GREAT LYRICS: Late songwriter Trịnh Công Sơn is called the "Bob Dylan of Việt Nam” by his fans at home and abroad. Photo courtesy of the artist’s family

HCM CITY Seven well-known artists in different fields have been listed in a selection of 50 outstanding individuals who have made great contributions to HCM City’s development.

The selection is organised by the Việt Nam Fatherland Front Committee of HCM City, in cooperation with its partners.

It is part of the city’s cultural and art activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of South Việt Nam's Liberation and Reunification Day (April 30).

The committee has 60 candidates, including 31 people who passed away, selected from 254 nominations for the list of 50 individuals who contributed to the city in the period of 1975 to 2025.

Many former leaders and leaders of the city are also included.

Seven artists listed for the selection include People’s Artist Kim Cương, a cải lương (reformed opera) guru, and late songwriter Trịnh Công Sơn, a celebrated Vietnamese musician.

CẢI LƯƠNG LEGEND: People’s Artist Kim Cương released her audiobook biography titled 'Sống Cho Người, Sống Cho Mình' (Live for People, Live for Myself), in HCM City in 2022. Photo courtesy of HCM City Theatre Association

Cương has 65 years of experience in cải lương, a 100-year-old theatre form of the South, and modern drama.

Born to a family of theatre artistes in Sài Gòn (now HCM City), Cương started her career when she was 17.

She performed with her mother, People’s Artist Bảy Nam, and actresses Phùng Há and Năm Phỉ, who are recognised as some of the region’s most talented cải lương performers.

In the 1970s-80s, Cương became involved in modern drama and worked to combine it with cải lương.

She opened the Kim Cương Drama Troupe that grew to have more than 70 actors.

The performers travelled around the region to stage dozens of plays written by Cương, mostly on the topics of women, love, family and social problems in the south.

Cương wrote, produced and directed 50 plays during her career, most of which highlighted southern culture and lifestyle.

Two of her most famous works, Lá Sầu Riêng (Durian Leaf) and Bông Hồng Cài Áo (A Rose for Mother), released in the 1970s-80s, feature southern women and their character.

Her works are still fresh today and have been staged many times by troupes across the country.

Cương also performed in more than 30 films.

Cương has worked with the HCM City Association in Support for People with Disabilities and Orphans to run the programme Trái Tim Yêu Thương (Beloved Heart) to raise funds for kids orphaned by COVID-19.

The programme has raised several billion đồng used to support 150 children without family to live and study until they are 18 years old.

“Cải lương is still alive after a century. My younger colleagues are working to preserve and develop the art,” said the 88-year-old Cương.

Late musician Sơn was born in Huế in 1939. His famous albums of romantic love songs, such as Diễm Xưa (Diễm, My Cherished Memory) and Ru Tình (Lullaby to Love), were released in the 1960s and 70s.

Diễm Xưa is well-known in Japan, where it was introduced through singer Khánh Ly in Osaka in 1970. Later, the song was written in Japanese, Utsukushii Mukashi, and was listed among Japan’s top 10 favourite love songs.

Sơn went on to become southern Việt Nam’s most famous songwriter of anti-war music collections, including Ca Khúc Da Vàng (Yellow Skin Song), Kinh Việt Nam (Vietnamese Prayer) and Ta Phải Thấy Mặt Trời (We Must See the Sunlight).

He is called the "Bob Dylan of Việt Nam” by his fans at home and abroad.

After 1975, Sơn wrote dozens of songs in praise of the country, life and youth.

He died in HCM City in 2001 after a prolonged illness. VNS