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Bài ca dành cho những xác người: Song for the human corpses

This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Tet Offensive. The event has generated perhaps more publications in the English language – government reports, media accounts, academic studies, amateur histories, memoirs, etc. – than any other from the Vietnam War. A sucker for anniversaries of publications and releases of films and music, I wish to commemorate it by inviting non-Vietnamese to listen to a very well-known song among Vietnamese.

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My nomination for the most devotional Vietnamese song about Mary

It is always tricky writing about “the best” or “the most XYZ” song. But this year marks the centenary of the Marian apparitions in Fátima, and more Vietnamese Americans travelled to Portugal than any previous year. It made me think of the song Lời Mẹ Nhắn Nhủ [Words of Our Lady], better known by its informal title Năm Xưa Trên Cây Sồi [Years Ago on an Oak Tree]. I’m not very keen on awards, especially awards of recent productions. But I’m more open to retrospective awards. Were there an award for the category “the most devotional Marian song or hymn written in Vietnamese in the twentieth century,” I’d vote for this song.  

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I know what you watched last summer #2: my dancing portfolio

milonga
During the week in Buenos Aires, we visited a milonga where the locals danced the tango into the night.

I was on campus today for my first meeting of the new school year.  It was the first time back since late May, meaning that yesterday was the unofficial last day of my summer.  Like last summer, I worked at home and it gave me more downtime and a chance to catch up with popular culture.
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Lullaby of Birdland over the years

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pc cdandlp.com

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Song of refugees #1 – Một Chút Quà Cho Quê Hương (A Few Gifts for the Homeland)

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Song of refugees #2 – 1954 Cha Bỏ Quê, 1975 Con Bỏ Nước (Father Left Home in 1954, Son Left Country in 1975)

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Haiphong 1954 ~ Northern Vietnamese leaving for the south ~ pc flick.com

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Song of refugees #3 – Ai Trở Về Xứ Việt (Who Are Returning to the Viet Land?)

This song is most interesting because the original lyrics were written in Paris by the writer Minh Đức Hoài Trinh: in 1962 or thirteen years before the Fall of Saigon.

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Minh Đức Hoài Trinh in Europe during the 1960s ~ pc minhduchoaitrinh.wordpress.com

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Song of refugees #4 – Anh Vẫn Mơ Một Ngày Về (I Still Dream of Returning One Day)

Ask Vietnamese to name Vietnamese female singers that they love, and you can expect to hear many names.  Ask them to name a Vietnamese female songwriter, and just about everyone will be stumped by the question.  For there has been little recorded popular music written by Vietnamese women.  I have no explanation for the wide discrepancy.  But such was the case, at least in South Vietnam and the postwar diaspora.

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Song of refugees #5 – Đêm Chôn Dầu Vượt Biển (Hiding Diesel at Night for the Boat Escape)

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cf son-trung.blogspot.com

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