Sharing with Lao Dong reporters, Ms. Hong Tuyen - the youngest daughter of musician Pham Tuyen - said that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the song "The Star Lantern"'s birth, and the family wants to organize a program to celebrate the song's birthday.
But because the male musician is being treated at the hospital, this music night was temporarily postponed.
The music night will be moved to another day, currently his health is the most important thing. On September 12, the family had time to organize a meeting for young audiences and him. When he heard the children sing, he was very happy," Ms. Hong Tuyen said.
The musician's daughter said that the song "The Star Lantern" was born in a very special circumstance.
In 1956, when musician Pham Tuyen was teaching in Nanning (China), during the Mid-Autumn Festival, looking at the students in the dormitory carrying lanterns, the musician missed his homeland intensely, he composed "The Star Lantern" to soothe his homesickness.
After completion, the song was sent to Voice of Vietnam Radio about a week before Mid-Autumn Festival 1956.
On that full moon night, the song first reached a large audience through the radio waves.
The performer of the song is Anh Tuan (Tuan Ky), a young singer and editor of Voice of Vietnam Radio, along with a choir and the sound of the Mandolin.
After that, the melody quickly spread, without the need for large stages, "The Star Lantern" entered life through radio, through children's activities, through lantern processions and then passed from generation to generation.
According to Ms. Hong Tuyen, the journey of "The Star Lantern" has gone beyond the borders of Vietnam.
Before 1976, the song was directed and staged by musician Hans-Sanulig for children in Germany to sing (the song's name printed in the book is "VON DER STERNENLATERNE - Vietnamese Liede"), illustrating children wearing hats dancing under the moon beside areca trees and thatched roofs.
In 1976, during a visit to Germany, musician Pham Tuyen had the opportunity to meet musician Hans-Sanulig, who had the opportunity to listen to a tape recording the song "The Star Lamp" in German. He felt very happy.
Last June 2026, Musician Pham Tuyen's family donated a document of 636 handwritten songs by him that have been digitized (from paper manuscripts converted into digital PDF files) and sent to the National Archives Center III (Department of Archives and Records Management, Ministry of Home Affairs).
Among them are famous songs, such as: "The Star Lantern", "As if Uncle Ho is in the Great Victory Day", "The Little Elephant in Ban Don", "Our school is a kindergarten", "Teen and Mother", "The Swallow of Childhood", "Fireworks Night"...
Musician Pham Tuyen's youngest daughter added that her father is a very careful person. When composing, he wrote the song title and then decorated it like the song "The Star Lamp", he drew the lamp on the book page or the song "From a Street Intersection", then he drew a traffic light pole next to it...
These manuscripts are precious documents, irreplaceable in musician Pham Tuyen's career, and also a cultural heritage with profound historical value.
Musician Pham Tuyen (born in 1930) was originally from old Hai Duong (now Hai Phong), one of the big names of modern Vietnamese music. He is likened to a storyteller of history through music.
He owns a fortune of nearly 700 songs, with many famous works: "Như có Bác trong ngày đại thắng", "Từ một ngã tư đường phố", "Gửi nắng cho em", "Con kênh ta đào", "Thành phố mười mùa hoa"...
Musician Pham Tuyen used to be Head of the Music Editorial Board, Head of the Music Troupe of Voice of Vietnam Radio; Head of the Arts and Literature Department of Vietnam Television; Chairman of the Hanoi Music Association from 1996 to 2015.
In addition, he is also a Standing Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Musicians Association, making an important contribution to building Vietnamese music.
