Live like a river!

Speaking at a workshop on the relationship between poetry and music, musician Pham Minh Tuan said that this relationship has existed for many centuries. Poetry and music have been combined many times and created many masterpieces, but the pinnacle of their collaboration is Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9".

In Vietnam, many songs have been set to poetry, adapted from poetic lyrics, creating many works that are well received by the public. Musician Pham Minh Tuan has also set poetry to songs such as: "City of Love and Nostalgia" (poem by Nguyen Nhat Anh), "Front Footprints" (poem by Ho Thi Ca), "Country" (poem by Ta Huu Yen). He also wrote the song "Aspiration" adapted from the poem "Thanks to the Party, I Know" by author Dang Viet Loi.

Nhạc sĩ Phạm Minh Tuấn: — Musician Pham Minh Tuan, author of the song "Aspiration".

"In the song "Aspiration", I wrote "Live like a river" but sometimes I still hear and see people sing and write "Live like a river". I think we need to be careful and respect the composer's words because just one wrong punctuation mark or stroke of writing can distort the meaning conveyed" - musician Pham Minh Tuan confided.

He tells stories of finding suitable poems and setting them to music. The relationship between poetry and music is a symbiotic relationship; the more concise and artistic the poetry, the more likely the music will be able to develop.

However, if poetry is empty and lacks imagery, it will be difficult for musicians to approach and set to music. Therefore, for poetry and music to flourish, efforts from both sides are needed to create good works to serve the audience.

Writer Bich Ngan - President of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association, said that from the first song set to poetry that was publicly introduced, "Dawn" by musician Nguyen Xuan Khoat set to poetry by The Lu (the poem was published in the Ngay Nay newspaper on July 31, 1938) until now, it is difficult to fully count how many songs have been set to poetry.

However, objectively speaking, the relationship between poetry and music still has many shortcomings that need to be thoroughly discussed. Although the conflicting opinions on the author's name when publishing songs based on poetry may sound petty, we should still find a common voice to avoid the consequences of "unsatisfactory rice, unsweet soup" or "unsatisfactory heart" between poets and musicians.

"The workshop "Poetry - Music, Compatible or Incompatible?" aims to encourage poets and musicians to maximize their strengths, so that we can have more diverse, more attractive and more culturally rich songs based on poetry, in order to respond to the expectations of the Vietnamese public" - writer Bich Ngan hopes.

"I think that music set to poetry is like a bridge. The song brings the poem to the listener. From this side, the poem is set to music to form bridges, connecting to the other side. There are solid bridges, and there are precarious bridges. Solid bridges are successful music sets to poetry, reaching the listener's heart and remaining in their mind. Precarious bridges are music sets to poetry that are not very successful, or for other reasons, do not reach the public, and gradually fall into oblivion" - poet Bui Phan Thao shared.

He added that when poetry is set to music, the music gives wings to the poetry and the poetry serves as the background for the music to flourish. The affinity between poetry and music is sometimes spontaneous and coincidental, sometimes strong. Poetry is full of musicality, music is as beautiful as poetry and this affinity is endless.

The conference also had many representatives of music and poetry participating in speaking, sharing their feelings, creating impressive moments.