Gánh chè khuya (Midnight Custard Vendor) - Thu An (1962)

Út Bạch Lan:

Ai ăn chè bột khoai, buồn tàu đậu xanh nước dừa, đường cát hông?

Who'll eat some taro flower custard, mung beans in coconut milk, ground sugar?

Út Trà Ôn:

Nghe tiếng rao trong đêm dài u buồn

Hearing the hawker's cry on a long sad night
Đêm từng đêm thầm vang bên phố nhỏ

Each night echoing down on the narrow lane
Nghe tiếng rao như một lời kêu than

Hearing that cry like a lamentation
Cho số kiếp phụ phàng

For an unfortunate fate

Út Bạch Lan:

Em đi bán chè thưng

I sell sugary custard
Nặng lo chữ hiếu cho tròn

Bear the weight of filial piety to the end
Và em lo thân sống

And I have to worry about about staying alive
Cho tròn nợ áo cơm

To pay off the debt of food and clothing

Câu 1:

First part:

Út Trà Ôn:

Lối : Hễ mỗi lần nghe tiếng rao vang từ đầu phố là lòng tôi như nhớ thương em gái lạ đã đi ... rồi

Each time I hear that cry at the top of the lane, my heart seems to remember her, a stranger who has ... gone
Cũng gánh gánh chè khuya qua lại đường này 

She also carried a load of custard to sell along this road
Em gái ấy ở trong cuối phố

She lived at the end of the lane
Với một mẹ già tuổi độ sáu mươi

With her old mother, aged around sixty
Tóc chưa xuống khỏi bờ vai 

Her hair hadn't yet reached her shoulders

Mà em đã gánh nặng rồi thương đau 

But she bore that heavy load, pained

Vì nuôi mẹ khổ nghèo nên em phải chịu nhọc nhằn lo cho tròn câu hiếu thảo

To take care of her poor, miserable mother she had to wear herself out to show piety to the end

Câu 2:

Part 2:

Tuổi mới mười lăm vo cơm chưa sạch cám

Turning 15 she washed rice still mixed with bran
Mà em đã biết nấu chè thưng và gánh bán cho khách qua đường

Yet she knew about to cook sweet porridge and carried it out to sell to customers on the street
Nhưng tội nghiệp thay, chữ a bê em chưa biết một vần

But it was real shame, of her ABC's she didn't know a word
Nhưng em siêng lắm chiều nào em cũng học với bà mẹ già

But she worked hard, every evening studying with her old mother
Chỉ đọc được vần xuôi 

Only reading a few syllables
Thấy thương em cố sức sống trong cảnh đói nghèo thất học

Seeing that she struggled in this situation of ignorance and want
Cho nên tôi mới bảo em mỗi ngày một buổi

I told her every day for a session
Đến nhà để tôi dạy dùm sau bữa cơm trưa 

Come over to my house and I'd help her after lunch

[Thơ]

[Poem]

Em đến học được chừng mười bữa

She came around to learn for around ten sessions
Bỗng nhiên em liên tiếp vắng ba hôm

Suddenly she was absent for three days in a row
Tôi đón hỏi em vào lúc nữa đêm

I greeted her in the middle of the night
Khi em gánh gánh chè khuya về xóm vắng

When she carried custard back home at midnight through the deserted neighborhood

Câu 4:

Part 4:

Lối: Nghe tôi hỏi em cúi đầu im lặng rồi ngẩng nhìn tôi qua ngấn lệ tuông ... trào

Hearing my question she lowered her head then looked up at me through a streams f overflowing tears
Em trả lời với tôi trong tiếng nói ngẹn ngào

She answered me with a voice choked with emotion
Em nói em nghèo lắm không tiền mua giấy mực

She said I'm very poor with no money for paper or ink
Thì làm gì trả công thầy dạy dỗ cho em

How can I pay you back for teaching me

[Thơ Vân Tiên]

[Vân Tiên poem]

Thầy ơi má đã dặn khuyên

Teacher, my mother advised me
Dốt đành chịu dốt đừng phiền người ta 

Ignorance, you should suffer it instead of troubling somebody else
Một con một mẹ đã già

You and your mother who is old
Đói nghèo chịu được ơn kia khó đền 

Hunger and want we can stand, don't take favors that would be hard to repay

Câu 5:

Part 5:

Không, chú dạy dỗ là mong em biết chữ

No, I've instructed you in the hope you would become literate
Chớ đâu phải được trả công bằng quà vật bạc tiền 

Not so that you would have to pay me back with gifts or money
Vì thương em nghèo có hiếu lại hiền 

Because I sympathized with you, a poor girl who's both dutiful and kind
Tôi nói chưa hết thì em đã khóc to hơn nữa

I hadn't finished speaking when she cried even louder
Và vội vàng quảy gánh chạy đi 

