Come back here to the autumn world

During the period of modern Vietnamese music, artists chose autumn with love as the main theme so much that people called it the season of writing "love diaries in music".

"First love in the monsoon, my love"

When it comes to music, we often talk a lot about lyrics. Unlike other art forms that require a background knowledge to be able to visualize it, music is something that is easily felt and is more subjective. The words in music show the artist's own memories, at the same time proving that a song can persist despite the great changes of the times.

Perhaps, there is hardly any city that is favored by musicians as much as Hanoi, especially Hanoi in the autumn weather. It is a Hanoi that is luxurious and melancholy, elegant and liberal in lifestyle and in love. Many generations of musicians have borrowed Hanoi's autumn to create shapes for love stories, from vague sadness to passionate romance.

When talking about music about autumn in Hanoi, we cannot help but mention Doan Chuan - the musician who chose autumn as the setting for most of his songs. Even the legend of Doan Chuan has long been identified with the legend of the old, splendid Hanoi. For Doan Chuan, autumn has been an excuse for him to open his heart about the love affairs in his life, many of which were just fleeting artistic love affairs, like many artistic love affairs of the youth at that time.

However, Doan Chuan's autumn is not only about vague, romantic feelings, but it is also the setting of fleeting love affairs that leave behind wounds that are difficult to heal. The song "Sending the wind to the flying clouds" written by him in 1952 is a masterpiece about autumn, about love, about an ancient Hanoi space, the green dresses passing through the artist's life, a vast sadness about the uncertain world.

“Send the wind to let the clouds fly/ Send the copper keys to find fate/ Send another letter of blue love/ To eyes like an autumn lake”

We can easily find in Doan Chuan's music beautiful and sad images and lyrics full of symbolic love like in Tang poetry. When we immerse ourselves in those songs, our thoughts are like a spider web, gently fluttering and stirring in the sweet autumn breath.

“The sky and earth are turning light blue/ Butterflies are playing happily among the flowers/ Among the beautiful roses” (Seductive Autumn). Or “I send some flower petals to my lover/ White orchids like your secret fate/ In the sad purple scent of autumn” (Fate Petals of Past Life).

There is another special thing, that is in those very autumnal songs of Doan Chuan, there is not a single word mentioning Hanoi, but the listeners can feel it. It seems that only the autumn of Hanoi is enough to evoke in him the wonderful inspiration to compose such charming autumnal songs, full of love.

For Doan Chuan, autumn is sometimes a time to look forward to, the green color of autumn shirt is the color he fell in love with, it could also be the time when first love comes in the first monsoon winds.

"Can you hear me, hear the autumn soul say we love each other?"

Besides the name Doan Chuan, the generation of musicians in the modern music scene of Vietnam also has many people who are passionate and yearning for autumn, love in autumn. In the 60s, musician Ngo Thuy Mien introduced to music lovers in the South the song Autumn for You when he was just 20 years old. More than 60 years later, that love song is still present in the list of the best lyrical songs about autumn. The subtlety in Ngo Thuy Mien's musical sense is that he can hear the sound of deer singing in the "rain of falling leaves".

“Do you hear autumn sobbing for someone? Do you dream of the season when your eyes are wet with tears? And do you dream that when autumn comes, we will both walk the same path? You and I dream of that autumn when our love is fragrant.”

In the drizzling sound of autumn rain, the sound of wind blowing, the rustling sound of leaves flying, the sensitive soul of the artist can also hear the song of a deer, a song of love. Is that the ability of the artist to easily be moved by nature, or is it the musician himself singing a love song to confess his love and then "putting the blame" on the naive deer?

With typical images of autumn such as cool breeze, yellow deer, flying rain, Ngo Thuy Mien has painted a unique autumn love story in a gentle melody and profound lyrics. So, Autumn for You is still a confession, a hidden love in a romantic world of only two people. The beauty of love is also the main reason for existence in this world.

At the same time, around 1953, musician Cung Tien was only 18 years old when he came to Saigon and remembered Hanoi and wrote the romantic song Autumn Gold. Different from the emotion of reawakening shy love and expressing his feelings to his lover, Cung Tien's music is full of innocence, youthfulness, and grace at a tender age.

“Yesterday afternoon, I wandered on the street/ Dusk fell, the afternoon was filled with a thousand scents/ Yesterday afternoon, I was alone and wistful/ Autumn came, golden threads lingered”

Not just lyrics, this must be an autumn stroll of words in music. The student whose soul has just blossomed, begins to observe, to feel more deeply the beauty of the earth, sky, nature, for the first time receives pure, passionate, indescribable emotions. Perhaps, for musicians, beautiful love is the kind of love that always leaves an echo in their artistic creations.

Not only artists born and raised in Hanoi, or artists who left Hanoi to make a living in other countries, but also those who have never set foot in Hanoi always have a very special warm feeling for Hanoi's autumn.

Is it Hanoi Autumn? was composed by musician Tran Quang Loc in 1972, based on the poem of author To Nhu Chau, the two had a close relationship. What is special is that at that time, neither the poet nor the musician had ever been to Hanoi. But in their perception, Hanoi appeared with a splendid and romantic beauty.

“The autumn shadow wakes my late red heart/ One day, I go downstream and stop by sad Thang Long/ Are you the autumn of Hanoi/ On the autumn day, I lay leaves on the floor for you to lie down”

Generations of listeners agree that Tran Quang Loc's talent in the song is the skillful combination of all the natural scenery, of the autumn sky with the girl, such as "the distant sky, the flying hair", "the mist and soft lips", "the rain and green eyelashes". And more than that, the image of the girl is associated with the autumn of Hanoi, or vice versa, in a consistent verse, which is also the title: Are you the autumn of Hanoi? You here could be autumn, or could also be a certain lyrical subject. But there is one thing we all agree on: Are you the autumn of Hanoi that makes us passionate and love each other more passionately.

"You make autumn make me dreamy"

Along with the autumn feelings of the new music and pre-war music generation, contemporary Vietnamese music also has many names that own love songs about Hanoi autumn with new lyrical inspiration. One of them is musician Viet Anh. Autumn in Viet Anh's music seems to always be haunted by the separation and loneliness of love.

“No more autumn, the moon falls on the threshold/ No more lullabies, dreams on soft lips/ Child, like the first spring, prolongs the night”

(No more autumn)

We can easily recognize a gentle and romantic man like autumn, so I let myself dream, adventure with a passionate dream of love. He is like a lullaby that echoes and clings to me tightly, from which my desire is sublimated. His feelings for me are so sincere and passionate. But few can say in advance that their love for that person will always be steadfast and eternal. Therefore, the following lyrics, "I go, why regret the golden autumn, why regret the spring coming" suddenly bring to the listener a bit of sadness and sorrow.

Perhaps, Vietnamese people always find sweetness in the bitterness of failed love. Those are the ideas in love, though broken, difficult but still full of romance between "different generations of people from the past". Whenever suffering, infatuated or just lingering sadness in love, it seems we still instinctively pray for music to bring us peace, harmony, and calmness. Like countless generations of musicians have sought out music to speak for their hearts.

I would like to borrow some lines from the song "Hanoi Autumn Interlude" by musician Trinh Cong Son as the conclusion: "Because autumn I stay/ Hanoi autumn, Hanoi autumn/ Hanoi autumn filled with memories/ Not because of you, or because of you".

Sometimes we choose to stay or love a city, just because of a certain time of year, or a season that makes us miss and wait for it like a delicious cake kept in grandma's cupboard. Or sometimes, just because of a lover we accidentally fell in love with in this life, just like the way we always fall in love with autumn.

Thu Vu