An Thuyen: the first musician to be promoted to the rank of Major General, has an admirable way of using talents

Musician An Thuyen, real name Nguyen An Thuyen, was born in 1949, in Quynh Luu, Nghe An. Besides being multi-talented in art, he is also known as the first musician to be awarded the rank of Major General of the Vietnam People's Army.

The late artist An Thuyen came from a family with cultural and artistic traditions. His family's "Doan Van Cong" often performs in villages and communes, etc. together perform plays such as "Thach Sanh", "Tong Tran - Cuc Hoa", "Luong Son Ba, Chuc Anh Dai". "..., in which An Thuyen was assigned as "conductor".

Raised in a family with a tradition of making art, and at the same time born and raised in a poor countryside in Nghe An - An Thuyen understands life, understands people and is more seasoned than any other child. Since then, his creative thinking has also become richer, more appropriate, and more trendy.

In 1967, An Thuyen started working at Nghe An Culture Department and directly participated in the work of collecting and researching folk songs. Here, he and a group of musicians at the Institute of Musical Research, including musicians Ho Thoa and Dao Viet Hung, collected Nghe Tinh folk songs. In 1977, he moved to Doan Van Cong Military Zone IV after 2 years of enlistment.

From 1981 to 1988, he was sent to study at the Hanoi Conservatory of Music (now the Vietnam Academy of Music). After graduating, he worked at the Army Arts Department, and in August 1992, he returned to work at the Military College of Culture and Arts.

Musician An Thuyen, together with the leader of the Ministry of National Defense at that time, implemented a grand strategy of "teaching what society and the military need" and oriented to become a "Soldier - Artist" school. From a middle school with no name, in 1995, the school was promoted to college and in 2006 went to university.

The great strides and changes of the Military University of Culture and Arts have been attributed to the great contribution of the talented musician - An Thuyen.

It can be said that he is a rare Principal, especially for an environment that requires principles and discipline like the Military Art and Literature School. It was he who was ready to bypass the regulations considered "unwritten rules" to directly recruit talented candidates in school competitions.

That is why the Military Art and Culture School has become the cradle for refining the talents of many generations of students, so that they become great artists loved by the public such as: Ho Quynh Huong, Ho Ngoc Ha, Luu Huong Giang, Thai Thuy Linh, Ngoc Khue, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Kasim Hoang Vu,....

The same goes for lecturers, although they do not have the required qualifications, but if they have real talent, he will invite them to teach and then study for additional degrees.

In terms of thinking about composing music, An Thuyen often brings beautiful and poetic values of family love, homeland love and love between men and women into his works. Some of his famous songs can be mentioned such as: Thuong Hue, Afternoon of Thuong River, Nine steps of love in Hanoi, love for me, Love in the countryside, When the tank passes through Quan ho, In the forest, I miss you, Love poetry of the mountains, The folk songs of you and I, Anchor at the countryside,...

An Thuyen also composed a number of plays that were staged in many Doan Van Cong such as Truong Chi, Bitter Love Sea, Kim Giao Chopsticks, Standing Country... In addition, he also wrote the soundtrack and the music. for about 60 plays told, tuong, cheo.

An Thuyen's works have become familiar and close to the public because they appear in images of cornfields, boats, and rivers, sunny afternoons on the dike slopes, and children herding buffaloes. flute playing, kite flute sounds behind the village's bamboo ramparts...

For musician An Thuyen - "...the most important thing for a composer is to inherit the beauty of traditional music along with exploring modern beauties.

Although today's youth are able to study and interact with different music backgrounds, the core thing is still to cultivate Vietnamese culture deeply. Because if there is only human culture without Vietnamese culture existing in the soul of a musician, it will be difficult to have a successful work.

In particular, a musician must have a living capital, have to work with reality, and have to stick with social life in order to have successful works and be accepted by the public."

During his life devoted to art and the country, he has won many noble awards such as: He won the first prize of the national song contest with the song "The sound of balalaica on the Da River" (interview with Quang Huy's poem). - year 1985; The official award of the Ministry of Defense with the songs Marching to the Northwest (1984) and Love Poems of the Mountain (1994);

The First Prize of the Ministry of Culture - Information and the Vietnam Musicians Association for the songs When the tank crosses the Quan Ho region (1985) and the heroic Vietnamese mother (1995); In 1992, he won the second prize of the Vietnam Musicians Association with the song Nine Love Levels; In 2007, won the State Prize for Literature and Art. And most of all, the love and respect of the audience, and the artist community.

Regarding his love life, he has a predestined relationship with director and artist Ngo Huyen Lam, who is also an active person in the arts and has two children: a son, a musician, Major An Hieu, and a son. Girl is the director of musical theater programs, Captain Bong Mai.

On July 3, 2015, he took his last breath at Military Hospital 108 (Hanoi) due to acute myocardial infarction. His passing left many people surprised and saddened.

Although he has entered eternity, what musician An Thuyen left on earth will always exist in the subconscious of contemporary folk music lovers in particular and the Vietnamese music lover community in general.

A large-scale music night with the theme "Finding the shadow of the mountain" was held on the night of January 5, 2019 at the Vietnam - Soviet Friendship Cultural Palace, Hanoi to pay tribute and remember him.

In addition to the very famous works associated with his name such as "Ca dao em and me", "Going to the Central" performed by singer Trong Tan, "Buddha of a thousand eyes and thousand hands", "In the forest". miss you", "I choose this way" is performed by his beloved student, singer Ho Quynh Huong, many songs composed by NS An Thuyen that have not been announced have been performed in the program. .

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