HCM CITY —  More than 100 singers, dancers and musicians will perform in a special TV show produced by Hồ Chí Minh City Television (HTV) to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the country’s Reunification Day (April 30) and Labour Day (May 1).

The show, Son Sắt Một Tình Yêu (Love Forever), will feature musical performances about a young female volunteer called Mai who works on the Trường Sơn Range (Hồ Chí Minh Trail). Mai and her colleagues transfer food and weapons from North Việt Nam to battlefields in the South during the American War.  

The show’s artists include young performers from local art schools and cultural houses. Musicians with the HCM City Conservatory of Music will also be featured.

The show will feature more than 30 songs recognised as canons of revolutionary music, composed by respected writers, such as Huy Du, Hoàng Vân, Phan Huỳnh Điểu and Phạm Tuyên, all of whom played a role in the country’s musical development.

Tenor Anh Bằng will perform along with young singers Thế Vỹ and Hoàng Dung Cùng Anh Tiến Quân Trên Đường Dài (We Go to Battle Together), a work composed by Du with lyrics by Xuân Sách.

He will also sing Đêm Trường Sơn Nhớ Bác (Remember Uncle Hồ on Trường Sơn) composed by Trần Chung and Cô Gái Mở Đường (Female Volunteers Clean Roads) by Xuân Giao.   

Opera singer Ngọc Mai from the HCM City Conservatory of Music will perform Tuyên’s Những Cánh Chim Hồng Gấm (Hồng Gấm Bird), with support from the orchestra.

The song was written in 1971 to praise the heroine Lê Thị Hồng Gấm of Tiền Giang Province, who died in battle in 1970 when she was 19.  

Dáng Đứng Việt Nam (Posture of Việt Nam), a popular song by music professor Nguyễn Chí Vũ with lyrics by poet Lê Anh Xuân, will also be included.

The show will be followed by talks with history researchers and music critics.

HTV will invite Heroic Mothers, veterans and soldiers to participate in the two performances, which will be broadcast at 1.15pm on HTV9 and provincial TV stations on April 30 and May 1. — VNS