And finally, "little An" of Tuan's father and Linh's mother has returned, for the summer vacation that she has been looking forward to the most after 4 years away from home to study. Returning to see that dream come true: Dad is still here with the three of them, to take care of Dad with Mom and more than that, to continue writing the second dream for Vietnamese jazz with Dad...
The freshman at Berklee possesses a strong and refined demeanor. Looking at Tran Manh Tuan's second daughter, it is easy to understand why she was able to overcome a difficult school year and shine so brightly in the context of her father being suddenly hospitalized, having 3 brain surgeries in just one year and the chance of survival at times being as faint as a dashed line. Leaving home in 10th grade, An Tran tried hard to win a 70% scholarship from a prestigious high school in the US and then became the only Vietnamese student to win a 100% scholarship from the prestigious Berklee music school, where 25 years ago, her father was the first Vietnamese student to set foot with a 30% scholarship. In the dream of continuing to write for Vietnamese jazz, for father and daughter, Berklee is therefore an obvious destination and the most beautiful hyphen between them.
"At that time, I was on winter break of my senior year in high school with my friends in New York and while I was in a pho restaurant, I received the dream announcement: An Tran, Tuan's father, had not only gotten into Berklee but also won a 100% scholarship, an opportunity that Berklee only gives to 8 people/year with their "World Tour" scholarship program. Imagine, Berklee last school year had 7,000 students, and that rare opportunity suddenly called my name. I almost choked on the pho and could barely eat anymore because of the overwhelming joy. Immediately, I called home to tell my parents, who were in the hospital at that time. At that time, my father had temporarily overcome the critical stage and was gradually recovering, but he still seemed not to be conscious enough to realize how great that joy was. That was the dream that my father had always held on to, unfortunately when it became a reality, he was not even healthy enough to scream out loud with me. If there was a dish "What is the greatest gift in this world that I can give my father, especially when he just returned from the dead, he really deserves to be "rewarded", then it can only be Berklee", An Tran shared with Thanh Nien.
The 17-year-old girl won the opportunity with an impressive "debut". Instead of performing on pre-recorded music, she brought to Berklee a "live band" with 3 friends studying at Berklee including 1 drummer, 1 bassist, 1 pianist, and An - saxophone, not only in the format of a performer but also in the role of producer and composer - exactly as she had planned: to become a versatile artist, able to handle everything from A to Z. That was the only case in the competition that had that choice. As a result, the strict judge of Berklee had to cry out: "Oh my god, I shouldn't have been clapping when the contestants were performing!", An said. "I think I tried to do my best. With only one motivation: That was my father and I's biggest dream, that was the most meaningful gift I could give him, and it seemed that only that gift could make him healthy again: My father's An Tran must definitely get into Berklee, and win the highest scholarship possible...".
"There were times when An was discouraged and somewhat distracted when he saw some of his peers, who only needed to pick up a few songs and join a reality TV show to immediately become stars, become famous early, and make money quickly... But I always encouraged him: Be diligent, knowledge is essential, only knowledge can help you go the long way. It only takes a few years, with knowledge and innate talent, you will definitely have everything... An Tran is determined to get into Berklee and win a 100% scholarship, probably because he loves his father", said artist Tran Manh Tuan.
The road to Berklee was obviously never easy, especially for An at that time, August 2021. Ho Chi Minh City, when An left after summer vacation to return to the US to continue her final year of high school, was at the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak. The 16-year-old girl boarded the plane with the worries of her parents, especially her father. "An had just arrived for a week, and before he could even start school, he fell ill, with a fever of 39 degrees. The house where An was staying at was also empty at that time. Pitying his sick child alone in a foreign land, not excluding the possibility of a fever from Covid-19, and being haunted by the grim news about the outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City and having no way to fly to his child..., perhaps that was why Mr. Tuan was so stressed that he had a stroke, on top of his weak health. Because he was very worried about his child, sometimes too much. He loved An Tran so much, that every step of his child was also a heartbeat of his father...", Ms. Kieu Dam Linh, wife of saxophone artist Tran Manh Tuan, tearfully recalled. "Dad had just been hospitalized for two days, the news had leaked to the newspaper and An immediately called home with tears in her eyes. To prevent her from realizing her true feelings on FaceTime, I put on a facial mask and scolded her: "Oh, you're funny, why don't you trust your family and go and... report it? It's true that dad is sick, but it's just because he works too much so the doctor asked him to temporarily hang up the phone to rest. If dad was seriously ill, how could mom be so free to put on a facial mask like this..." The mother who had to lie to reassure her child was the same wife who 25 years ago hid it from her husband when the house burned down, holding her first child under one year old: "When the baby was just 27 days old, Tuan packed his bags and went to Berklee. Not long after that, our apartment building burned down. Thinking about the possibility that Tuan could find a way to return immediately because he loved his wife and children in extremely tight financial conditions, with only a 30% scholarship, I had to hide the news of the house fire from my husband. It was only much later that he accidentally learned the news through a friend..." Behind the father and son's path to Berklee, there was always the shadow of a woman hiding news of her family.
"When I called my mother and saw her determination, I didn't expect the matter to be so big. When I found out, I was far away and couldn't do anything, I was extremely anxious. When the situation got worse, there were times when I just wanted to go home to be with my father... But then I decided to pull myself together with a strong determination: My main job is to go to school, to come here to study, and the only thing my father wants from me is to get into Berklee. If I love my father, I have to do that, I definitely have to do that, rather than sitting in one place worrying and crying. I can't live in fear, that's not my nature...", An said. "It's because I remember what my mother told me: Right now, I only have two requests. Your task is to go to school, and believe in your father."