And hurriedly she turn around and left with her load
Đường vắng giữa khuya chỉ còn một mình tôi đưa mắt nhìn theo em khuất dần trong bóng tối

On the empty road at midnight, I was all alone following her with my eyes as she disappeared into the shadows
Với nỗi xót thương cho một kiếp sống não nùng

With a feeling of pain and pity for such a sorrowful fate

Câu 6:

Part 6:

Rồi kể từ đêm ấy tôi không còn trông thấy bóng em đâu

So from that evening I never saw her shadow again
Chừng hỏi thăm mới hay em bị đuổi nhà và đã ra đi ở mướn

Asking around I learned that she had been evicted and had to go out and work for hire
Để lấy tiền nuôi bịnh mẹ tại nhà thương

To get money to take care of her sick mother in the hospital
Nghe chuyện ấy lòng tôi nao nao buồn tủi

Hearing this my heart felt troubled and dejected
Thương cho cuộc đời những trẻ bơ vơ

Pitying the lives of helpful youth
Rồi đêm đêm đi về trên xóm cũ

So each night coming home to the old neighborhood
Tôi bồi hồi nhớ lại tiếng em rao

I feel restless remembering her street hawking
Như còn vương vấn nơi phố lạnh canh buồn 

Like it still haunts this lane, rattling on in sadness

"Em đi bán chè thưng

"I sell sugary custard
Nặng lo chữ hiếu cho tròn"

Bearing the weight of filial piety to the end"

Giờ em đi mất đâu còn

Now, who knows where you've gone
Nhưng tôi nhớ mãi tâm hồn thơ ngây 

But I always remember that innocent soul

In my opinion, vọng cổ is the greatest musical achievement of the Vietnamese people in the 20th century. It is attributed to Cao Văn Lầu (Sáu Lầu) but I think it is fair to say that it has been shaped by many hands. It is a song or theatrical aria used in cải lương built around a structure that has been realized ten of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of ways. It similar to the blues in there being an audible, accepted structure as well as myriad ways of creating within that structure. 

Vọng cổ balances strictness and elasticity. Framing the lyrics presented above there is a formal structure. Elements can be added and sometimes subtracted from that structure. It can open with a recited poem, a song, or even in this case the sound of an itinerant vendor hawking her wares. Câu 3 / the Third Part is replaced by a poem. When vọng cổ is performed as an instrumental, the instruments just play Cầu 3. I haven't notated this, but the ends of some phrases have to come to a unison on a series of pitches. A moment of intensification comes during the "lối" (path) where the unaccompanied voice intones, usually at a higher more dramatic pitch level, some part of the thematic meaning within the song.

Út Trà Ôn is the master of this genre. He could recite the traffic code and make it sound beautiful. Here he is briefly joined by another star of the cải lương stage - Út Bạch Lan. Út is an endearment - it refers to the last born child in the family, the runt. Trà Ôn is a Mekong delta city.

The song is like a one act play or monologue. The narrator living in a dense urban setting flashes back to an event that made a strong impression on him. Teens scraping out a living to help support their family was and I would think still is a part of the fabric of Vietnamese life. It used to be ubiquitous to hear vendors hawking their wares on the streets of Vietnam's cities. In the mid-1990s it was still common to hear the singsong of these street vendor cries. Locals barely noticed (until they wanted a little soup, a desert or to sharpen their knives) but as a foreigner I found this practice absolutely charming.

Street vendor calls hawking their wares had been common in many parts of the world (including Europe) but modernization has done it in -- modernization the form of the motorbike. The noise and the speed of these vehicles changed the pulse of city life. It also meant that it wasn't a big deal to fetch what you wanted for yourself instead of waiting for the vendor to stop by. Plus, you can't hear the vendor any more. There are some now that use amplification or prerecorded messages - but where' the beauty in that?

Returning to our song -- the narrator both pities and admires this 15 year old girl. "Có hiếu lại hiền" - "Hiếu" means dutiful, especially in the context of respect and caring for parents. "Hiền" describes somebody gentle and kind. He understands her circumstances and is impressed with how hard she struggles to take care of her elderly, worn-out mother. Having to help out with their survival from an early age she never received an education.

Living in the world firmly tied to her mother, both for survival, support and instruction, has limited her actions and agency in the world. The narrator willingly gives of himself and undoubtedly experiences no hardship of his own in trying to aid the girl. Nevertheless, her mother has instilled a sense of honor, a moral code whereby they cannot accept anything of value without being able to repay it, in turn, with something of value.

It appears that after her refusal of the narrator's kindness, the mother's and daughter's circumstances take a turn for the worse.

