Derivative song, creative or destructive? (*): No concept...

"Humming on stage is sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes remembers the lyrics, sometimes forgets the lyrics, famous singers in the world are the same. Singing the wrong lyrics is just an unfortunate incident" - musician Tran Tien commented

There are exceptions.

According to musician Tran Tien, there were times when he sang his songs but didn't know where to start because he couldn't remember the lyrics. "With the song "Rock Clock", I had to ask: What is that song like? Then I could sing it. So I don't worry about singing the wrong lyrics. Just have fun," said musician Tran Tien.

Singer Siu Black confirmed that she had sung the wrong lyrics. According to her, singing the wrong lyrics often comes from reasons such as new songs, not practicing much so you can sing the wrong lyrics, or mistake the lyrics. The second reason is the spread of incorrect lyrics on the internet, if you are not careful, you will "get stuck" right away. The best solution, according to singer Anh Tuyet, is to connect with the musician to get the correct lyrics. "Getting songs from the internet not only makes it easy to get the wrong lyrics but sometimes even the wrong notes" - singer Anh Tuyet warned.

But there are also cases where singers are unfairly criticized for singing the wrong lyrics. Specifically, in the national concert program "What remains forever 2022", two performances of "Dat nuoc tinh yeu" (composed by Tran Le Giang; performed by Pham Thu Ha) and "Bien hat chieu nay" (composed by Hong Dang; performed by Dao To Loan) were questioned by some audiences as being wrongly sung. However, the truth is that Pham Thu Ha and Dao To Loan both sang according to the original text of the work provided by the author and their relatives. The version with the wrong lyrics that many people sang before was more widely circulated, causing such unfortunate confusion among the audience.

The fact that works with incorrect lyrics are more popular than the original has been a reality for many years. Many works by generations of musicians are sung with incorrect lyrics, making the audience familiar with them, and over time they become widely popular while the original is forgotten.

Experts say that many songs are sung with wrong lyrics because the singers do not understand the content and spirit of the song, or they change the lyrics to make it easier to sing. In reality, not everyone has the opportunity to meet the musician directly to get the original text and thoroughly understand the meaning of each word in the song, so singing the wrong lyrics is inevitable.

Many singers also said that singing the wrong lyrics is common in old songs, and the reason is that they have a lot of difficulty finding the most accurate text.

Good song thanks for the lyrics

Audiences have also witnessed many songs become more interesting when a few words are changed. Of course, this only stops at the language level. Even if it is better, the most important thing is to get the author's consent when changing it.

In the song "Starry City Night" by musician Tran Long An, the line: "I am listening to the sound of Dong Nai waves. Like listening to tomorrow's song" was changed to "I am listening to the sound of the river waves. I am listening to the sound of the spring wind" and was considered to be a very reasonable change. Similarly, in the song "My Childhood Homeland" by musician Tu Huy, the line "Flood season, catching fish in the middle of the road" was changed to "catching fish in the middle of the field" which is also appropriate.

Recently, singer Tuan Ngoc faced mixed public opinion when he changed the lyrics of the song "Love is lonely" by musician Lam Phuong. Accordingly, musician Lam Phuong's song has the lyrics: "...The sky entering autumn, Vietnam is very sad, my dear. Purple clouds are rising high. But love has not yet reigned...". However, through the performance of singer Tuan Ngoc, the lyrics became: "...The sky entering autumn this afternoon is very sad, my dear". The two words "this afternoon" were sung by him instead of "Vietnam".

Many audiences believe that singer Tuan Ngoc intentionally or unintentionally singing the wrong lyrics is not a good thing. The song "Love alone" by Lam Phuong was licensed to perform in Vietnam since 2017 after the Department of Performing Arts, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism assessed the content of the song: "This song has healthy content, not contrary to the traditional customs of the nation". This is the basis for the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City to proceed with the licensing of the song. Meanwhile, some opinions say that it is common and should be done for a singer to change the lyrics to suit the current context, with beautiful and humane content and meaning.

Singer Tuan Ngoc caused mixed opinions when he sang the wrong lyrics to Lam Phuong's song "Love is lonely". Photo: DOCUMENT

Returning to the song "Little Frog" by musician Phan Nhan, which suddenly became famous with the young singer Le Nguyen Huong Tra at the 46th Zecchino d'Ono international children's singing competition in Bologna, Italy. When this version became famous, the audience also realized that some words in this song had been changed. While Huong Tra sang "ro ron", Xuan Mai sang "ro non" in the part: "Bao co ca cat non cung bao chu ca ro ron". Many opinions said that it should be sung as "ro con" or "ro non" (to correspond to "tre non" above). However, some people disagreed, saying that it should be sung as "ro ron" to be better and true to the original lyrics composed by musician Phan Nhan.

Musician Phan Nhan wrote "with many small perch" in the first verse of the song. But later, in a discussion, musician Van Dung suggested that he should change the word "con" to "ron", because "in the North, small perch are called "ro ron". Phan Nhan was from An Giang, not really familiar with the Northern dialect, at that time he shouted with joy as if he had discovered something and he decided to change it immediately (to "ro ron").

So, the entire lyrics (Vietnamese part) that Huong Tra performed are correct. In fact, it sounds good because of its uniqueness and richness of expression.

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

According to experts, artists need to be creative and creativity must have certain standards and limits. Artists also need to equip themselves with a foundation of knowledge about music copyright issues. Only then can they create truly quality music products.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/ca-khuc-phai-sinh-sang-tao-hay-pha-nat-khong-co-khai-niem-tuyet-doi-196240416204623786.htm