Anh giải phóng quân ơi, tổ quốc rất tự hào vì anh (Soldiers of Liberation! Your Native Country Is Proud of You!)

Annotation — North Vietnamese Songs

On this LP are 8 Vietnamese songs, with the song titles written in both Vietnamese and English. The songs are a mixture of genres, including Ca Huế, a type of traditional form of Vietnamese Folk Music, popular in the Southern part of the country, as well Cải lương genre ("reformed theatre"), a form of music theatre that developed in the early 20th century, containing elements of Vietnamese Opera and southern Vietnamese Folk Music, and with colonial French influences. These song may be performed by people from the then South Vietnam, but are patriotic towards North Vietnam, and of course support unification, and reject US intervention. This LP did not have a record label or catalogue number, but it said at the bottom on the back sleeve: "Produced by the International Union of Students [IUS] in cooperation with the nation unions of students from Denmark/DSF, from Great British/NUSUK, Norway/NSU, Finland/SYL, Federal Republic of Germany/VDS, and Switzerland/VSS". The first track praised the fighting soldiers: "Anh giải phóng quân ơi, tổ quốc rầt tự hào vi anh" ("Soldiers of Liberation! Your Native Country Is Proud of You!"), while several track took a positive perspective on the war: the song "Quê hương nở rực muôn ngàn chiến công" ("Thousands of Victories are Blooming in the Country"), and the song "Di xây mưa chiến công" ("We Are Fighting for the Time of Victories"). The final track on the A-side focused on education: "Giành lại quê hương, giữ lấy học đường" ("We Must Win Back Our Country and Keep Our Schools!"). The final song on the B-side looked at the role of the North Vietnamese leader Hồ Chí Minh: the song "Khắc ghi lời Bác dạy" (We Shall Keep the Words of Uncle Ho in Our Hearts"). Also of particular interest is the song "Người nữ du kích Bến Tre" ("The Ben Tre Girl Guerrilla"), presumably about the Battle of Bến Tre which took place during the Tet Offensive, when Vietcong forces attacked Bến Tre, the capital of Kien Hoa Province. US forces killed 328 VC soldiers - civilian casualties were over 500, over 5,000 homes destroyed, and over 30,000 refugees as a result of the battle.1 Also interesting that it highlighted the female Guerrilla fighter rather than the traditional male role as the soldier. Sources1Wikipedia: Battle of Bến Tre↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

No catalogue number printed; red labels marked 1 and 2, "33 UpM", "Produced by the IUS in cooperation with DSF, NUSUK, NSU, SYL, VDS and VSS". The sleeve, titled "Tiếng hát giải phóng – Giai Phong Songs", has a drawing of a young woman playing a bamboo flute on the front; the back lists eight songs in English and Vietnamese, opening with "Soldiers of Liberation! Your Native Country Is Proud of You!" (Anh giải phóng quân ơi, tổ quốc rất tự hào vì anh), followed by "The Daugther [sic] of Rach Gam", "The Ben Tre Girl Guerilla", "We Must Win Back Our Country and Keep Our Schools!", "Thousands of Victories Are Blooming in the Country", "Ba To, Our Lovely and Heroic Country", "We Are Fighting for the Time of Victories" and "We Shall Keep the Words of Uncle Ho in Our Hearts". "Produced by the International Union of Students in cooperation with the national unions of students from Denmark/DSF…

About the artist

Various Artists

Themes

Vietnamese Perspective · Vietnamese Patriotic · Mekong Delta

In collections

North Vietnamese Songs