VietNamNet Bridge – A new website on noted composer Hoang Van (1930-2018), offering the most valuable material on his life and works, has been launched by his children.

Portrait of composer Hoang Van on the front page of the website newly-launched by his children. Photo hoangvan.org

The website, www.hoangvan.org, was initiated by popular music conductor Le Phi Phi and music researcher Le Ly Linh as many of their father’s works had been lost during wars.

“During the 2000s, I just thought of recording all his works on CDs to store in my family’s library and later publish a book on all his works,” Linh said. “However, music is a kind of living art, in which music should be played, song should be sung so that the works are alive. Hence, the page is an irreplaceable facility for the mission of a ’living’ museum”.

On the website, people can find Van’s works arranged by topics by using key words in the search tool. The site also has various music pieces by the composer.

Plenty of articles on Van’s life and works are also available for both public and researchers.

“We hope to list everything involving the composer,” Linh said.

With the help of the site, Van’s family can connect with singers, composers and music organisers throughout the world to exchange and liven up his songs on stage as he would have wanted.

“Our father was lucky as he had millions of fans,” Linh said. “We expect to collect all his memories and publish them so that the public can have a better understanding of his life and contributions to Vietnamese music.”

At the launch of the website, Van’s family also set up the “Hoang Van Music Fund” and sought the support of fans to preserve and popularise the late composer’s songs.

Interested fans can support the fund by contributing information, material, ideas and finance.

Van was born on July 24, 1930, into an intellectual family in Hang Thung Street in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. His father and grandfather were both Confucius scholars.

He took up a revolutionary task at 16 - to serve as a courier for revolutionaries in Hanoi.

Composer Hoang Van left behind many popular songs recording historic moments of the country. File Photo

In 1954, he composed Ho Keo Phao (Songs for Soldiers Moving Artilleries into Battles). Since then, his music career flourished, and he produced a series of songs, choir songs and mixed music pieces. He also composed music for films, dramas, traditional operas and reformed operas. He underwent music training in Beijing, China.

In 1963, he served on the Executive Board of the Viet Nam Musicians’ Association.

In 1975, he underwent a short training at the Sofia Music Academy in Bulgaria.

In 2000, he was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize in Literature and Arts, the highest award in Vietnam.

Van died in February 2018, leaving behind hundreds of songs and musical pieces recording various historic periods in the country. 

Source: VNS