Trinh Cong Son

Before ₁₉₇₅

Trinh Cong Son was born on February 28th, 1939 in Buon Ma Thuot (Dak Lak province), where his parents temporarily set up their business in 1937.

In 1957, at the age of 18, energetic and lively, Trinh Cong Son was seriously injured during martial arts practice with the risk of losing his life. He had to spend months in Hue recovering. It was thanks to this situation that he had the space to ponder life and spend a lot of time reading literary and philosophical writers of both the West and the East. He read “The Apollinaire”, “Marcel Proust”, “Jacques Prévert”, “The Nietzche”, “Albert Camus”, “Jean Paul Sartre”, “Nguyen Du”, “Rabindranath Tagore”, “Zen Books” and Buddhist teachings. An innate passion for music suddenly rose in him and this inspired him to write a song.

In 1959, Trinh Cong Son Released his first piece of music: “Uot Mi”. This song was composed in 1958. Before that in 1957, He had two other songs that he had not yet published: “Suong Dem ca Choi Voi”.In the early 1960s and 70s, Trinh Cong Son spent two years studying at Qui Nhon Pedagogical School and one year of primary education in Bao Loc. During this period he produced a series of famous love songs.
The devastating war from 1965 to 1975 played a big role in Trinh Cong Son’s journey. During this period, he gave birth to many songs which related to the fate of his people, homeland, nation and desire for peace.

After ₁₉₇₅

After April 30th, 1975, Trinh Cong Son lived in Hue in difficult circumstances both physically and mentally, hardly doing any significant work. ​
In 1979, he went to Saigon, stayed at home 47C, Pham Ngoc Thach Street (former Duy Tan) and since 1980, “Nhung em con nho hay em da quen, Chieu tren que huong toi, Ha Noi mua thu, Huyen thoai me, Loi thien thu goi, Tien thoai luong nan, Nhu mot loi chia tay, Song ve dau, Toi oi dung tuyet vong …”

Beginning a new period of creation but still retaining the identity of Trinh Cong Son. He continued to conquer fans with a series of love songs. Since 1997, the health of Trinh Cong Son rapidly declines. After a period of serious illness, he died on April 1, 2001, at the age of 62, leaving his entire fortune with more than 600 songs.