"Gánh" literally describes a burden carried upon the shoulders -- long bamboo pole with balanced, fairly heavy objects balanced at both ends.

nguồn ảnh: báo Lâm Đồng

The teenage vendor has limited life experience. The lyrics note that she doesn't even yet know how properly wash rice before cooking it (perhaps because rice is a luxury). This gentle girl has been pushed into the world to fight for survival walking for miles every night calling out "Ai ăn chè bột khoai, buồn tàu đậu xanh nước dừa, đường cát hông?"

some Hà Nội street cries

We have to imagine a very thin girl carrying a very heavy load.  Chè is a word used to describe many kinds of deserts. Their content is mostly liquid, and liquid is heavy. At one point it's described as "chè thưng" illustrated below.

nguồn ảnh: Wikimedia Commons

There are dozens, maybe hundreds of online recipes for many variations on this dessert dish.

This piece was originally released on a 78 rpm recording in 1962.

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

All except Hoàng Thi Thơ are northerners.

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

"Văn chương hạ giới" (Literature Down Below) - Lương Diệu Thanh (1974)

Trước đây anh Trịnh Công Sơn, đã làm giàu cho các nhà xuất bản nhạc, các hãng băng cũng từng lang thang không một đồng xu dính túi. May lắm nếu có phòng trà nào nhận ra anh thì đãi anh một chai nước ngọt, không tính tiền theo giá biểu của... phòng trà. 

Cái luật rừng, cá lớn nuốt cá bé, cây lớn che bóng mặt trời của cây con tưởng chỉ xảy ra trong đời sống động vật, thực vật ai dà lại hoành hành trong đời sống loài người, lại là những người làm văn nghệ.

Bao giờ mới có một đạo luật bảo vệ tác quyền, bao giờ mới có một hội đích thực bênh vực công trình sáng tác của giới cầm bút?

Và bao giờ những người như... Sơn mới hết lang thang trên những đường phố đèn xanh đèn đỏ, thèm một tách cà phê, một ngụm khói Capstan nồng ấm như đôi môi người tình?

In the past Trịnh Công Sơn enriched the music publishers and cassette companies, he now wanders without a penny to his name. He'd be very lucky if some teahouse recognizes him and treats him to a bottle of soda without calculating the complimentary price of the... tearoom.

The law of the jungle, big fish swallow little fish, big trees shade the sunlight from the little ones, you would think only happened among plants and animals without taking licenses in the life of mankind, especially through who make art.

When will there be a law to protect intellectual property, when will there be an authentic organization to protect author's creative projects?

And when will people like... Sơn be able to end their wandering on the streets with red lights and green lights, desiring a cup of coffee, inhale a puff of Capstan, warm like a lover's lips?

Lương Diệu Thanh, "Văn chương hạ giới," Tiền tuyến 6 tháng 8 1974.

One of the main conclusions of my book chapter "Songs of Sympathy in Time of War: Commercial Music in the Republic of Vietnam" (in the volume Republican Vietnam, 1963-1975: War, Society, Diaspora)

was that this was a lucrative time to be a musician. Songwriters sometimes were able to buy a car from the royalties of a song. Musicians often both worked on a salary for the government (usually the security services) and also had sidelights performing at nightclubs, cafes, and military bases. Singers earned a great deal of money performing on the radio, television and at đại nhạc hội (music festivals).

The payment of royalties was usually not fair -- often the songwriter only received a flat payment when a song was recorded. When tape recording came along, piracy became rampant, further depriving songwriters income due to them. However, by and large the years of the Republic of Vietnam was a great time to be music creator and a music performer.

The image from 1974 of Trịnh Công Sơn wandering the streets of Saigon needing to bum a cigarette or a glass of soda seems far-fetched, but, not baseless.

nguồn ảnh: Tiền tuyến 27 tháng 2 1974

Trịnh Công Sơn never worked for any branch of the Republic of Vietnam's security services (although I suspect he could have if he wanted -- he had many highly placed friends). He did not sing in professional venues. He did not play guitar at a professional level. His income would come from songwriting royalties. Many of his songs were recorded to disc and tape, but as I noted above, these were usually compensated for by one-time payments. There was no system of paying ongoing royalties.

Most of his songs were published. I think in many cases he sold the songs outright when they were published as sheet music. A very large number of his songs were published in collections by Nhân Bản. As far as I can tell, Nhân Bản published nothing but Trịnh Công Sơn song anthologies between 1967 and 1972. Some of these were released outside of the formal censorship system and perhaps could be considered black market. I have to believe that these songbooks were widely available and sold in fairly large numbers. Who was behind Nhân Bản? And did Nhân Bản pay Trịnh Công Sơn regular royalties?

Overall, the years of the Republic of Vietnam was a great time to be a musician. However, starting in 1973 opportunities for musicians began to dry up. This was owing to the withdrawal of American forces and the economic stimulus they brought to the economy. When you add to that the popularity of new audio cassette technology and the rampant piracy that it promoted, it became harder for creative musicians to profit from their work.

