MECO211 - Exercise 2 - The peace

Exercise 2: Describe a piece of music or recording

You know your friend has expressed his music talent in high school, but maybe not to the extent of composing a song. Or maybe you just don’t believe in your luck of getting to know such a talent.

‘Lullaby’ is Lucas’s  composition for his final assessment at university. It’s not the first time he has written something, but this song has gone out of an assignment submission to become something bigger, like having published by few local press, or even used in a musical play.

Lullaby songs everywhere mostly don’t use heavy metal music material and this particular ‘Lullaby’ is of no exception. The composer always has this ambition of bringing his country’s music style to the world and in this song, he features a combination of traditional Scottish and Vietnamese lullabies. Just for 7 minutes, the song evokes a stream of memories, of the moments when you were sleeping tight in your mother’s arms. And when she started singing, luring you to sleep, you felt as if nothing can compare to a minute of staying besides her.

Inspired by millions of stories of children in his country back in the war time, who was born without men’s presence at home, Lucas’s song is centred around this theme. The lyrics is about the hope of a mother to her new son. With the country is still being in the war, she hopes her son will grow up safely and be free from grief and nightmares. After all, she wants him to remember the people who have sacrificed their lives for him to live without gunfire.

Songs about motherhood will always easily capture your attention and it is 100 times better when your favourite type of topic is made into a song by your friend. 

https://soundcloud.com/piano-knight/lullaby-a-oi 

 

MECO211 - Excercise 1: The privilege

This semester I am taking a totally different unit called Music and Arts Journalism - MECO211. One of the assessments is to write 200-word piece of description about something related to Arts almost every week so I stick my pieces on this blog, to see my own progress and for memory.
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Exercise 1: Describe a live performance

The first time always makes a special impression. A long lasting one where you were lucky enough to get into one of the symbols of your city.

It was the first time I visited a theatre. A proper, formal theatre located at the best location, in the middle of the city, where a range of diplomatic and important events have always been held there. This city has gone through diverse vicissitudes and the iconic HANOI OPERA HOUSE is still there, remains stable and unchangeable; undergoes the history with the city and its people.

The venue is considered the luxury and this is why, performers who makes it to this theatre has to be up to a certain status. Not a normal singer. Not an entertainer. And that night, it was the live show of Ms Hong Nhung – one of the 4 legendary Vietnamese divas in the pop area. She took the stage with the opening of her proudest song of all times, ‘Nho ve Ha Noi’ (Remembering Ha Noi). The performance started with an excerpt of her first recording of the song, delineated the old Ha Noi in the 80s in black and white background with people pedalling the streets in peace. This scene reverberated a lot of memories for audience living in that era. The crowd sat in silent, listened to the lyrics, reminisced the past. Then the curtain moved up… Spotlight focused on the star of the night, in her white long dress, sang the chorus of the song passionately as she always does. The mezzo soprano voice, accompanied with the opera-orientated structure of the theatre, echoed to the mind of everyone, both people on the lower and upper floors, people on stage and backstage. 

And at that time, I feel a sense of belonging, of something that is truly inside me that defines who I am. I am Hanoi-ian and this city is part of me, no matter where I go to.