Bài ca Đồng Tháp gửi anh chiến sĩ giải phóng

Annotation — North Vietnamese Songs

Released in France, by the "Union des Intellectuels Vietnamiens en France" ("Union of Vietnamese Intellectuals in France") (# SF 5.70.146), it contained multiple Vietnam War-related songs, in different genres, including 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. It also had songs in the Nhạc đỏ ("Red Music") - which developed at the beginning of the 20th century, containing elements of Western Classical Music, while lyrically focusing on socialism and independence, as well as containing anti-imperialist / colonialist sentiment. It's also influenced by revolutionary music from China and the USSR. Some also contained elements of Vietnamese Folk Music. Several songs focused on South Vietnam, such as "Vi mien Nam" ("For the South") and "Saigon quat khoi" ("Saigon Rise"). The track "Ho Chi Minh dep nhat ten nguoi" ("Ho Chi Minh, Our Dear Uncle") of course focused on the North Vietnamese leader Hồ Chí Minh. The title track "Bài ca Đồng Tháp gửi anh chiến sĩ giải phóng" ("Dong Thap Song of the Liberation Soldier") - Dong Thap is a southern Vietnamese province in the Mekong Delta, bordering Cambodia - performed in the Cải lương genre ("reformed theatre"). The narrator noted "to the soldier of the East... his hometown is the central fields". It contained many references to combat: "on the way to liberation... his footsteps were all over the battlefield... enemies fall". It notes the difficult conditions for the soldiers "passing... over many mountains, hungry for rice without salt". It encouraged the soldier to remain positive: "In the midst of hardship and danger, remain optimistic". It included scenes of victory: "American invaders lost badly, downing planes, shelling tanks... broke the heads of the aggressive Americans".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Oh... / I sing a song of Dong Thap for you, / Sweet as the waters of the Cuu Long River. / A gift for the soldier from the Eastern region— / Though your own homeland lies... / Your homeland lies in the fields of the Central region. / Are you a son of Binh-Tri-Thien, or of the heroic Ham Rong? / Or perhaps a lad from Nghe-Tinh, by the Lam River? / On the path to liberation, your steps tread through boiling oil and raging fire; / Your footsteps bring solace to the soil of the motherland. / Your stride carries across every battlefield, / And with every step, a new victory is won. / At Dak To, Dak Suot, and Tu Mo Rong, / The enemy lies fallen across the fields like harvested straw, / Their blood staining the river’s surface. / Beneath your feet, enemy outposts are reduced to glowing embers. / You are a soldier of the Eastern front, / Your march never faltering, / Each step a triumph. / Crossing high passes and towering mountains—enduring hunger and a lack of salt— / You charge forward against the foe, / Sworn to fight until the final victory is attained. / Amidst peril and hardship, you remain ever optimistic, / Your spirit brimming with deep, heartfelt affection. / Though the march is long and the burden heavy, / A radiant smile still graces your lips. / Every step you take is a beautiful poem, / A heroic melody echoing far and wide. / You march forth to build a new life, / For the sake of the people and a beautiful nation. / This winter-spring season, your campaign to…

Notes

SF 5.70.146. The front of the sleeve prints "Tiếng hát quê hương / Chants du Vietnam" across the top over an ink-wash drawing of lotus leaves, a lotus bud and grasses, with the title repeated in large calligraphic script. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes

Vietnamese Perspective · Vietnamese Patriotic

In collections

North Vietnamese Songs