Poet Phan Vũ, the author of the epic Em ơi! Hà Nội Phố, passed away yesterday at the age of 93 in HCM City after a long battle against illness. — Photo thethaovanhoa.vn

HÀ NỘI — Poet Phan Vũ, the author of the epic Em ơi! Hà Nội Phố that has been set to music for one of the most famous songs about Hà Nội, passed away yesterday at the age of 93 in HCM City after a long battle with illness.

Poet Phan Vũ, whose real name is Trần Hồng Hải, was born in 1926 in the northern city of Hải Phòng. Besides writing poetry, he was also a talented dramatist, a stage director, a film director, and a painter but was best known for the epic poem Em ơi! Hà Nội Phố (Darling! Oh the Streets in Hà Nội!).

The poem was composed in 1972 when the north was in the middle of a fierce battle and later turned into a song of the same name by composer Phú Quang.

Em ơi! Hà Nội Phố was first sung on the radio in 1987 by singer Lệ Thu and then by other famous singers like Ngọc Tân, Thanh Lam and Bằng Kiều. The song has become one of the most renowned songs about Hà Nội and is familiar to all Hanoians. — VNS