Trinh Cong Son - Biography

Biography

Sơn was born in Buôn Ma Thuột, Đắk Lắk Province, Vietnam, but as a child he lived in the village of Minh Huong in Huong Tra in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province. He grew up in Hue, where he attended the Lycee Francais and the Providence school. When he was ten he lived with his father in Huế's Thừa Phủ Prison for a year in 1949. Later he went to Saigon and studied western philosophy at the Lycee Jean-Jacques Rousseau, from which he graduated with the baccalaureate degree. In 1961, he studied psychology and pedagogy in a school for teachers in Quy Nhon. After graduation, he taught at an elementary school in Bao Loc, Lam Dong.

Trinh Cong Son wrote over 500 songs, and, during the 1960s and 1970s, Trần Văn Dĩnh dubbed him the Bob Dylan of Vietnam in Peace News of 8 November 1968 for his antiwar songs. Trần Văn Dĩnh's comparison has been attributed to Joan Baez, but there is no record she even mentioned him. However many young Vietnamese considered Sơn the Bob Dylan or the Joan Baez of Vietnam. He became one of South Vietnam's notable singer-songwriters, after his first hit, Ướt mi (Tearing Lashes) in 1958. He was frequently under pressure from the government, which was displeased with the pacifist's lyrics of such songs as Ngủ đi con (Lullaby, about a mother grieving for her soldier son).

Before April 30, 1975, he went on the radio in Saigon to sing the song "Joining Hands" ("Nối vòng tay lớn") about the dream of national reconciliation between the North and the South, which he had written in 1968. On the afternoon of April 30, following Duong Van Minh's proclamation of surrender, Trinh went on the radio to say that the national dream had been realized and that liberation had been achieved.

After the reunification in 1975, Trinh Cong Son was sentenced by the new communist government, to "retraining" in a labour camp after his family had fled to Canada. However, he was eventually honoured by the government and many officials sent their respects with floral tributes. His often melancholic songs about love and postwar reconciliation earned new acceptance and popularity in later years. Many of his songs have been re-licensed to Vietnamese music companies such as Thuy Nga and Lang Van and sung by other artists. There are two singers' names often associated with Trinh Cong Son. One is Khanh Ly. The other one is Hong Nhung.

Khanh Ly helped popularize Trinh Cong Son music in the early years. They often performed together in South Vietnam University Campuses. Later on in his life, Hồng Nhung (born 1970), many years his junior, replaced Khanh Ly's place until his death.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at his funeral in Ho Chi Minh city, for a spontaneous ad hoc funeral concert, making such a spectacle the largest in Vietnamese history, next to the funeral procession of Ho Chi Minh.