Guitar sound in the holly bush

Saigon, 1971-1975. Binh Dong Wharf at that time was the busiest area with a Chinese street, nearby was an elementary school. The majority of residents were poor laborers, small traders... Tau Hu Canal, following the ebb and flow of the tides day and night, was bustling with boats and barges carrying goods from the Southwest region, anchoring at Binh Dong, Ngu Coc, Le Quang Sung wharves... for workers to transfer goods to the stations, warehouses, from there spreading out to many places, to the Central provinces, to the distant highlands...

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Practice with the guitar

Along the small creek connecting Tau Hu canal, bushes of Acanthus and trumpet vine grow abundantly. A young man from a nearby house came here and chose a fairly flat spot on the bank. The bushes of Acanthus were pulled back, leaving him room to crawl through. Spreading a plastic sheet, he sat in the bushes on sunny days, from here he could hear the sound of a classical guitar that the locals had gradually become familiar with and looked at him sympathetically.

At that time, he had passed the entrance exam to the Guitar Department of the Saigon Conservatory of Music. During his days at the conservatory, he walked from his house at Binh Dong station to the bus stop, his guitar on his shoulder. When he arrived at the bus stop near the school, he walked a little further to the conservatory. He often strolled along Nguyen Du street when he arrived early before class, admiring the rows of green tamarind trees and the fallen tamarind leaves in the wind, humming in his head the beautiful melodies of classical music geniuses or those he thought up to arrange into songs.

On days when he didn't go to class, he went out to the bushes and practiced his guitar... Almost all of his life was spent with the guitar. In addition to his natural talent, he practiced hard from 10 to 14 hours a day, so it was inevitable that he graduated as valedictorian. After graduating from the Conservatory of Music, he and his friends founded the Phu Nhuan Classical Guitar Club, performing classical guitar, bringing the classical guitar movement of Ho Chi Minh City to develop strongly in the 1980s. He is the musician - guitarist Chau Dang Khoa, once famous with Phung Tuan Vu in the classical guitar world nationwide. Talking about Chau Dang Khoa, his romantic brother, poet Vu Ngoc Giao proudly said: "Of course he has talent, but Khoa is better than others in his hard work. Since he was young, he hugged his guitar for 14 hours a day, only then can he bring his talented guitar music to life"...

Echoes of memories

Now, guitarist Chau Dang Khoa has passed his sixties. His family no longer lives in Binh Dong, but for him, Binh Dong is his beautiful childhood and youth. He has many brothers and close friends who used to live in Binh Dong... Each person has a different job and different living conditions, but still maintains beautiful feelings.

Occasionally, he stopped by Binh Dong to drink coffee and chat with friends who still live there. They recalled memories of their childhood, how this place and that place have changed, how this person has died and that person has survived, life has its ups and downs… Each canal, each stream, each house, each wharf, each bridge or ferry connecting to Phu Dinh wharf, District 6… are all familiar images with many memorable memories. They explained to their friends in other places about Binh Dong, District 8, about a land bordering Long An , Binh Chanh; explaining why Ward 16, District 8, is located separately, on the continuous territory of District 6, Binh Tan.

The names of places and people are all associated with their memories, of wandering around a “half-country, half-city” area as children, recounting them to remember and then falling silent, listening to the echoes of memories in their hearts… For him and his friends, that is Saigon - Cho Lon, Ho Chi Minh City, where they grew up, studied, and went out to make a living. The two words Binh Dong always resonate dearly in their hearts, despite the changes in life and the vicissitudes of life.

After so many years, the love for Binh Dong and the friendship are still strong. They recall memories of going to Le Quang Sung wharf to visit the girlfriend they secretly had a crush on, wandering across Ba Cang bridge near Cho Lon or across the winery bridge (Binh Tay) and then he fell and broke his leg and had to be hospitalized for several months. They recall a beautiful friend whose personal life was not so smooth, congratulated another friend whose children had grown up, they attended their friend's children's weddings in the joy of meeting, full of smiles...

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Life, human life

An old friend from Binh Dong, a few years older than him, is the famous artist Tan Thi, who no longer lives in Binh Dong, but still occasionally visits the old place. His friend, Mr. Mot, lives as a river transporter, lives by the windy canal, and on moonlit nights, a corner of Saigon is cool and clear whenever friends gather in front of the porch. Mr. Tam plays in a band, Mr. Tri still teaches foreign languages... Other friends, when he grew up, went to the Da Kao and Tan Dinh areas to live as students; friends from Can Tho, Ben Tre , and Long Xuyen during their youth, are still invited by him to come back to Binh Dong whenever there is a chance, to chat and expand their friendship...

Nowadays, it is easy to contact each other by phone, through Facebook, but many people are still busy with life's worries, from children to grandchildren, every era has its own worries, so getting together is the most fun. There were afternoons when Mr. Mot invited him and his friends to come over to his house, to listen to him play classical guitar, to sing their favorite songs of the past, until late at night, they said goodbye with regret...

Now, musician - guitarist Chau Dang Khoa still has a guitar on his shoulder, still passionate about the magical six strings of the Spanish guitar. His students, many of whom are famous in the country and abroad, still respectfully call him teacher and he smiles kindly, happy for his students to have fulfilled their roles. The acanthus bushes on the Binh Dong wharf of yesteryear are no longer there, but the banks are still green when he returns to the old place. Binh Dong is his hometown, a true Saigonese - Ho Chi Minh City native, with a generous, sincere, straightforward voice and personality, living with passion, disregarding trivial fame and fortune.

Returning to Binh Dong, he was delighted with the changes of this land in particular and of District 8, of Ho Chi Minh City in general. In the past, Binh Dong and District 8 had no parks, no traffic lights, but now they are much more spacious and modern. The roads he returned to were all wide open, newly built bridges were spacious, there was still the ferry on Phu Dinh wharf and the wide river where he swam as a child, reminding him of a peaceful childhood, a youth full of passion, dedication to music, to classical guitar of Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City...

Fate with Phu Yen land

Musician - guitarist Chau Dang Khoa is close to many artists from Phu Yen who are living in Ho Chi Minh City such as poet - musician Truong Tuyet Mai, poet Phan Hoang, poet - journalist Tran Hoang Nhan... Occasionally, he goes to Thu Duc to visit musician Truong Tuyet Mai, plays with the musician and his children who also follow the music career, musician Thao Linh, Jazzy Da Lam (who is currently visiting his mother from Germany), or drinks coffee with poet Phan Hoang, poet - journalist Tran Hoang Nhan. Recently, he had the opportunity to go to Tuy Hoa, interact with many artists from Phu Yen, and is loved by Phu Yen friends, who give him a lot of affection.

Somewhere, the guitar of an 18-year-old boy echoes by the canal bank, in the quiet noon, the blazing sun pouring down on the street. A reminder that high art has no place for laziness. The river still flows with life, people still live their lives. Binh Dong wharf still has the calm tides, in the wonderful guitar sound of a talented artist.

Source: https://baophuyen.vn/tin-noi-bat/202504/tieng-guitar-ben-bui-o-ro-c7a26fd/