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Movie Film about Cai Luong: Song Lang (2018) by Leon Le

Movie Film about Cai Luong: Song Lang (2018) by Leon Le

A song lang is a musical instrument, a little percussion used in Vietnamese traditional music to keep the tempo for the musicians and the performers and – as the protagonist’s father believed – to “guide the artists down the moral path”.

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THE ORIGIN OF THE VONG CO SONG “SẦU VƯƠNG Ý NHẠC”

Posted at: SUNday - 01/03/2015 15:00 - Viewed: 960

THE ORIGIN OF THE VONG CO SONG “SẦU VƯƠNG Ý NHẠC”

THE ORIGIN OF THE VONG CO SONG “SẦU VƯƠNG Ý NHẠC”

Many members of the www.cailuongvietnam.com Website are loyal fans of the famous singer Minh Canh. While most of them would agree that the song “The Mournful Sound of Music” (Sau Vuong Y Nhac), written by Vien Chau, the King of Vong Co songs, is one of the songs that greatly contributed to the success of that legendary singer, probably only a few of Minh Canh’s fans know that this song was written based on a real and tragic life of a Cai Luong troupe’s owner, Mr. Hoang Van Quynh.

Mr. Hoang Van Quynh was the founder of the troupe “Sao Ngan Noi”, whose performers included a young and beautiful actress named My Huong. A high-ranking official in a village took advantage of My Huong when she and her troupe were performing there. After she became pregnant by him, he quickly abandoned her. Feeling deeply for her plight, Mr. Quynh wrote a play called “The illegitimate baby” to tacitly condemn that unfaithful lover.

On the first night of the play, while the audiences were enjoying the moving story, a terrible explosion occurred. It caused a lot of deaths and injuries. Mr. Quynh could not escape the explosion, either. Tragically, he lost the sight in both of his eyes. His pregnant wife, who was out-of-town on the night of the show, thus unharmed, had left him after turning over their newborn baby to him. Consequently, the only way for a blind man with a newborn baby to survive was to become a beggar.

Mr. Tran Trung Quan, the author of the book “Hau Truong San Khau Cai Luong"(Cai Luong Backstage), recalled: “Eight years later, there was a boy holding a bag in his hands and guiding his blind father to beg for spare change from passer-by near the Ben Luc bridge. The sorrowful sight of the blind man and the soulful sound from his guitar deeply touched the audiences, one of whom happened to be the famed composer Vien Chau. So moved by Mr. Quynh’s plight, composer Vien Chau then penned the famous song “Sau Vuong Y Nhac” as a gift for his destitute colleague and also to remind the audience about the sad life of a despondent artist living in the war zone. And, of course, this song would later become very famous by the legendary voice of Minh Canh.

A young fan of Cai Luong, probably born abroad, wrote on her Web site after listening to this song and learning about its origin: "After reading the story above, my heart goes out to Mr. HOÀNG VĂN QUỲNH and the song TAN CỔ SẦU VƯƠNG Ý NHẠC của SOẠN GIẢ VIỄN CHÂU, not only helps to advance NGHỆ SĨ MINH CẢNH 's reputation (for it was HIS song), but it also enables us to get the glimpse into the tragic lives of cải lương actors during the war time.”

Written by Tancogiaoduyen, the Administrator of the Website Cailuongvietnam.com.
Translated by Khai Nguyen,
Michigan, Winter 2007

Source: khoi @cailuongvietnam.com

Note: The above article reprinted at the website or other media sources not specify the source http://cailuongvietnam.com is copyright infringement

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