trịnh công sơn
the heritage of our Mother Land
the sad country of Việtnam
by don luce + j.c. schafer + j. chagnon
(photo: cao-nguyễn xuân-đạt)
'Trịnh công Sơn est un compositeur de chansons
et artitse-peintre vietnamien profondément pacifiste,
surnommé le 'Boy Dylan viêtnamien par Trần văn Dũng'.
Il est auteur de plus de 600 chansons'. wikipedia
Trinh công Sơn live with his mother, two brothers and five sisters in Huế, near the bombed out shell of the Phú Cam Church. Formely an elementary school teacher, he now spend most his his life writing songs and encouraging other young songwriters and singers.
At thirty-two, he is considered to be one of the most popular folk singers in South Việtnam during the past decade. He has been especially popular with the Vietnamese young people. Students sing his song at meetings and demonstrations. Tapes of his songs sung by Khánh Ly a well known female vocalist, or by Trịnh công Sơn himself, are played in coffee houses all over Vietnam and in the night clubs of a a larger cities. During the monsoon rains students sit in coffee houses listening to his songs, waiting for the rain to end and for peace to come to Việtnam.
Trịnh công Sơn's songs were banned by the Ministry of Education in 1968 on the grounds that they weekened the will of the people to resist. The ban has not been strictly enforced, however, and tapes of his songs circulate freely among the population. He has refused invitations of the South Army's Political Warfare Department to cooperate with them in propaganda efforts. Despite the consistent anti-war mood of his songs, in recent years he has come in for criticism from new quarters. Many of the more radical students say his songs are to passive and do not emphasize the necessity of active struggle to bring down the Thiệu regime. These students change the line of his song" heritage of Our Mother Land", which reads "Twenty yearss of civil war" to " Twenty years of American Imperalism."
But Trịnh công Sơn is still very popular, He is respected for his modesty and his refusal to capitalize financially on his popularity. Thousands of his most popular collections of songs,
"Songs of Golden Skinned People" and " Prayer for Việtnam", have been sold but he receives little money himself. Tapes of his songs widely sold but he receives no royalties. Frail and unassuming, he accompanies himself on an old guitar worn and chipped around the edges. He rarely sings in public now for fear of provoking the Thiệu government into taking some violent action against him. But in the crowded cities and tense villages of South Việtnam, one still hears his song singing of a heritage of sadness and hopes for a brighter future.
"Songs of Golden Skinned People" and " Prayer for Việtnam", have been sold but he receives little money himself. Tapes of his songs widely sold but he receives no royalties. Frail and unassuming, he accompanies himself on an old guitar worn and chipped around the edges. He rarely sings in public now for fear of provoking the Thiệu government into taking some violent action against him. But in the crowded cities and tense villages of South Việtnam, one still hears his song singing of a heritage of sadness and hopes for a brighter future.
DON LUCE + JOHN.C SCHAFER+ JACQUELYN CHAGNON
female vocalist..."
THE HERITAGE OF OUR MOTHER LAND
A thousand years slaves of the Chinese,
A hundred years dominated by the French,
Twenty years of civil war,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
To leave for her children
The sad country of Việtnam.
A thousand years slaves of the Chinese,
A hundred years dominated by the French,
Twenty years of our Mother Land,
A forest of dry bones,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
A mountain of graves.
Teach the children the sound of truth,
For the mother hopes her children won't
forget their race,
Their ancestors who built the old Việtnam;
She waits for all her children who are far away,
For all her children who have the same father,
Wherever they are
They must forget how to hate.
A thousand years slaves of the Chinese
A hundred years dominated by the French,
Twenty years of civil war,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
Dry and barren rice fields,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
Rows of burned houses.
A thousand years of slaves of the Chinese,
A hundred years dominated by the French,
Twenty years of civil war,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
People not true to their race,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
A land where honor be betrayed.
I SHALL GO VISITING
When may land has peace,
I shall go visiting,
I shall go visiting
Along a road with many foxholes.
When my land is mo longer at war
I shall go visiting
I shall go visiting
Over bridges crushed by mines.
Go visiting
Bunkers of bayonets and pungi sticks;
When my people are no longer killing each other
The children will sing children's songs
Outside the street.
When my land has peace
I shall go and never stop
To Saigon, to the Center,
To Hanoi, to the South,
I shall go in celebration
And I hope I will forget
The story of my country.
