Musician Van Cao's son: "Father is a tall tree whose shade covers us all"

In the eyes of painter and musician Van Thao, his father, the late musician Van Cao, was strict but fair. He loved and devoted his whole life to his family and was passionate about art.

Musician Van Cao (full name Nguyen Van Cao, born November 15, 1923 in Hai Phong - died July 10, 1995). He is the author of the song "Tien Quan Ca", the official national anthem of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam). He was once a staff member of Lao Dong Newspaper as a painter. Photo: Provided by the family

In a conversation with Lao Dong Newspaper on the occasion of the 100th birthday of the late musician Van Cao, his son, painter Van Thao, was moved many times when sharing about his father. The painter confided that he was proud and remembered his father every time he listened to the works composed by Van Cao, especially the National Anthem. "My father is a tall tree with great shade" My childhood and that of many others always had the figure of my father sitting quietly, or being led by his hand on the village road... When do you have such memories when you remember your father - the late musician Van Cao? - I often accompanied him on most of his trips because I could support him in his work. He composed and I, as a painter, would express those ideas on his behalf. My mother also let me go along to support my father. She told me to take care of him and not let him drink too much alcohol. In 1984, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Liberation of the Capital, my father and I took a trip to Thai Binh with some colleagues. We were invited by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thai Binh to set up a play. When passing Van Dien station, the car had a broken wheel and had to pull over to the side of the road for inspection. At this time, a traffic policeman ran up to check the papers and asked the reason for stopping the car in an unauthorized place. The driver explained that he was picking up musician Van Cao to Thai Binh to produce a program. The policeman immediately asked: "Where is musician Van Cao?". When he saw my father, the policeman bowed and said: "I have been working here for a long time, I still listen to your songs every day. In particular, today your song "Tien ve Ha Noi" is being played everywhere. I am so honored and did not expect to meet you like this". During the rest of the journey, my father asked everyone: "Hey guys, what day is it that I keep hearing my song playing?". The policemen replied: "Don't you know? Today is the anniversary of the Liberation of the Capital. If we don't play your song, then whose song is it?" My father was stunned watching the group of people entering Hanoi, while my father and uncles were leaving Hanoi. Growing up with Van Cao's poetry and paintings and accompanying my father on trips from the South to the North, how did that affect his personality and artistic thinking? - For many years, I had the opportunity to meet my father's friends such as: Writer Nguyen Tuan, Nguyen Hong, Nguyen Huy Tuong, painter Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Sang, Duong Bich Lien... My house was like a meeting place for many great artists. When there were guests, I took care of making tea and preparing things for them. I just sat behind the bookshelf to listen to them discuss schools and poetic ideas... Gradually, those things permeated me and I decided to follow my father's path. At work, he was very serious in discussing with everyone to achieve results. Through that, I learned a lot about how to design, decorate a play and choose materials. The decoration stage is very important and I was always instructed by my father. My father also taught me how to analyze works and characters. I could not develop like him and I regret that, but art also requires intelligence, talent, and many other factors. However, I learned one thing from my father. My father taught me that once I enter the path of art, it will be extremely difficult and I have to find my own style. Accompanying Mr. Van Cao on most of his trips, he witnessed what his father had to go through during his artistic career? - He was very modest and also experienced many occupational accidents. Therefore, in a family of 5 children, he did not let us follow the path of art, especially his 3 sons. This profession has many difficulties and is prone to writing accidents. Both he and I suffered from those incidents. At first, I went to music school, but then an accident happened, he did not want me to follow this path anymore. I switched to studying electromechanical engineering. But it seemed to be fate, after a few years, I decided to study fine arts and then write poetry and music. At first, he did not agree, so I had to hide my registration to the art school from my father. Compared to other musicians of the same period, Van Cao had much fewer works. Did he ever share the reason with you? - Because he had to do many things, sometimes he wrote poetry, made music, sometimes he painted, so his time was limited and he could not compose much. He also had administrative work. In music, he had less than 50 songs, about 100 poems. With painting, he painted very early and then lost them, but only about a few dozen. He often composed at night and played the instrument very softly to avoid affecting his family. He also rarely completed a work right away. My father often waited a while before taking out the work to study again. If he still had feelings and was satisfied with the work, he continued to work on it. That is, he always set a time frame to examine the work. That is why his works were not many but selective. Following the same path of composing music, writing poetry and painting as your father, do you feel pressured by your father's huge shadow? - Yes, my father is a tall tree with a big shadow and we are in that shadow, unable to get out. I also have low self-esteem and a lot of pressure. If I do not do anything well, people can say: "Mr. Van Cao is so good but his children can not do anything". If I do well, people can say that I am Van Cao's son, so of course I must be good. Following the same path as my father, I am respected by everyone in the profession. That is something I am proud of, but I also remind myself to be more careful and modest in everything. That is also the reason why I hid all the process of writing poetry and music from him. It was not until he passed away that I released it.

Painter and musician Van Thao - son of the late musician Van Cao. Photo: Provided by the character

“My father and I are like friends” Have you ever confided in the late musician Van Cao about the pressures you felt when you had such a famous and talented father? - My father considered me a friend, especially when my mother and siblings were evacuated. At that time, only the two of us ate together. In quiet moments, he would sit and confide in me, even about personal stories or relationships with others. People mentioned Van Cao with the respect of a talented artist in all fields. And to you, what kind of father was musician Van Cao? - My father taught me very strictly but never beat me. In every incident, he would verify the truth. For example, when I fought with my friends, he would find out who was wrong. If I was wrong, he would punish me. For a minor crime, 3 lashes, for a serious crime, 6 lashes. But usually, after the second lashes, he would stop and ask my mother to apply medicine. He also taught me to be independent and honest. I learned to cook and help my family since I was 9 or 10 years old. I loved my grandfather very much, but he did not get anything. All his life, he took care of his children and family, but when it was time to receive his royalties, he passed away. He lived a very responsible life, always taking care of his family and children. He was strict but also fair. He never imposed. Sometimes he scolded me, but later he realized he had misunderstood me, he would apologize and admit that he did not fully understand me and so he scolded me unjustly. Therefore, every time I mention him, I remember and am moved. Many people ask my father why he did not write memoirs, but he believes that memoirs must be truthful, objective, and clearly show political and artistic views. But sometimes in memoirs, people can exalt themselves or justify mistakes. Therefore, my father once told me a sentence that I still remember: “My life is my works. When reading my works, people will understand and write about me. Who knows, maybe later I will be the one writing for my father" and it is true! After he passed away, many people wrote about him. Some wrote correctly, some misunderstood and distorted the original. At that point, I felt I had to write to correct many of those distorted contents. From then on, we traveled from the South to the North to the places where my father worked, researched documents and met many people to verify. Until now, we still have to go and find out. Only then did we realize that he was so old, working on so many things at the same time, from the special forces team to being a reporter for Lao Dong and Doc Lap newspapers... The more we traveled, the more we realized how many footsteps my father had taken.

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