artLIVE – Today (December 24), in the midst of the Christmas season, the wife of the late composer Nguyễn Văn Đông passed away… Her departure feels like a quiet reminder that Vietnamese popular music once held a treasury of enduring Christmas compositions.
As the early days of December return each year, Christmas music begins to resonate everywhere – a soundscape that opens a season of love and sharing within families; a festive time for the streets; and a season of hopes for new beginnings.
Christmas as a theme in Vietnamese popular music
In many regions of Vietnam in earlier decades, Christmas was primarily a religious observance for Catholics, marking the moment when the infant Jesus entered the human world. Accompanying that sacred hour were liturgical songs such as Lời con xin Chúa, Giáo đường im bóng, Chiều bên giáo đường, Bài Thánh ca buồn,… performed through the voices of Southern Vietnamese singers of a bygone era: Hoàng Oanh, Khánh Ly, Sĩ Phú, Elvis Phương, Trung Chỉnh, among others.
Whenever the neighboring house played Hoàng Oanh’s voice singing: “Remember the night filled with light, fragrance drifting endlessly in the wind, time itself seems to pause, prayers rise in countless words…” from Giáo đường im bóng, it felt as though Christmas had already arrived.
It was precisely these hymns that taught me – a child not born into a Catholic family to await Christmas as a season of singing together, of warmth and closeness, and of unrestrained imagination filled with Santa Claus and reindeer-drawn sleighs. At the time, I had no awareness that this feeling mirrored the experience of Catholics during Advent (the four weeks before Christmas) and throughout the Christmas season itself (the four weeks after).
Childhood dreams shaped by foreign artistic works of the Christmas season
Alongside the Christmas hymns resonating from Catholic homes in the neighborhood, even those who were not Catholic encountered the season through works such as The Little Drummer Boy – the story of a poor boy who had no gift to offer the Lord and instead played his drum “pa rum pum pum pum” as his humble offering or through the image of a little girl lighting her final matches in hopes of glimpsing a Christmas tree and her grandmother on a freezing night, from The Little Match Girl by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.
Interwoven with music, these stories led me to believe that Christmas was not merely a season of celebration, but also a season of sharing. Whether that sharing came through words or through tangible acts, its value remained equal in life.
Like the little drummer boy offering his tune to the Lord, the divine did not reject or look down upon it when compared with a large gift, a big roasted chicken… from wealthier families; so the boy could sing with faith: “I played my drum for Him… I played my best for Him… Then he smiled at me… Me and my drum”.
Hope that never fades
The belief in compassion carried within Christmas music accompanied me as I grew older and journeyed to new lands. And now, here in Saigon, amid the relentless concerns of everyday life, I still cannot turn away from the Christmas melodies of my childhood.
As the global integration of Christmas celebrations has expanded alongside my own passing years, Christmas in Saigon has gradually become a festival in its own right. Alongside songs of humble sharing are joyful anthems with lively melodies: Joy to the World, The First Noel, Feliz Navidad, We Wish You a Merry Christmas… Or those intimate, cozy moments with a loved one, where gentle melodies make Christmas feel as though it were meant just for the two of us: White Christmas, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, You make it feel like Christmas, Let It Snow…
Regardless of melody, or of differing interpretations of Christmas stories, instilling in children the belief that life is filled with compassion, regardless of wealth or poverty, and allowing them to believe in miracles and wonder… is something every adult should strive to do. Through that, Christmas music becomes ever more beautiful in each small neighborhood, and within every heart.
A collection of timeless Christmas compositions by the late composer Nguyễn Văn Đông. Photo: Archive
Composer Nguyễn Văn Đông (1932–2018), though not Catholic, remains one of the most significant contributors of Christmas music in the history of Vietnamese popular music. Beyond his classic Vietnamese adaptations of Ave Maria, Silent Night (Đêm Thánh vô cùng), and Jingle Bells (Hồi chuông nửa đêm), he also authored enduring original Christmas works such as Bóng nhỏ giáo đường, Mùa sao sáng, Màu xanh Noel, Giáo đường chiều chủ nhật, and Tình người ngoại đạo.
Nguyễn Văn Đông was also the composer of numerous iconic songs including Chiều mưa biên giới, Khúc xuân ca, Nhớ một chiều xuân, Niềm đau dĩ vãng, Tình cố hương, Mấy dặm sơn khê, and Khúc tình ca hàng hàng lớp lớp. Under various pen names such as Phượng Linh and Đông Phương Tử, he additionally composed music and directed more than fifty renowned traditional opera and cải lương productions in Southern Vietnam prior to 1975, including Nửa đời hương phấn, Đoạn tuyệt, Tiếng hạc trong trăng, Mưa rừng...
Photos: Quỳnh Trang
