VietNamNet Bridge – Lee Kirby, a British, and two Americans, Kyo York and Richard Fuller, will join a show to commemorate the 73rd birthday of late songwriter Trinh Cong Son.



Kyo York (left) and Lee Kirby.

Organized by singer Anh Tuyet, the acoustic show will take place on February 28-29, and March 1, at ATB nightclub in HCM City.

This will be the first time that the three foreign singers will perform together. The show will also have the presence of The Vinh, Anh Tuyet, musician Nguyen Anh 9, guitarist Hoang Minh and saxophonist Quang Khai.

The Vinh, with only one arm, can play guitar and harmonica. Vinh said that whenever he plays Trinh Cong Son’s music, he feels like opening his heart to others.

Lee Kirby said that he had cried while listening to Trin Cong Son’s “Diem Xua”. “I borrow tears of life in Trinh Cong Son’s music to open a door to the cultural treasure of Vietnam,” he said. Kirby has travelled Hanoi and HCM City with his guitar to sing Trinh Cong Son’s songs with Vietnamese students.

Kyo York has surprised Vietnamese audience for his excellent Vietnamese and his ability to emotionally perform Trinh Cong Son’s songs. York is considered a real singer at many nightclubs in HCM City.

Richard Fuller, whose Vietnamese name is Phu Phong Tran, not only sings Trinh Cong Son’s songs but also translates these songs into English.


Richard Fuller .

Singer Anh Tuyet said that she knew many foreigners who love and can sing Trinh Cong Son’s songs very well but they are still shy to appear on the stage. She hoped to hold a Trinh Cong Son show, which gathers these “special singers.”

Trinh Cong Son (February 28, 1939 – April 1, 2001) was a Vietnamese composer, musician, painter and songwriter. He, along with Pham Duy and Van Cao, is widely considered one of the three most salient figures of modern Vietnamese music.  

Trinh Cong Son wrote over 500 songs, and, during the 1960s and 1970s, Joan Baez dubbed him the Bob Dylan of Vietnam for his moving anti-war songs. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at his funeral in HCM City, for a spontaneous ad hoc funeral concert, making such a spectacle the largest in Vietnamese history. His music remains very popular among both old and young Vietnamese.

Thanh Van