khi nang tron ​​chua sang" is sung by many people as "co khi nang mua chua sang"; the song "Nang thuy tinh" - "ban tay xanh xa" becomes "ban tay xoong xao"; the song "Mot gioi di ve" - ​​"con tinh yeu thuong" is sung as "con tim yeu thuong" or the line "thoi suot xuan thi" becomes "thoi khot xuan thi".

In the song "Biet dau nguon" by Trinh Cong Son, many singers sang "Em di qua chuyen do, thay con trau dang duong" while the correct lyrics were "Em di qua chuyen do, thay con trang dang duong". Singing the wrong lyrics in this case completely destroyed the artistry of the work. In the song "Thanh pho buon" by musician Lam Phuong, singers often sang the wrong line "Roi tu do, tro phong ba..." as "Roi tu do, troi phong ba...".

The song "Xom dem" by musician Pham Dinh Chuong has the line: "qua den voing co hai mai dau...", perhaps because the singer did not understand the content of the sentence, he sang it wrongly as "chênh voing". "Ve que mao" is one of the famous songs by musician Han Chau, but the singer also sang it wrongly. "Anh xin mui em duong ve mien Trung xa la lo" was changed to "Anh xin mui em di ve mien que xa la la lo".

Recently, during the introduction of his music night, musician Nguyen Vu - the author of the song "Sad Hymn" said he was not happy when he heard the audience, even singers sing the wrong lyrics of this song, making the message he conveyed incomplete. Musician Nguyen Vu pointed out the wrong lyrics as follows: "The sentence I wrote was "Long lanh sao troi dep the moi mat", but singers often sing "Long lanh sao troi dep the doi mat". Another sentence, I wrote "Oh your voice is immense sadness", but someone sang "immense sadness". The line "Then one afternoon the white shirt changed color, you passed the bridge with the cannonballs following after" was changed by singers to "Then one afternoon the white shirt faded color, you passed the bridge with the cannonballs flying after".

In the recent night of "Tran Tien - Half a Century of Wandering", singer Uyen Linh sang the song "Chapi's Dream" and was caught with the wrong lyrics: "In that place... There are two seasons, only one season of love". "If they don't love each other in that season, what will they do?" - an account asked Uyen Linh. Tran Tien's lyrics: "In that place, I saw on the high mountain/There were two people, only two people in love/They lived without winter, without sunny or rainy seasons/There was one season, only one season of love".

According to insiders, the fact that works have incorrect lyrics has been a reality for many years. Many works by generations of musicians are sung incorrectly, with incorrect lyrics that the audience is familiar with, and over time become widely popular. The original lyrics are forgotten.

Singing the wrong lyrics is also a worrying situation. Composers are almost helpless because even professional singers sing the wrong lyrics, not just karaoke and music videos of singers singing together in tea rooms and then posting them on social networks. Singing the wrong lyrics mostly reduces the value of the work, but there are also many cases where the wrong lyrics make the meaning of the lyrics more reasonable; thereby increasing the value of the original song. Singing the wrong lyrics is sometimes mandatory, for example, with some songs composed before 1975 in the South - now allowed to be used, some words must be changed to be suitable before they can be popularized.

H.Than

( To be continued)

(*) See Lao Dong Newspaper from issue dated April 15

Source: https://nld.com.vn/ca-khuc-phai-sinh-sang-tao-hay-pha-nat-kho-tranh-chuyen-bien-the-phai-sinh-196240415205940874.htm