"Indeed, in the most difficult moments of life and death, I always gave myself that difficult task: to believe that my husband could not die. I truly never believed that Tuan could leave this life, because he deserved to live so much...", An's mother said.
The belief was so strong that even doctors and friends from near and far reminded the family to gradually prepare for the funeral. That was when the saxophone artist fell into a coma after his third brain surgery and suddenly started talking in the middle of the night, as if he was standing on stage, and he spoke very fluently, with words that were probably ingrained in the blood of a lifetime of passion for the profession: "Tran Manh Tuan respectfully greets the audience! Thank you for accompanying the audience all this time, but Tran Manh Tuan apologizes because he is no longer healthy enough to serve the audience. Sorry for not being able to live..." Nearly a year after the incident, Ms. Kieu Dam Linh still shed tears when recalling the moment that made her speechless.
"At the most desperate moment, fortunately, I happened to read a comment at the end of the article reporting on Tuan's health, seemingly absent-minded but very earnest: "Let's try playing some music for him, maybe he'll recover...". I suddenly woke up, and decided to choose the song "Sen" composed by Tuan, in its spiritual meaning. Then unexpectedly, he - at that time still swollen, stiff between the breathing tubes - suddenly opened his eyes, looked around and said, very clearly: "Turn this song up, this is my song "Sen"!". From that moment on, he woke up, and life returned... The doctors told me: It's not only a miracle of medicine, but also a blessing from above...". And at that moment, I could only be grateful for the prayers of the audience, perhaps like an energy sent to the universe; "Thank you to the author of the short comment that helped us prolong our hope and life...", Ms. Linh recounted. The "treatment regimen" is unique to "Doctor Linh", who Tran Manh Tuan told Thanh Nien: "Without "Doctor Linh", I would have died a long time ago!".
"I think that's the magic of music. It can only be music, because it's so deeply ingrained in my father's subconscious. Only music can awaken my father, as he's always been restless because of it. Like when my father just got out of the hospital, he asked to play the saxophone and the doctor advised him not to play because it's not good for the brain, he said: "I'd rather die than not be able to play the saxophone". So when I heard that my father woke up thanks to a piece of music, I wasn't really surprised. If I had been there at that time, I would have chosen "Ve que", one of my father's lifelong songs, to remind him of the way home...", An Tran.
"Ve que" is also the name of Tran Manh Tuan's record-breaking album, at a time when people still assumed that jazz was a "difficult" dish for the Vietnamese public. Jazz Club Tran Manh Tuan risked opening right on the "golden street" Le Loi in District 1 (HCMC) amid the dissuasion of his friends because they were afraid he would "go bankrupt", and eventually existed for 17 years, almost as old as An is now. This place used to be a favorite destination for many international tourists when coming to the city and only closed when there was a prolonged social distancing order due to Covid-19, which was also when its owner fell ill. "Mr. Tuan tried to keep Jazz Club until the end, even when Covid-19 made things difficult and tried to hold on for a year and a half, even when the number of guests dropped to 3-4 people. Mr. Tuan is always like that, performing in front of 1 person or 20,000 people, he gives his all the same. He always said that the guests who sit last with him are the most special guests, so the closer to the end, the more he has to give his all. One day after playing music, I saw his lips turn purple...", Ms. Linh said and added: "Having to close Jazz Club is a great sadness for Mr. Tuan. An Tran also said: If my parents leave Jazz Club, I will be very sad... So the whole family is discussing the possibility of reopening Jazz Club right in the family's 300 m2 basement area, which used to be a home studio, in a different format, and this time it will depend on An Tran, and Mr. Tuan will stand behind to support...".
"I will take over, of course. I will try to continue my father's dream, using what I learned at Berklee, with a major that my father did not learn before: composition, recording and production...", An Tran affirmed.
Tran Manh Tuan said that what he was most worried about was that he had not been able to accompany his son much because his health had made it difficult. But it was also during the time he was sick that everyone saw An Tran's full efforts. That, even without his father's company, An had done many good things. "The most pleasant thing about being in America is that... no one knows whose child I am. If in Vietnam, I could be someone, when I came here, I was no one. Until I asserted myself through my own efforts. At this point, I can be somewhat proud of what I have done, not in the shadow of my father...", An said.
If there is a song that An remembers first when thinking about playing music with her father, it is "Bèo đat Mây trôi". "That was the first song I performed with my father on stage exactly 10 years ago. It was also the last song I played with my father before he was hospitalized, in an online show during Covid-19... To me, it is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever known because it carries within it a source of warm and positive energy, even when lacking, when sad, still believing, still waiting...".
If there was a Vietnamese song that could help the Berklee freshman express her gratitude to her parents, An said, she would choose Trinh Cong Son's "The Legend of Mother." "A song praising mother, but also true to what I think about my father: "Mother is a full body of water/ Letting my sorrows flow/ So that life will always be pure/ Mother sinks under hardship..." A life that has indeed gone through many hardships: at 13 years old, his left eye was damaged, at 31 years old, a kidney was damaged, 4 years later he was diagnosed with leukemia, and when he was about to turn 50, he had 3 brain surgeries..., but after all, Tran Manh Tuan still smiled and said: "My life has more than enough!", because what he considers more than enough: A loyal wife, a talented son to continue his career...".
"To me, my dad is truly a "hero". Because in the end, he has fulfilled all the roles: a worried father; a funny, generous friend; a strict, strict teacher; a colleague who understands and sympathizes with his co-stars... All of those things are enough to be a legend in my eyes!
I don't know if I can surpass my father, with what he has done for Vietnamese music. But if I were to say: "A son is better than his father, the family is blessed", I would only want to replace it with one word, which is: "I love my father...", An Tran shared.
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