When my land has peace
I shall go visiting
I shall go visiting
The many sad graveyard
To see the epitaphs on the tombstones
That have sprung up like mushrooms.
When my land is no longer at war
The old mother will go up into the mountains
And search for the bones of her son,
When my land has peace
I shall go visiting,
I shall go visiting
Villages turned into prairies,
Go visiting
The forests destroyed by fire;
When my people are no longer killing each other
Everyone will go out on the street
To cry out with smiles.
LOVE SONG OF A WOMAN
MADNESS THE WAR
I had a lover who died at the battle of Pleime
I had a lover who died at Battle Zone 'D',
Who died at Đồng Xoài,
Who died at Hanoi,
He died far away on the distant frontier.
I had a lover who died in the battle of Chru Pong,
I had a lover whose body drifted along the river,
Who died in the dark forest,
Whose charred body lies cold and abandoned.
I want to love you, love Việtnam,
The day when the wind is strong
I whisper your name and the name of Việtnam,
We are so close, the same voice and yellow race,
I want to love you, love Việtnam,
But as soon as I grow up my ears are accustomed
To the sound of bullets and mines;
My hands are nor free but I forget
from now on the human language.
I had a lover who died at Ashau,
I had a lover whose twisted body lies in a valley,
Who died under a bridge naked and voiceless,
I had a lover who died at the battle of Ba Gia,
I had a lover who died just last night,
He passed away in a dream with no feelings
of hate.
[]
TRINH CÔNG SƠN
(from WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER/ poems from am Asian war.
Selected by Don Luce, John, C, Schafer & Jacquelyn Chagnon.
Published by The Indochina Mobile Education Project/ Washington D.C. 1971.
( p. 89- 93.)
TRỊNH CÔNG SƠN
The heritage of our Mother Land
The sad country of Việtnam
They must forget how to hate.
A thousand years slaves of the Chinese
A hundred years dominated by the French,
Twenty years of civil war,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
Dry and barren rice fields,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
Rows of burned houses.
A thousand years of slaves of the Chinese,
A hundred years dominated by the French,
Twenty years of civil war,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
People not true to their race,
The heritage of our Mother Land,
A land where honor be betrayed.
I SHALL GO VISITING
When may land has peace,
I shall go visiting,
I shall go visiting
Along a road with many foxholes.
When my land is mo longer at war
I shall go visiting
I shall go visiting
Over bridges crushed by mines.
Go visiting
Bunkers of bayonets and pungi sticks;
When my people are no longer killing each other
The children will sing children's songs
Outside the street.
When my land has peace
I shall go and never stop
To Saigon, to the Center,
To Hanoi, to the South,
I shall go in celebration
And I hope I will forget
The story of my country.
When my land has peace
I shall go visiting
I shall go visiting
The many sad graveyard
To see the epitaphs on the tombstones
That have sprung up like mushrooms.
When my land is no longer at war
The old mother will go up into the mountains
And search for the bones of her son,
When my land has peace
I shall go visiting,
I shall go visiting
Villages turned into prairies,
Go visiting
The forests destroyed by fire;
When my people are no longer killing each other
Everyone will go out on the street
To cry out with smiles.
LOVE SONG OF A WOMAN
MADNESS THE WAR
I had a lover who died at the battle of Pleime
I had a lover who died at Battle Zone 'D',
Who died at Đồng Xoài,
Who died at Hanoi,
He died far away on the distant frontier.
I had a lover who died in the battle of Chru Pong,
I had a lover whose body drifted along the river,
Who died in the dark forest,
Whose charred body lies cold and abandoned.
I want to love you, love Việtnam,
The day when the wind is strong
I whisper your name and the name of Việtnam,
We are so close, the same voice and yellow race,
I want to love you, love Việtnam,
But as soon as I grow up my ears are accustomed
To the sound of bullets and mines;
My hands are nor free but I forget
from now on the human language.
I had a lover who died at Ashau,
I had a lover whose twisted body lies in a valley,
Who died under a bridge naked and voiceless,
I had a lover who died at the battle of Ba Gia,
I had a lover who died just last night,
He passed away in a dream with no feelings
of hate.
[]
TRINH CÔNG SƠN
(from WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER/ poems from am Asian war.
Selected by Don Luce, John, C, Schafer & Jacquelyn Chagnon.
Published by The Indochina Mobile Education Project/ Washington D.C. 1971.
( p. 89- 93.)
TRỊNH CÔNG SƠN
The heritage of our Mother Land
The sad country of Việtnam
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