HCM CITY — A new album honoring soldiers and 10 pilots on missing military aircraft has been released in HCM City.

Những Đôi Cánh Thiên Thần (Angel Wings) features 10 songs with music by Quỳnh Hợp and lyrics by poets Bùi Phương Thảo, Thái Thăng Long and Đỗ Quyên.

Nine military personnel on a CASA 212 turboprop plane were found dead after the aircraft went missing on June 16 during a search operation for a Su-30MK2 fighter jet with two pilots on board, which crashed off the central province of Nghệ An.  

Search and rescue teams found the debris of the CASA-212 in the southwest of Bạch Long Vĩ Island near the delimitation line in the Tonkin Gulf.

One of the two pilots on Su-30MK2, Major Nguyễn Hữu Cường, was rescued, but the other, Lt. Col. Trần Quang Khải, 43, was found dead at sea and was brought ashore. 

“Những Đôi Cánh Thiên Thần stands for our love for pilots and soliders of the Việt Nam Air Defense–Air Force,” said the album’s composer and producer Hợp, who spent 10 years working for the Air Defense-Air Force’s Arts Troupe.

“Through the album, we also want to encourage love for the country and soldiers among young people,” she said.

The album features singers such as Vân Khánh, Hà My, Trang Nhung and Y Jang Tuyn

Its highlighted songs include Đồng Đội Ơi (Dear Brothers) and Su Đi Thật Rồi Sao (Are You Really Gone), written by Lt. Hoàng Hải Lý of the Việt Nam Air Force Officer Training School in Nha Trang, and journalist Đỗ Quyên of the Việt Nam News Agency.

Đồng Đội Ơi reminds listeners of the Vietnamese soldiers who devoted their life to the country and its people.

It features the voice of Bana singer Tuyn, who works for the Voice of HCM City radio station.

Tuyn, 34, who began his career in 1993, has earned several top prizes at national singing contests.

In Đồng Đội Ơi he faced the challenge of singing ballads rather than rock.   

“I cried while recording the album,” said Tuyn, adding that he and other singers are proud of participating in the project.

Su Đi Thật Rồi Sao highlights the Su-30MK2 fighter pilot Khải, a friend of both Hợp and Quyên, the composer of the song.

The album is available at online music websites such as Zingmp3.vn and Nhaccuatui.com. — VNS