The Legacy of Trinh Cong Son: A Family’s Handing Over

Date: 1/4/2019, source: vietcetera

Trinh Cong Son is the holder of Vietnam’s many firsts. First musician to have sold 2 million copies in Japan. First artist to be featured on Google’s homepage. First personality whose annual tribute concert assembled an audience of more than 20,000 people. The songwriter, poet, and painter is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in Vietnam.

Born in 1939 and passed away in 2001, Trinh Cong Son witnessed a historical period of the country. His 600 songs about love, war, and the philosophy of being human in a turbulent time touched millions of Vietnamese so deeply no ban or gun could keep them from being sung. 30 years after the war ended, in 2006, he was awarded the World Peace Music Award next to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

So in light of Trinh Cong Son’s Remembrance Day, April 1st, we visited the house he used to live in Saigon and met his sister Trinh Vinh Trinh. Mrs. Trinh is a recognized singer of Trinh Cong Son’s music. But ever since his passing, she’s also known as the guardian of her brother’s monumental legacy. His bedroom, for instance, has been kept intact for almost two decades. Walking down memory lane, she shares with us how their family is preserving and passing on Trinh Cong Son’s lifetime of work.

How did your family handle Trinh Cong Son’s belongings after his passing?

In 2011 we went through all his relics, from journals, letters, postcards, to drawings. Within 6 months and with help from a group of young volunteers, we listed down about 10,000 items. We hope one day these articles can be displaced in an exhibition complex dedicated to him.

My brother loved giving away his works. Most of his paintings and poems were presents for other people. When he died, some recipients returned these art pieces to us, but many items still remain somewhere out there.

Will you release all of your brother’s works to the public?

All his life my brother created arts in the service of others. Every word ever written down was meant to soothe, help, encourage, or empathize with someone. He kept none to himself. We want to preserve this very spirit. So as a family we’ve agreed that our brother’s legacy is no longer ours to keep. It belongs to the people of Vietnam.

Our responsibility is to preserve what he left behind and hand it over to the next generations. Every piece of his works will be released to the public when the time is right.

On 28/02/2019, his 80th birthday, Trinh Cong Son became the first Vietnamese artist to be featured by Google Doodle on the search engine’s homepage. What was the experience like for your family?

It was a memorable day for our family. Five minutes past midnight, we started receiving calls and messages from our friends and family all over the world. My brother’s fans were thrilled. The press was intrigued. Within just one day we recorded 300 articles written about him on the internet. Coincidentally, it was also the day Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump met in Hanoi for a summit on nuclear weapons and world peace.

Actually, we already knew about the Google initiative six months prior to that. After receiving a thoughtful, impressive proposal from their Headquarters in Singapore, we happily signed our consent.