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Getting to know each other, becoming close to each other through “bridging”. It was both accidental and inevitable like fate. For me, for Nguyen Thuy Kha, Nguyen Trong Tao, Nguyen Hoa it seemed the same.
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In the literary world, the stories that are often told by word of mouth are often fun, humorous, and witty while “having tea and drinking”. The six-eight verse “Anh Hai told Anh Ba/ Literature and art without Tao, Kha would be sad” is sometimes embellished and reinterpreted, becoming complicated. Then the story, Nguyen Thuy Kha said “I taught Tao to make music” and Nguyen Trong Tao said “I taught Kha to make poetry” is only fun and fun.
The strange thing is, the personalities of the “trio” Tao - Kha - Hoa, who came from the army, are very different. Tao, Kha are noisy, romantic… Nguyen Hoa is gentle, quiet but close, and has a very long-lasting bond with each other. Happy and very happy, this “trio” was once a close collaborator of Hai Duong newspaper. Each person has their own style. Each person has a different contribution to Hai Duong newspaper. Not only writing articles, sending articles by post, later by email and also by sincere comments.
Nguyen Thuy Kha only sent handwritten articles. His handwriting was beautiful, slanted and fluttering. He once said: I hate machines, I only write by hand and write by hand. I remember the time at the collaborators' meeting, he talked about journalism with a passionate, professional voice. He said that, in addition to the content of the article, the "sensational headline" rather than the "short headline" was very important. It was attractive, it attracted, it influenced the reader right from the title of the article...
I remember the time Nguyen Thuy Kha and the Director of Da Nang Publishing House came to visit me. They said it was a visit, but in reality, wherever the literary world goes, they suddenly remember their friends and "suddenly" come. No need to make an appointment. At most, they call a few minutes in advance. At that time, Da Nang Publishing House published many valuable and famous books, but also got entangled in a few "sensitive" books, which caused trouble. As if to relieve his friend's stress, Nguyen Thuy Kha brought the director to Hanoi and stopped by to see me. That day, there were only three of us but the chatter was like fireworks.
Nguyen Thuy Kha was still the host. Near noon, my wife solemnly brought up the tray of food to invite the three guests. Sitting on the floor. Wine in, words out. When excited, Nguyen Thuy Kha "spits out" loudly. I quickly stood up and closed the door, for fear that downstairs would think the men were arguing. Nguyen Thuy Kha's personality is like that, both neat and serious, and also unrestrained and chaotic. Yet in his creative work, Nguyen Thuy Kha has left many marks in the hearts of readers in the fields of poetry, music, music criticism, journalism, and television.
On the day of the launch of the new book series of writer Trung Trung Dinh in Hanoi, there were many writers, friends and admirers. The front row was filled with familiar writers: Nguyen Ngoc, Ngo Thao, Doan Tu Huyen, Pham Xuan Nguyen... After looking around for a while, Nguyen Thuy Kha came to me, whispered in my ear, Nguyen Trong Tao went to the hospital, found out he had cancer! I was speechless. Nguyen Thuy Kha had a sad, bewildered face.
And now, unexpectedly, Nguyen Thuy Kha has fallen seriously ill. And the person who informed me that Nguyen Thuy Kha has passed away was Nguyen Hoa. With a hoarse, startled voice, Nguyen Hoa said: Kha “has passed away”. On March 13, at just after 10 o’clock. Kha was just 77 years old.
Writing these lines, I suddenly looked up at the bookshelf and saw the books Nguyen Thuy Kha gave me. Taking out the book “A Hundred Years of Farewell”, I opened it to the poem that gave the title to the entire collection and came across the line: “I clasp my hands and pray to all ten directions/ Everywhere there are friends who love and wait for me”.
Yes! I hope the poet rests in peace in the other world where there are always many people waiting and loving him.
Nguyen Thuy Kha was born in 1949 in Hai Phong City. He served in the army as an information engineer in the Information Corps, directly participating in combat in many fierce battlefields. He was active, leaving his mark in many fields of literature, art, and journalism, most notably poetry and music.
Poet and musician Thuy Kha received many literary awards such as Second Prize in the Literature and Arts Newspaper Poetry Contest in 1982, the National Union of Literature and Arts Associations Award in 2004 for the poetry collection "Biet 100 Years", the Vietnam Writers Association Award in 2014 for the collection of Short Epics and Poetic Dramas. He has published nearly 20 poetry collections, 13 epics all about war.
Musician Nguyen Thuy Kha left behind hundreds of songs and many choral works. He is also a leading music critic with many major works. He is considered by many to be a “living dictionary” of modern Vietnamese music. In addition to poetry and music, Nguyen Thuy Kha has also contributed to cinema with 12 films portraying artists.
