HCM CITY— Hồ Chí Minh Television (HTV), in co-operation with its partners, will broadcast a special music programme this week to mark the 71st annual War Invalids and Martyrs’ Day on July 27.

The 90-minute show, Khát Vọng Mùa Xuân (Aspiration of Spring), will feature revolutionary and patriotic songs by composer Phạm Minh Tuấn, former deputy director of the HCM City Music Conservatory.

The show will include dozens of young and veteran singers, dancers and musicians from professional art troupes, including the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) and Ngày Mới ( New Day) Choir.  

Meritorious Artist Tạ Minh Tâm and opera singer Anh Bằng will be featured.

There will be performances in praise of the country, its history and traditional culture.

Featured songs will be those recognised as canons of revolutionary music, including Bài Ca Người Nữ Tự Vệ (Song of Female Guerrilla) written in 1958, Bài Ca Không Quên (Forever Song) in 1981 and Đất Nước (Country) in 1984.

Veteran singer Tâm will sing along with artists of HBSO the new version of Đất Nước, a work on patriotism composed by Tuấn with lyrics by poet Tạ Hữu Yên.

Pop songs about youth and love, such as Khát Vọng (Aspiration) and Lối Nhỏ Vào Đời (Pathway to Life), will be performed by young singers Tiêu Châu Như Quỳnh and Yên Nhiên, with support from the Sen Việt Dance Group.

The event’s highlights include Mùa Xuân Từ Những Giếng Dầu (Spring on Offshore-Oil Rigs), a popular song about the country’s development and workers released in 1984.

Tuấn wrote the song after a fact-finding tour in 1981 to Vietsovpetro, a joint Vietnamese-Russian oil and gas enterprise in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province.

He joined the National Liberation Front of South Việt Nam in 1960.

He studied at the Việt Nam Music School and HCM City Music Conservatory, and was deputy general chairman of the Việt Nam Musicians’ Association.

Tuấn has composed more than 100 songs, and dozens of music works for theatre and films.

He has released six albums featuring patriotic music, and has worked as a music lecturer for the HCM City Music Conservatory and art schools.

The show, Khát Vọng Mùa Xuân, will air at 9pm on July 27 on HTV 9 channel. — VNS