The overall premise of the article quoted above is correct. The society of that time did not have laws or enforcement that allowed creators to receive the payment they should have been due for their creative work. However, was Trịnh Công Sơn's situation as desperate as the author claimed? That's not impossible.

Underlying this, I believe was an aesthetic and worldview the Trịnh Công Sơn must have held. He seems to have held a refined notion of the value of creativity. That its value lays outside of matters of money and payment. Nghệ thuật vị nghệ thuật. That was a notion that would not work in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north. Music had to serve the nation and if you couldn't or wouldn't direct your creative abilities in that direction you went silent. (Đoàn Chuẩn is a good example of that). 

In the Republic of Vietnam you could create music that did not serve the nation. But it should serve the marketplace or you could go hungry. Not only did you have to serve the marketplace, you had to actively attend to your business interests. That did not appeal to Trịnh Công Sơn. As this 1974 article points out, a lot of other people over the years found it in their business interest to promote and sell Trịnh Công Sơn's music.

Ngõ hẻm gặp nhau (In The Alley We Met) - Phương Anh [Thanh Phương] [+Cô Phượng / Vinh Sử] (1969)

ngâm: 

Người đi một nửa hồn tôi chết
Một nửa hồn kia bổng dại khờ
H.M.T.

recited: 

Someone left, half my soul died

My soul's other half suddenly foolish
[Hàn Mặc Tử]

BALLADE

Trên ngõ hẹp lối vào hẻm sâu,

On the narrow alley, the way into a deep cul-de-sac  
Nhà anh đầu xóm nhà em cuối đường,

My house is at the front of the neighborhood, yours at the end of the lane,  
Ngày ra vào hai đứa gặp nhau trước lạ sau rồi cũng quen quen trong ánh mắt nhưng không dám chào.

Daily coming and going we met, at first, strangers then more familiar through glinting eyes, yet dare not make any greeting.

Trên lối nhỏ anh thường gặp em,

Along this tiny path I often met you,  
Tình yêu thầm đến dần theo tháng ngày,

An inner love gradually came along with the days and months.  
Và hôm nào em vắng vào ra suốt ngày đứng ngồi không yên trắng đêm thức trọn anh nghe nhớ thương,

And one day you were absent, coming, going all day, standing, seated, uneasy, awake all night nagged by longing.  

Nhiều khi gặp nhau trong ngõ vắng người anh muốn chào để làm quen nhưng ngại em ngoảnh mặt làm ngơ,

Many times when we met in the empty alley, I wanted to greet and get to know you, but I worried that you would turn away and pretend not to notice,  
Thư xanh viết lời thương yêu chân thành mấy lần anh muốn trao em nhưng sợ không nhận bạn bè cười chê.

A blue letter of sincere love, many times I wanted to offer it to you but I was afraid that you wouldn't accept it and laugh in scorn  

Trong ngõ hẹp bây giờ quạnh hiu

In the narrow alley now desolate  
Chiều qua cả xóm tiễn em lấy chồng,

Yesterday afternoon, the whole neighborhood saw you off when you took a husband,  
Nhìn theo đoàn xe đón nàng dâu ai cũng khen nàng tốt số đâu hay có người đang nghe xót xa

My gaze followed the procession greeting the bride, everyone congratulated her good fortune, they'd never know that somebody was in pain  

nguồn: Phương Anh, "Ngõ hẻm gặp nhau" (Saigon: Yêu, 1971).

"Ngõ hẻm gặp nhau" was recorded on the Nhã Ca 1 tape along with "Không giờ rồi," "Khi không," and "Gái nhà nghèo." Phương Anh - pen name for Thanh Phương - is the credited songwriter on the tape release and on the sheet music published that time. In more recent years this song has been co-attributed to Vinh Sử (actually his alter ego, Cô Phượng).

The songs and melodic style of "Ngõ hẻm gặp nhau" is consistent with Vinh Sử's other songs from that time. A pair regularly pass by each other in the neighborhood and a spark is lit. Unfortunately, shyness prevents him from speaking with or writing to her. While he hesitates, she suddenly omits her walk through the familiar alleyway because she is getting married. The celebration takes place making our narrator sad and regretful.

Vinh Sử drew upon a couplet by Hàn Mặc Tử to provide a recited introduction to his song "Phản bội." Likewise this song draws another introduction from the poet - a couplet from the poem "Nhưng giọt lệ" [Tears].

After 1975 Vinh Sử changed the songs title to "Trên lối nhỏ" and substituted those words for the opening image of "Trong ngõ hẹp." The replacement of a "ngõ hẹp" with a "lối nhỏ" suggests movement from an urban alley to a rural path.

Thanh Tuyền ca bài "Ngõ hẻm gặp nhau" trên băng Nhã Ca 5, năm