Musician Lu Nhat Vu of 'Song of the Southern Land' passes away

Lư Nhất Vũ - Ảnh 1. — Musician Lu Nhat Vu was moved to share his joy when the delegation of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee and Binh Duong Provincial Party Committee visited and awarded the 45-year Party membership badge in 2024 - Photo: CAM NUONG

Musician Lu Nhat Vu is the life partner of poet Le Giang. They have made many individual and collective contributions to Vietnamese art.

Farewell to musician Lu Nhat Vu

Musician Lu Nhat Vu's real name is Le Van Gat, born on April 13, 1936, in Phu Cuong, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province. He was awarded the 45-year Party membership badge by Mr. Nguyen Van Nen - Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee - in March 2024.

He was the deputy general secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Music Association, term 11 (1981), a member of the secretary of the Vietnam Musicians Association, term 3 (1983), and director of the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts in Ho Chi Minh City.

He graduated from the composition department of the Vietnam Conservatory of Music, Hanoi (1956-1962). He worked at the Southern Song and Dance Troupe, the Department of Music and Dance (Ministry of Culture), the Vietnam Institute of Music Research...

Lư Nhất Vũ - Ảnh 2. — Delegation of Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee took a photo with musician Lu Nhat Vu in front of his private house in Thu Dau Mot City (Binh Duong province) in 2024 - Photo: CAM NUONG

Regret for not being able to attend the Ho Chi Minh Prize award ceremony

On the morning of March 29, Dr. Quach Thu Nguyet (former director of Tre Publishing House) shared with Tuoi Tre Online : "I often visit my uncle and aunt at home. What I regret the most is that my uncle has completed all the documents and procedures to submit for consideration for the Ho Chi Minh Prize, but the prize is only considered once every 5 years (the most recent time was in 2022 - PV).

Too bad, she was also bedridden. There were only the two of them at home. I also visited often. They had donated many of their field works to the Nguyen An Ninh Digital Library - Southern Region. He loved me so much, told me to keep working, digitize them to preserve them for future generations."

Musician Lu Nhat Vu was awarded the first State Prize for Literature and Arts (2001), the First Class Anti-American Medal, the Second Class Victory Medal, and the First Class Labor Medal.

The Vietnam Record Book Center recognized him as "a musician with many works collecting and researching Vietnamese folk song genres" (2009).

He was also awarded the Ho Chi Minh City Literature and Arts Award in 1997-1998 for his work Song of the Southern Land (lyrics: poet Le Giang); Huynh Van Nghe Award (Binh Duong, 2005); Good Book Award for his research and collection of Liberation March (awarded by the Vietnam Publishing Association in 2012); Nguyen Thong Literature and Arts Award for the 5th time (2017).

Musician Lu Nhat Vu has made great contributions in both composition and research.

His vocal compositions include: Afternoon on the Meo village, The goods I bring to the trenches, The Saigon girl goes to carry ammunition, By the statue of Uncle Ho, Rest assured, Mom, The sound of the gong overcoming the waterfall, Hon Khoai, Song of the Southern Land and many other valuable works.

MV Song of the Southern Land - Soundtrack of the film Southern Forest Land

In the field of research, he has a series of monumental works on folk songs of the Southern region published with authors Le Giang, Nguyen Dong Nai, Thach An, Nguyen Van Hoa, and Quach Vu.

Book works include: Learning about Southern folk songs (1983); Vietnamese folk songs in the South (1986); Lu Nhat Vu's Song Collection (1995); Music and Life (1989); 300 Southern Ly Melodies (2002), Ho in Vietnamese folk songs (2004), Vietnamese Lullabies (2005), Ly in Vietnamese folk songs (2006); Talking about poetry - Talking about verses - Southern falling poetry (2010); Liberation March (2011); In search of invisible treasures (2014); Wandering in life's love (2022) ...