Bản kê của Phòng Nạp bản (Thư viện Nam phần Việt Nam) về ấn phẩm, nhạc phẩm, đĩa hát nạp bản...)

I am grateful for the privilege of being permitted to research in the Trung Tâm Lưu Trữ Quốc Gia II (National Archive II) in Hồ Chí Minh City. The staff were extremely helpful and I was able research very productively during my brief visit.

I found a good deal of information in a file originally compiled by the Thư Viện Nam-Phần Việt-Nam - this would have been the state library for Cochinchina, later becoming the library for the Republic of Vietnam. This file registers the publications (print, audio) that were deposited there from the late 1940s through around 1959.

More than 1000 songs are listed in this file. The reasons for being listed are often not given, but in some cases the year, the publisher and creators are given. Otherwise, the criteria for inclusion are not always clear. Some important songs were published and not deposited or listed. But file provides a good picture of the music marketplace of the 1950s - both the hit songs and songs that were published but never popular. The sheet music of many of the latter may be forever lost.

Here are the top 10 most represented songwriters during this period. None are southerners. Lê Thương had lived and been active in the South the longest:

1) Phạm Duy

2) Hoàng Trọng

3) Dương Thiệu Tước

4) Y Vân

5) Hoàng Thi Thơ

6) Lê Thương

7) Ngọc Bích

8) Văn Phụng

9) Hùng Lân

10) Thẩm Oánh

These are the most represented songwriters year by year:

1949 - Dương Thiệu Tước

1950 - Phạm Duy

1951 - Dương Thiệu Tước

1952 - Hoàng Trọng and Trịnh Văn Ngân

1953 - Châu Kỳ

1954 - Phạm Duy

1955 - Phạm Duy

1956 - Hoài An, Hoàng Thi Thơ and Hoàng Trọng

1957 - Y Vân

1958 - Y Vân

1959 - Hoàng Thi Thơ

Very often the information is minimal - just the title of the song. In most cases, I was able to fill in the file's missing information using my own personal files. In other cases, I was just left with questions.

Here are some of the mystery song titles:

"Ba cảnh đời" (1952)

"Binh bét về làng" (1956)

"Cánh hoa đời" (1952)

"Dạ Lan Hương" (1950) (I would like this to be "Cánh hoa duyên kiếp", but this song was deposited in 1950 and the Đoàn Chuẩn-Từ Linh song was written in 1953)

"Đẹp xưa" (1955)

"Gửi mẹ hiền" (1956)

"Hạnh ngộ" (1959)

"Hò dô ta" (1955) (There are multiple songs to choose from)

"Hò kéo lưới" (1952)

"Hoài niệm" (1956)

"Linh mới tò te" (1955)

"Mơ người lính chiến" (1955)

"Mưa đêm" (1957)

"Saigon muôn màu" (1959)

"Say mùa thanh bình" (1956)

"Thuyền qua bến vắng" (1952)

"Tình quê" (1950)

"Trăng" (1949)

"Trăng mơ" (1952)

"Trên đường xa" (1952)

"Trên sông hoàng hôn" (1956)

"Trên sông vĩnh biệt" (1959)

"Tuổi thơ" (1952)

"Việt Nam cách mạnh hành khúc"

"Xem mùa chinh chiến" (1956)

Chương-trình Tivi Thứ tư 29-1-1969 (Television Programming for Thursday, December 29, 1969)

ĐÀI VIỆT NAM - Vietnamese Television

19g -- Đài hiệu - Quốc kỳ.  -- Station theme - National anthem

19g03 -- Chiêu hồi.  -- Open arms.

