VietNamNet Bridge – The 2018 Phan Chau Trinh Awards in HCM City on Saturday recognised 75-year-old musician and music teacher Duong Thu for his contributions to musical research and to Vietnamese culture and music.

Recognition: HCM City-based 75-year-old musician and music teacher Duong Thu received the Phan Chau Trinh Awards 2018 Culture and Education prize for his contributions to research and to Vietnamese culture and music. (Photo.thethaovanhoa.com)

The annual Phan Chau Trinh Awards, launched in 2008 by Phan Chau Trinh Culture Foundation, honour individuals and groups for their contributions to Vietnamese culture, translation, research and Vietnamese studies. Bearing the name of nationalist hero Phan Chau Trinh (1872 -1926), the awards aim to restore and spread defining cultural values to renew Vietnamese culture in 21st century.

Thu received the Culture and Education prize. Thu, who began his music career in 1982, has composed more than 100 songs in pop and contemporary folk music. Many of his works were top hits and have been performed by music stars. 

He has worked as a music lecturer at several universities and colleges in Hanoi and HCM City.    

In 2009, Thu launched Ca Phe Thu Bay (Café Saturday), a cultural programme to introduce Vietnamese culture and music to young people.

His programme offers seminars and forums in fine art, literature, painting, photography, film and theatre. The events are hosted by well-known cultural researchers, musicians, writers and artists. 

Late culturist and scholar Pham Quynh (1892-1945) was honoured at the 11th Phan Chau Trinh culture award ceremony late last week, held on March 24 at the Rex Hotel Saigon, District 1, HCM City. Quynh was honoured in the category of Vietnamese Man of Culture in modern day.

With this award, Quynh joins the ranks of five celebrated Vietnamese scholars on the list of Phan Chau Trinh Culture Foundation award winners: Truong Vinh Ky, Nguyen Van Vinh, Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chau Trinh and Phan Khoi.

Gifted: Late scholar Pham Quynh. — Photo nongnghiep.vn

“Pham Quynh is an outstanding and gifted person, having graduated at the top of Bao Ho School (Lycée du Protectorat) for mastering French and world history at the age of 16. In the same year, he was appointed youngest official of Vien Vien Dong Bac Co Phap (École française d’Extrême-Orient) and mastered Chinese characters afterward,” said writer Nghiem Ngoc.

“As the editor in chief of Nam Phong newspaper, until the end of his time, he kept his routine regularly: studying, writing and working in front of the ancestor’s altar, so they watch over everything he thinks and does,” he continued.

On behalf of Pham Quynh’s family, his son, musician Pham Tuyen, accepted the award at the ceremony.

Other culture and education awards were given to Nhat Nghe Tinh translating group and musician Duong Thu and translator Nguyen Tung. The Vietnamese studies award was given to two French researchers, Daniel Hémery and Pierre Brocheux.

Film screenings of Vietnamese and famous foreign directors were also part of the programming.    

The Culture and Education prize was also shared with a group of book translators called Nhat Nghe Tinh, who began their work in 2010 in Germany. They have released many books in education and technology for Vietnamese students and young people.

Translator Nguyen Tung received the Translation Prize for his work in anthropology.

The Research Prize was shared by Lu Phuong for his works on Marxism and Phan Cam Thuong for his works in Vietnamese folk culture. 

The Phan Chau Trinh awards also honour the national hero, poet and cultural expert Phan Chau Trinh, a native of central Quang Nam Province.

Born in 1872, Trinh was a reformer who fought in the resistance movement against the French when he was very young. He devoted all of his life to the country’s modernisation cause.

The Phan Chau Trinh Culture Foundation is managed by the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations. 

Source: VNS