Hà Nội - Huế - Sài Gòn

Annotation — North Vietnamese Songs

Released on the Dihavina record label (no catalogue number), originally the state label of North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) before reunification in 1975. The song titles are printed in Vietnamese, followed by an English title, which are not direct translations of the Vietnamese text. Several of the songs looked at the North Vietnamese leader Hồ Chí Minh: "Lờ i ca dâng bác" ("Song Dedicated to Uncle Hồ") and "Đôi dép bác Hồ" ("Uncle Hồ's Sandals"). A few songs praised the work of what may appear to be ordinary small roles, but important nonetheless to the overall war machinery: "Tôi người lái xe" ("I'm a Truck Driver"), and "Xe ta đi trong đêm trưòng sơn" ("Night Convoy on the Indochinese Cordillera"). Also of note is the track "Bài ca đường 9 Chiến thấng" ("Song of Victorious Highway 9") - a reference to famous Vietnamese highway, National Route 9 (Quốc lộ 9 or Đường 9) which runs along the West-East 17th parallel. During the war, this was alongside the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The US and the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) build-up bases along the DMZ, including the well-known Khe Sahn.1 The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) was able to cut and ambush Route 9. Sources1Wikipedia: National Route 9 (Vietnam)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Dihavina 33, "Hànội – Việt Nam"; the front shows two white cranes in flight over a dark landscape under a yellow-green sky, with the title "Hànội Huế Sàigòn" in hand lettering and a small artist's signature at the top left. The back gives, for each song, the Vietnamese and English titles, music, lyrics, orchestration or piano arrangement, performers and conductor, with a one-sentence English summary; performers include Thanh Huyền (soprano) with the Orchestra of the Central Folk Music Ensemble, the Girl Chorus and Orchestra of the National People's Song and Dance Ensemble (conductors Quang Hải, Trần Quý), the Girl Chorus and Orchestra and the Male Chorus and Orchestra of the "Voice of Viet Nam" (conductors Nguyễn Văn Đậu, Cao Việt Bách), with Hoàng Mãnh at the piano. The title song is described as "Hà nội, Huế and Sài Gòn sisters of the same family now temporarily separated but surely…

About the artist

Vietnamese singer, born Trương Thị Thanh Huyền on 10 October 1942 in Hanoi; known for folk and revolutionary songs such as "Câu hò bên bờ Hiền Lương", "Đường cày đảm đang" and "Lời ca dâng Bác", and the first woman singer named People's Artist (1984). [Source: Wikipedia (Vietnamese)]

Themes

Vietnamese Perspective · Vietnamese Patriotic · Saigon · Hanoi · Ho Chi Minh · Ho Chi Minh Trail · Mekong Delta

In collections

North Vietnamese Songs