20g -- Tin tức, thông cáo -- News, announcements

20g20 -- Phim: Tài liệu các loại giây leo. -- Film: Documentary on creeping vinces

21g -- Điểm báo, Bình luận -- Newspaper opinion, discussion

Giới thiệu chương trình hôm sau. -- Introducing tomorrow's programming

21g10 -- Thời sự Quân đội  -- News of the Armed Services

21g20 -- Thoại kich "Tham thì thầm" Ban Phượng Hoàng trình diễn. -- The play "Inner Greed" performed by the Phoenix Groups

Đài hiệu -- Quốc Kỳ -- Station theme - National anthem

LƯU Ý: Hoặc do trở ngại kỹ thuật, hoặc vì có tin quan trọng cần loan báo, chương trình có thể thay đổi vài tiết mục vào giờ chót

Attention: If there are technical difficulties or important announcements, the programming could be changed at the last moment

ĐÀI MỸ - American Television

1330 Turn on

1413 What's Happening

1415 Sign on news

1430 Gator Bowl (FB)

1700 Red Skelton Hour

1800 Auto racing

1830 Get Smart

1900 Roger Miller

1930 Evening news

2000 Weather

2006 Operation Entertainment

2100 What's Happening Gunsmoke

2200 Late News

2210 Feature Movie

nguồn / source: Đuốc Nhà Nam 29 tháng 1 1969

I couldn't say how many televisions there were in The Republic of Vietnam when this item appeared in the newspaper. By the autumn of the following year there were over 300,000, over 100,000 of those in Sài Gòn. That's fewer than two for every citizen of the south. 

Vietnamese language television was only introduced in February 1966. The number of viewers in January 1969 must have been considerably less than 300,000 - maybe one to two hundred thousand. The Cần Thơ television station had only started a few months prior, thus nearly the entire audience would have viewed from the environs around Sài Gòn.

A television set cost around 130 dollars or 15,300 đồng - a lot of money. While sets were few, it's likely that there was a good deal of communal viewing.

There were two channels in Sài Gòn - the Vietnamese channel and the American channel (for American personnel). The American station drew from the three major networks in the United States as well as motion pictures. On January 29, 1969 American viewers would have enjoyed the Gator Bowl - a college football game where the University of Missouri defeated the University of Alabama - that was played a month earlier on December 28, 1968 (!). This suggests that tape or film of the game had to travel across the ocean to be broadcast. Surely viewers knew the outcome already.

The station also showed an episode of country singer Roger Miller's show that was only on the air for three months in 1966. They also broadcast Red Skelton's variety show - a program that had a twenty year run. Gunsmoke was a long running western and Get Smart was a spy comedy with Cold War overtones. Programs like "What's Happening" and "Operation Entertainment" must have been locally produced. The broadcast day closed with an un-identified feature film.

While the American broadcast day lasted over twelve hours, the Vietnamese broadcast was far more limited lasting around four to five hours. They had no reservoir of programming to draw from and had to create entirely original programming. Their broadcast included a good deal of public affairs, including the "Chiêu hồi" program lasting an hour that appealed to the young men of the other side to drop their weapons and come over to the side of Republic of Vietnam. These programs usually included entertainment to message more attractive. I can't imagine that documentary on creeping vines was exciting, but it must have been recorded in Vietnamese. The day's final program was the screening of a play. There were no drama series and instead theater troupes were hired to create content for the station. The brief broadcast day was bookended by the station's musical intro and the national anthem (Tiếng gọi thanh niên - Calling The Youth).

Chuyến xe Lam chiều (An evening Lambro Trip) - Cô Phượng & Vinh Sử (1971)

BALLADE

Trên chuyến xe Lam đông người chiều nao.

On a crowded Lambro trip some evening
Xuôi mình không quên mà ngồi bên nhau.

Within a current of strangers we sat next to each other.
Trời mang nhiều trớ trêu chi, người chưa hề biết quen gì, sao ngồi gần như tình nhân si...

How can heaven have such notions, that we people know nothing of, why were we sitting close like mad lovers?

Em xuống xe Lam đi vào hẻm sâu.

I got off the Lambro to enter a deep alleyway.
Anh vội theo chân ngõ hồn xôn xao.

You hurriedly followed my steps into the alley, my soul astir
Làm quen chuyện vãn dăm câu, niềm vui mộng ước ban đầu, trong đã rồi... mặt ngoài còn e.
Got acquainted through half dozen remarks, happy hope began there, inside was thus... the outer expression was still bashful.

