Rice Planting by Moonlight (Cấy lúa đêm trăng)

Annotation — North Vietnamese Songs

Released on the Dihavina record label (# 7204), originally the state label of North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) before reunification in 1975. This one contained Nhạc đỏ ("Red Music") - which developed at the beginning of the 20th century, containing elements of Western Classical Music, lyrically focussing on the war and socialism, but also contained more traditional Vietnamese Folk Music songs. Examples of patriotic songs include "Love of the Native Land", "Love of the Country", "My Homeland", and "To the Beloved North". Several focus on agriculture, providing food for the army: "Rice Planting by Moonlight" and "Bumper Crop in the Highlands", while a few are more directly concerned with the fighting: "We Think of You at the Front" and "The Gun and the Flag".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Dihavina 7204 (printed "7204 – 33/30" on the back), 33 rpm, Hanoi – Vietnam; olive-green labels titled "Folk-Song of South Viet Nam", Side I and Side II. The back reads "Songs presented by the South Viet Nam Liberation Radio – Orchestra of Traditional Musical Instruments of the South Viet Nam Liberation Radio" and lists 13 songs with Vietnamese titles, the folk melody each is set to, lyricists and performers; side I opens with "Rice Planting by Moonlight" (Cấy lúa đêm trăng, Hò Đồng Tháp), words Trần Nam Dân, performers Thanh Mai and Thanh Xuân; other titles include "We Think of You at the Front", "A Quang Tri Mother", "The Gun and the Flag" and "To the Beloved North". The front cover drawing, signed "LT Đức", shows palm trees under a crescent moon over a yellow shore. Distributor: Xunhasaba, 32 Hai Ba Trung Street, Hanoi – D.R. Viet Nam; this copy carries a "Neue Welt Schallplatten, 5…

Themes

Vietnamese Perspective · Vietnamese Patriotic

In collections

North Vietnamese Songs