The album "Thuong Cau Dan Ca" by musician Quang Long and singer AnhHI Thanh Cuong was released before the Lunar New Year, welcoming the bustling Spring festival season that is about to begin, because of modern music, but the soul is still purely folk, very suitable for traditional festivals, where the love song is always associated with people's lives.
The album includes 5 works composed by musician Nguyen Quang Long over the past year, including: "Ngau hung con duyen" (developed from Quan ho melody con duyen), "Tinh chuyen tram nam", "Thuong cau dan ca", "Nghe tim minh roi" and "Chi hai sao dung dau dinh".
5 songs are like 5 pieces of a musical picture imbued with the folk spirit of the Northern Delta, especially the material of Bac Ninh Quan Ho, but not stopping at recreation or nostalgia. In particular, the MV "Thuong Cau Dan Ca" is also created entirely using AI technology based on the spirit of Dong Ho folk paintings.
This is also the first AI product created on the Dong Ho folk painting platform in Vietnam. This unique idea of the crew has given wings to the visual director cum AI Artist of the MV - Xuan Manh AI, full of creative inspiration, developing the MV story.
According to musician Nguyen Quang Long, exploiting traditional materials in popular music today is a noteworthy trend, especially when many young artists boldly combine folk music with Rap, electronics or modern Pop.
However, he is always concerned about the need for a more pure, closer folk music, still rich in folk songs but carrying the breath of contemporary life, suitable for the aesthetics and enjoyment needs of today's audience.
In addition to the music director of the album, musician - Meritorious Artist Nguyen Quang Hung, musician Nguyen Quang Long invited "living legacy of poetry recitation art" - People's Artist Thanh Hoai and Meritorious Artist Van Mai, flutist Hai An to participate in this album.
The consistent message of "Love folk songs" that musician Nguyen Quang Long brings to his album is like a simple but strong affirmation: Folk music does not belong to the past. Folk music can completely be present in today's life in a natural and close way.
For me, this album is not intended to create a noisy declaration, but a gentle invitation, let folk songs return to life as they once existed - familiar, emotional, and have a natural place in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people today" - musician Nguyen Quang Long emphasized.
As the person who performed 5 songs in musician Nguyen Quang Long's album, singer AnhHI Thanh Cuong (Phan Thanh Cuong) said, "Thuong cau dan ca" is like an important turning point, even a "change of blood" in his artistic journey.
Musician Nguyen Quang Long said that choosing AnhHI Thanh Cuong because the male singer has advantages in art is very suitable for the spirit of the album. Thanh Cuong possesses a bright appearance, an emotional voice, in which lyrical quality is not tragic or fierce, but cunning, slow, calm and restrained. That nuance, according to musician Nguyen Quang Long, is very close to the spirit of Northern lyrical folk music - where emotions are conveyed with softness and sophistication rather than showing off.
When I meet the compositions in the album, I feel like I have found myself in art. So, immediately I want to pursue this path. I think, this also requires my own courage when out there young artists are singing things that are trending, approaching the world, but I choose the opposite path, attached to traditional musical influences.
I believe that the more modern and developed life becomes, the more people will always have a need to find the values of identity and tradition, just like finding the foundation of culture and art. Therefore, I am confident that my music will always have audiences, certainly young people" - AnhHI Thanh Cuong affirmed.
With "Thuong cau dan ca", both musician Nguyen Quang Long and singer AnhHI Thanh Cuong did not set out the ambition to create a "trend" or imposing model. The desire of the simpler artist duo is to add a hint to the approach of folk music in contemporary life: Respecting the core of tradition but not closing ourselves in preserving the original state, so that folk music can continue to be creative, sung and listened to naturally.