Ngờ đâu yêu đương như đám lục bình, trôi theo con nước vô tình, Anh lấy vợ, vợ anh giàu có.

Who knew that love is like water hyacinth, floating along in indifferent waters, you married, your wife is rich
Tình em se cát dã tràng biển đông, em muốn tìm chồng cho xong, nhưng ngại thêm gặp kẻ bạc lòng.
My love is a sand crab filling in the ocean, I'd like to find a husband and be done, but I hesitate meeting someone with a fickle heart

Trên chuyến xe Lam đông người chiều nay.

Upon this Lambro trip there's a crowd this evening.
Nghe nhiều bơ vơ nỗi niềm chua cay.

Feeling hopeless, bitter feelings
Còn đâu một chuyến xe Lam, ngày nao mộng ước vô vàn bao kỷ niệm giờ mình Em.

Where has that Lambro trip gone, I dream daily, endless memories for Me alone.

nguồn: Cô Phượng & Vinh Sử, "Chuyễn xe Lam chiều" (Saigon: [Tác giả], [1971]).  

Giao Linh ca "Chuyến xe lam chiều" trên băng Kim Đằng, xuất bản tháng 10 1973

Bây giờ, thỉnh thoảng vẫn thấy một chiếc Lam cũ, tơi tả xuất hiện đâu đó. Tiếng máy xe không còn kêu bon bon, mùi khói xăng không còn thơm như trước nữa nhưng người Sài Gòn không ai không nhớ tới những chuyến xe Lam - nhất là những chuyến xe Lam chiều vội đưa người về với gia đình, với người yêu đang chờ trên phố nhỏ. Còn đâu một chuyến xe Lam? Có chăng, chỉ còn lại dư âm trong bài Chuyến xe Lam chiều của nhạc sĩ Vinh Sử! (Lê Văn Nghĩa, "Xe Lam chiều,"

Nowadays, occasionally you'll see a dilapidated old Lambro scooter coming from somewhere. The engine no longer makes a putt-putt sound, the smell of gasoline fumes is no longer as pleasant as before, but for Saigon people, nobody can forget those Lambro trips – especially those hurried afternoon trips taking took people home to their families or to their lovers waiting on a small lane. Where did those Lambretta trip go? Perhaps they remain only in the song "An Evening Lambretta Trip" by composer Vinh Sử!

nguồn: Thanh Niên (April 10, 2016).  

The Xe Lam of Vietnam is a category of auto rickshaw, a popular means of transportation throughout the developing world to this day. In Thailand there is the ubiquitous "tuk tuk" named after the sound that Lê Văn Nghĩa describes as "bon bon" and I translate as "putt putt." Three wheeled motorcycles date back to the earliest days of motorized transport. The tuk tuk and similar vehicles were principally manufactured in Italy, the home of the Lambretta scooter. 

nguồn ảnh: Lê Văn Nghĩa như trên

In many places they functioned as taxis carrying at most a couple of passengers. In Vietnam these Lambrettas were a modification of a Lambro that was a small three-wheeled freight vehicle. These were modified to create a rear cabin that could carry more passengers. The Xe Lam performed a function someplace between a taxi and a bus. These vehicles had existed since the 1940s, but according to Lê Văn Nghĩa they were introduced in the Republic of Vietnam in 1966 and were in common use until the early 2000s.

It was a communal setting bringing strangers together as we witness in this song. A young man and woman felt an inarticulate spark of love. He became betrothed to another. She is unsure about ever finding somebody for herself and holds on to dreams of what might have been.

Vinh Sử often employs folk imagery and the image of the dã tráng or sand bubbler crab is very familiar. In the process of feeding, it filters sands leaving it behind in small spheres. These spheres have an aesthetic quality that seems intentional, yet the effort of creating these shapes is inevitably erased by the rising tide. Thus this crab of is a metaphor for labor expended for nought.

