People's Artist Trung Duc once impersonated Professor Tran Van Khe to "trick" the Arts Council.

In the Vietnamese music treasure, "Going to Huong Pagoda" is a song with a very busy life but its origin is extremely mysterious. There was a time when many people tried to find the author who composed the famous song from Nguyen Nhuoc Phap's lyrics but could not find it. And the final truth made everyone... "fall backwards".

Famous song but can't find original music

Original song "Going to Huong Pagoda" signed by author Tran Van Khe. Photo taken from Van Nghe newspaper

First of all, Nguyen Nhuoc Phap's poem is called "Perfume Pagoda" with 34 stanzas, in the long five-word form (each line has 5 words, 4 lines/stanza). According to writer Nguyen Giang, at that time, Nguyen Nhuoc Phap "secretly loved" a young lady from a noble family, who was then considered a "beauty of Hanoi" (Miss Do Thi Binh, living at 67 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi ), so he composed this poem to give to his "muse". Every day, Nguyen Nhuoc Phap quietly passed by 67 Nguyen Thai Hoc hoping to meet the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, cruel fate caused him to die early at a very young age, his talent was at its peak, so when he died, he had not met Miss Do Thi Binh even once.

Sharing with Dan Viet , Dr. of Aesthetics The Hung said that in 1991, when he was assigned to produce the Huong Pagoda Festival special issue for the Van Nghe weekly newspaper, he really needed the original music of the song "Di choi Chua Huong" by author Tran Van Khe, based on Nguyen Nhuoc Phap's poem, to easily compare it with the current song. Taking on this task, he knocked on the door of the Vietnam Musicians Association to ask for that music. However, all the responsible musicians shook their heads "no".

Dr. of Aesthetics The Hung in his youth. Photo: NVCC

"I still remember, musician Hoang Van shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes: "I have never seen that music sheet even though I have heard that song a lot." A friend who sympathized with my hardship pointed to the second floor of the Musicians' Association and said: "Look for singer Quoc Dong, there will definitely be one, but if not, listen to the music notation tape again." Oh my god! A song to be printed on the cover of the Literature and Arts newspaper but recorded music, there is a high risk of being sued by the author.

I tried to find singer Quoc Dong again and received the following harsh answer: "Never. The reason is because singers all tell each other to perform. If you go to musician Nguyen Ngoc Oanh, you might have a chance."

A song that is loved by the people, very soulful to listen to, has been elaborately staged by the television and the Voice of Vietnam Radio for millions of listeners and viewers to watch and listen to; a performance that any band that wants to be popular must have in their performance program, but there is no sheet music. Strange but true story!

So I decided to go to musician Nguyen Ngoc Oanh. After listening to my presentation of the article's idea, he promised to help me within 24 hours if he found it in his music "store"... And if he did, he would express some of his opinions to prove that the song was no longer the same as the current song, even though the author's name was still... Tran Van Khe.

As scheduled, I knocked on the door, Mr. Oanh shouted to announce the good news that he had found it. Before my eyes was the score of Nguyen Nhuoc Phap's poem by musician Tran Van Khe. At the bottom of the sheet music was the line: "The version of Going to Huong Pagoda published by Tinh Hoa Publishing House for the second time. In addition to the regular versions, there were also special music copies marked from I to XX TH. I to X all had the author's signature and the TH vermilion seal as a gift."

People's Artist Trung Duc at his peak. Photo: TL

It turns out that the original song "Di choi Chua Huong" is real. But compared to the popular song today, it is a "copy and paste". The song was released nearly half a century ago, when Professor - Doctor Tran Van Khe was still a student, an amateur author, we can sympathize with the awkward technique when composing music for Nguyen Nhuoc Phap's long poem.

Musically, both the beginning and the body of the song are written in the key of F major. Then it changes to the minor key (D minor) and ends with two desert phrases. The original is in the major key with a 3/4 time signature. Meanwhile, the singers who are singing it today are in the minor key with the rhythm of Rumba Boléro (usually written in 4/4 time).

Musician Nguyen Ngoc Oanh was surprised on stage when he accompanied a singer singing this song. He wondered and searched for the new author of this song and found out that it was singer Trung Duc.

He asked why the work was not named after him but instead named after Tran Van Khe, Trung Duc replied: "Because I wanted the work to have a place among the masses, that's why I did it that way at first. Only when it was popularized did I think about copyright."

So after 49 years, the song "Going to Huong Pagoda" was composed once again. Luckily, the Van Nghe editorial office received the original work from musician Nguyen Ngoc Oanh, otherwise, where would we find the author Tran Van Khe in the middle of this Huong Pagoda festival?

Dr. of Aesthetics The Hung also added that, after knowing about this story, poet Tran Dang Khoa called him curiously wanting to know the song composed by Tran Van Khe. And he had to play the song "Di choi Chua Huong" by author Tran Van Khe - who is People's Artist Trung Duc "sonphe" for his younger brother to listen to.

People's Artist Trung Duc "owes" Professor Tran Van Khe an apology

People's Artist Trung Duc shared with Dan Viet that in 1980, when he was working at the Vietnam National Music and Dance Theater, he accidentally read the poem "Perfume Pagoda" by poet Nguyen Nhuoc Phap. He loved this poem so much that he started to compose music. After completing the song, he sent it to the Theater's Art Council for approval, but because at that time he was only a singer and not a musician, no one paid attention to this song.

People's Artist Trung Duc has performed the song "Going to Huong Pagoda" many times. Photo: TL

Not accepting that the song was being ignored, he took a risk and signed the composer's name as Tran Van Khe (ie Professor Tran Van Khe) and sent it again. He shared: "I thought people would not believe that a singer could compose, so I used the name of a famous person in the music industry, which was more feasible." Indeed, when seeing the name Tran Van Khe, the Arts Council approved and allowed the performance as soon as Trung Duc asked to perform the song.

"I had planned to meet and apologize to Professor Tran Van Khe for that presumptuousness. But since then I have not had the opportunity to meet him and now he has also leisurely passed away," said People's Artist Trung Duc.

During his lifetime, Professor Tran Van Khe did not "sue" People's Artist Trung Duc. And no one has said that he had any opinion about this composition. It seems that he did not accept the above story and let the work be returned to its author. However, currently, there are some websites that when posting the song still mistakenly attribute the author to Tran Van Khe.

According to Dr. The Hung, after he finished writing the song "Finding the Spirit Child for People's Artist Trung Duc", he and People's Artist Trung Duc met and became close brothers. Even though People's Artist Trung Duc was 5 years younger than him, wherever he went, he always considered him his close friend. Occasionally, when they had the chance, they would meet and reminisce about old times.

Source: https://danviet.vn/nghe-si-nhan-dan-trung-duc-tung-mao-danh-giao-su-tran-van-khe-de-qua-mat-hoi-dong-nghe-thuat-20240919102859554.htm