In my youth nearly 60 years ago, I was immersed in the smooth bolero melody, imbued with the homeland flavor of the song " Tra toi ve" by musician Mac The Nhan composed : Please take me back to those poetic old days . Sitting under the thatched roof in the afternoon watching the clouds drift by . Mother in the countryside cooking in the poor kitchen, the smell of straw through the hazy smoke . Oh, the affectionate love of the countryside...
By fate, I later became a reporter for the arts and had the opportunity to interview him at his home on Ha Huy Giap Street, Thanh Loc Ward, District 12 (now An Phu Dong Ward), Ho Chi Minh City. Mac The Nhan's real name is Phan Cong Thiet, born in 1939 in this land of incense. At the age of 17, he entered the Saigon General Music and Dance School and studied with famous musicians such as Tham Oanh, Hung Lan... "Ha Son", he joined the Hoa Nien band, then collaborated with the Xuan Binh band specializing in accompanying music on the radio. His first song was Trang que huong (Homeland Moon ) (1958), then Vui tan anh lua (1959)... Not only active in music , he was also a journalist for new musical theater. His stage name "Mac The Nhan" means "Contribute drops of ink to life", not "Mackeno" in a negative sense...
Musician Mac The Nhan
Photo: Family provided
N THE BLESSED WOMEN IN LIFE
Sitting and talking to me was an old man with white hair. He showed off pictures of himself when he was young, looking very handsome…
He told me about the birth of the songs he composed. When his first love passed away in a traffic accident, he cried for her: … Lullaby, lullaby to sleep. That twenty-year-old dream of Nam Kha, this distant cloud. Lullaby, lullaby to sleep sweetly. Caressing my weak hands, pulling time back… ( Lullaby , 1968).
During the time he taught music to singer Huong Lan (1970), his heart was moved again. At that time, in Huong Lan's house, there was a girl named Vo Thi Lan Anh. She admired the voice of the "child prodigy" Huong Lan so much that she came from Nha Trang to Huong Lan's house in Saigon to be friends, and then... stayed there. The musician and the girl stayed there "in love as if it was already there, but still shy on the outside" because at that time he already had a family. Then they broke up, Lan Anh returned to Nha Trang. Not long after, the musician received a pink invitation from her announcing his upcoming wedding. Too sad, Mac The Nhan poured out his heart to write the song "Em ve voi nguoi" , a habanera tango song with a Hue accent, because Lan Anh was from Hue: " Now it's over. You come back and have fun on the other side ...", he wanted to tell that person: I don't blame you at all, if anything, I blame my own life. Not keeping you for long, letting you miss your first love...
Cover of the song Return Me Home
The song "You Come Back to the Person" was very popular with the public. A few months later, Mac The Nhan continued writing the song " Cho em hoa long" . The song was finished but there were some parts that were not satisfactory, so he asked musician Nhat Ngan for comments. Nhat Ngan revised a few parts and changed the title of the song to " Cho hoa long em" and signed it together as Phan Tran - a combination of two surnames: Phan (Cong Thiet) and Tran (Nhat Ngan). That is also the origin of the song with the lyrics: "That's it, we've been separated, since the red firecrackers and strong wine. You go your way, I go my way, the old love only has a leftover sound... I came back to collect your letters, thousands of thin, green pages. I gathered the old cold clothes and burned them to ashes ." The two men Phan and Tran also signed their names together under the songs "Mot lan dang dot", "Om han tinh toi", "Cho nguoi van cong chien"...
The musician still remembers the rainy afternoons when he drove singer Truc Mai to the bus station in front of Cao Dong Hung theater (Ba Chieu)... which inspired him to compose the song " Chieu mua anh dua em ve" and 10 songs "Tuong tu" (Waiting for you this afternoon, the sun kisses the long street. People pass by in pairs, listening to the sadness rushing by... ( Tuong tu 3).
Cover of the song I'm back with you
After that interview, I often met him at the year-end meetings of the Music Copyright Protection Center (southern branch), the year-end meetings of the Tao Ngo Bang Huynh group (a gathering of musicians, composers, singers, artists... of old Saigon) or meetings with singer Che Linh when this famous singer returned to the country... Because he lived in the suburbs and was in poor health, at such meetings, he was often taken by his son, Phan Anh, on a motorbike. After a while without seeing him, I called Phan Anh and he said that the musician had a stroke, had just returned from the hospital, was still very weak and could not answer the phone. It has been 5 years since that day, and today I received the bad news that he had passed away.
Mac The Nhan - as he defined "contributed a little ink to life". Yes, he not only contributed a little but squeezed out for life all the drops of love, drops of deep affection...
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhac-si-mac-the-nhan-yeu-thuong-xua-chi-con-am-thua-185250809201129009.htm
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