3 Ngày Hòa Bình, Âm Nhạc và Tình Thương (3 Days of Peace, Music and Love) (1971)

Từ thứ năm 19-8-71 hãng WARNER BROS trình bày tại 2 Rạp Máy Lạnh
REX và VAN HOA Dakao (Từ 21-8)
--Một Thành tích Hi Hữu của Thế giới Âm Nhạc
--Một Thế hệ Trẻ khắp Hoàn vũ đang chờ mong...

From August 19, 1971 the Warner Brothers Company presents at 2 Air-Conditioned Theaters

Rex and Văn Hoa Dakao (from August 21)

A Rare Achievement of the Music World

A global young generation has been waiting for...

nguồn: Đuốc Nhà Nam 20 tháng 8 1971

The film debuted on March 26, 1970. It took more than a year to reach Sài Gòn where I'm sure it was well received. It was presented there with subtitles in Vietnamese, Chinese and French (perhaps that accounts for the delay). As far as I know it has never been screened in Hà Nội?

Vườn trưa (Midday Garden) - cô Cẩm Lai (1942)

Tầng cao nắng đốt vàng nguyên
At higher levels sunlight burns golden
Cho vàng tưới rội khắp miền tràn lan
Makes gold pour through every realm, far and wide
Vườn trưa lặn ngập trong vàng
Garden, midday, submerged in gold
Làm duyên lẳng lặng đôi hàng cau tơ.
Brings a quiet charm to the row of young betel palms
Hướng dương say nắng ngẩn ngơ
Sunflowers in a daze bask in the light
Lâng lâng đôi cánh dật tờ bướm bay.
Serenely a pair of butterfly wings flutter.
Trời trong chẳng gợn làn mây,
Sky, clear, not even a hint of clouds
Gió không giễu cợt hàng cây rủ buồn.

The breeze does not perturb the row of sagging trees.

nguồn: Tri Tân tạp chí #55 (21 tháng 7 1942)

Translating poetry (and song lyrics) is a hobby for me. With Google translate it's almost unnecessary. The AI comes very close to capturing the meaning. Here's Google:

The sun shines brightly on the high branches, casting a golden glow.

Gold pours down, spreading across the land.

The midday garden is bathed in gold.

The rows of young betel nut trees add a touch of charm.

The sunflowers are dazed by the sun.

Their wings flutter like butterflies.

The sky is clear, without a single cloud.

The wind doesn't mock the sad, drooping trees.

Even if AI can make a decent translation, it does me good to wrestle with word choice and meaning, so I am happy to put in the effort of my own translation.  This poem was published in a bi-weekly cultural magazine Tri Tân which means something like "Know The New." "Cô" means Miss, making it clear to the readers of that moment that the poem's author was a woman.

She wrote her poem in the traditional six-eight (lục bát) form - couplets of six and eight syllables. The sixth syllable of the first line passes and rhyme down to the sixth syllable of the second line. The eight line of the second line passes a rhyme to the sixth syllable of the third line, which in turn passed to the fourth line, etc...

Her poem was later anthologized on pages 1375-1376 of the volume Thơ Mới: 1932.1945: Tác giả và tác phẩm (Hà Nội: Nxb Hội Nhà Văn, 1999), an indispensable book in my library. The anthology gives the poetess's full name as Lê Thị Cẩm Lai, born in 1923 in the village of Đại Nài, in the Thạch Hà district of Hà Tĩnh province (Vietnamese northern central region). The only other biography given here is: "Từ sau 1945 là cán bộ phụ nữ" - "From after 1945 was a woman cadre." Checking online, we can learn that she passed away in 2006, was a communist party member, and subsequently wrote a great deal more poetry.

Vietnamese poetry, especially from that time, frequently evokes nature, often as a barometer for one's own feelings. Unlike much poetry of that time, the poetess here seems to be feeling pretty good. Sometimes the sun in Vietnam can feel too powerful, even oppressive. Here it brightens and enlivens a scene. Perhaps this was at her own home in Đại Nài village? (which today has been absorded in the city of Hà Tĩnh and is called phường Đại Nài).

nguồn ảnh: báo Bình Định, trích từ báo Kinh tế Saigon online