Bowing to bid farewell to the musician and writer

At around 6:00 p.m., the sunset of April 15, 2025 (March 18, At Ty), the horizon of Phan Thiet had not yet ended, but I received the bad news, a "Hometown Soul" had passed away! Although he was taken care of wholeheartedly by his extended family, due to old age, illness, and exhaustion, the old musician Huy So passed away at 3:20 p.m. on the date and month mentioned above, at the age of 98 (he was born on January 2, 1928 - Dinh Suu).

Feelings of grief welled up, that very afternoon, I sat at my desk and wrote a few lines to quickly bid farewell to him - a revolutionary musician - a veteran journalist - a writer who was always optimistic, loved life and his profession!

During the 90s of the last century, in the field of journalism in the province, musician - writer - journalist Huy So Huynh Sanh Chau was a shining example of writing power and knowledge. At that time, he was the Vice President of the Provincial Literature and Arts Association. In addition to performing his assigned tasks, he was a special collaborator of Thuan Hai Newspaper and then Binh Thuan Newspaper (CTV of BT Newspaper), but he was still a journalist with a card issued by the Ministry of Culture and Information, he was in the Editorial Board of Binh Thuan Provincial Literature and Arts Magazine. Often in the late afternoon, he cycled from 06 Nguyen Tri Phuong - Office of the Literature and Arts Association to 232 Tran Hung Dao - Editorial Office of Binh Thuan Newspaper to submit articles and chat with us - the young journalists he loved very much. At that time, the newspaper opened a column called “Homeland - Country - People of Binh Thuan” which included articles on research, study, criticism, and exchange of opinions. There were articles with a very attractive “pen war” nature, which attracted readers. In particular, the main contributors to this column were prestigious names in the “literary battle”: Phan Minh Dao, Huy So, Truong Cong Ly, Phan Chinh, Phan Binh… Looking at the appearance of musician Huy So, he was very ordinary, his communication was very simple and easygoing, but he was very meticulous, even difficult in literature, cautious in using journalistic language, especially in terms of authenticity. I still remember that he published two consecutive articles with the title “How come there are still chickens?”. The content was about the place name Mui Dien Tan Thanh, there was no consensus that whoever wanted to call it Khe Ga or Ke Ga was fine, even in documents, whoever liked to call it that, wrote that. With his knowledge, he explained that in one pair of words, there cannot be a compound word with the same meaning between a Chinese character and a Vietnamese character (Nom). In order to have an accurate article, he visited that place many times to meet the elders, and at the same time studied French documents. Through his research, he recommended that the local government should uniformly call this place Khe Ga. He was good at French, studied and researched Han Nom, studied Russian when he studied abroad at the National Academy of Music of the Soviet Union, and self-studied Cham when he was Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Information, assigned to research and collect Cham folk culture. There are many stories about journalism with him that we have heard and seen, especially at the Provincial Journalists Association Congresses. At the congresses, he always registered to speak, but never in writing, but only in words. There were times when he made the tense congress hall change into laughter and applause, making everyone feel light and relaxed. Once at a conference, sitting next to him, I asked: What topic are you discussing? He smiled, his eyes squinted humorously: "Young journalists need to be happy, old journalists need Yamaha", I thought he was joking, but he was serious. He spoke about the optimism needed in journalism, especially for young journalists. For older, retired journalists, Yamaha is a must, meaning old but still love to have fun (still love to have fun), old but still love karaoke, old but still love coffee, old but still love to go to the movies... When he was active at the Provincial Veterans Association, he even founded a performing arts team named YAMAHA, he held a mandolin and took the team to many places to exchange. He was full of optimism and joy. Once I asked him: You are like the character Lao Ngoan Dong of writer Kim Dung. He replied, it is very good to be like that. Huynh Thanh found Lao Ngoan Dong to be forever young, cheerful and childish, sometimes even silly, but made the villain character Tay Doc Au Duong Phong go crazy and go crazy. The press talk has been a bit long, now let's move on to the main story: his revolutionary life, music and literary career.

Huy So's real name is Huynh Sanh Chau, born on January 2, 1928, from Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan. When mentioning the name Huy So, the public knows that he is a musician, who writes poetry, prose, and journalism. In 1954, he gathered in the North, from 1962 to 1964, he was sent to study music for 2 years at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow - the former Soviet Union, then returned to the country to work in the arts. After 1975, he returned to his hometown Binh Thuan, continued to work and compose. He was one of the members of the campaign committee to establish the Provincial Arts Association, a member of the Vietnam Musicians Association, and a member of the Vietnam Journalists Association. In 2000, he retired under the regime. Based on his creative career, the State awarded him the title of Meritorious Artist on November 28, 2023.

He composed for about 70 years. The number of works is nearly 200 songs of many genres. Including: songs, choruses, short pieces for trumpet, and other literary works. The theme praises the homeland, the country, leader Ho Chi Minh and the Party. The sea and fishermen are the main themes in his songs.

Some typical works: I love my small homeland island, Dawn on the Mepu River, My homeland is a land of wind and sand, Peace and birds sing, Deeply imbued with homeland songs, Phan Thiet love song, Singing about the future spring, Your name lives forever, Remembering the glorious Party, I go to plant trees, Uncle Ho's shadow in my homeland.

Choir: Call from the sea and islands, Guiding star, My homeland in the wind and sand, Southern mountains and rivers, A whole life of restlessness. Suite: A whole life of restlessness (based on President Ho's poem). Other works: Songs: Message to you in the fort, Lullaby (during the French resistance period), Advance to Khe Sanh, Heroic Con Co, Through the bridges, Village names call us, Labor song, Songs of those who go far away (during the American resistance period). In addition to music, he also composed prose and poetry and participated in compiling the Binh Thuan Gazetteer. Some of his published works include: Song collection Mai nhu mua thu (collectively published - 1985). Song collection (with cassette tape) Singing about the future spring (1997). Short story collections: March Sun (1987), Legend of Lang Nuoc Noi (1997). Poetry collection: Verses that go with the years (2009).

On behalf of the Editorial Board, staff, editors, and reporters of Binh Thuan Newspaper, we would like to send our deepest condolences to the extended family of Mr. Huy So, Musician, Writer, and Journalist - Huynh Sanh Chau. We respectfully bow to bid him farewell!

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/nghieng-minh-tien-biet-nhac-si-nha-van-nha-bao-huy-so-129498.html