Musician Tran Viet Binh. (Photo: nbtv.vn)

At the age of 87, Tran Viet Binh is still able to learn new information technologies and apply them while composing music. His most favorite song is of course Phong Nha’s song “ Who loves Uncle Ho more than children do” as he sang it for President Ho 74 years ago. Whenever Binh sings the song, tears fill up his eyes.

On an afternoon of 1946, 13-year-old Tran Viet Binh joined a group of children from the northern town of Thai Binh and adjacent provinces at Hai Phong Port to welcome President Ho Chi Minh on his return from an important meeting in France. The group had a quick meeting to bid farewell to Uncle the next morning when they sang him the song “Who loves Uncle more than children do”. Composed in 1945, that was the very first time the song was introduced to the public and sung to Uncle Ho.

"I remember speaking on behalf of the group as I was the youngest member. I crossed my arms and said ‘Hello, Uncle Ho. We would love to sing you a song’. And then we sang together. When Uncle heard the sentence: ‘Uncle Ho is a happy man at his old age’, his eyes were full of tears. He softly patted on our heads and said: ‘All of you guys are great singers," Binh recalled.

Uncle Ho’s encouragement inspired Binh’s passion for music. He has produced more than 200 musical works. Binh settled down in Nam Dinh City where he joined and led a children’s singing group called “Canary”. Every 3 months, Binh brought his group to record songs at the Voice of Vietnam’s studios in Hanoi. Those were unforgettable memories as he and his group practiced with famous musicians before recording songs for broadcast on the national radio network, said Binh.

"Musician Pham Tuyen was head of VOV’s Music Division back then. He thought it was too much for Hanoi’s children group Nightingale to record all children songs so he suggested adjacent provinces establish more children performing groups to support them. He gave us 10 songs to practice in 3 months and then arrange recording times for us to sing with the VOV ensemble at VOV’s headquarters at 58 Quan Su street in Hanoi," said Binh. 

Binh’s song “The River” was first introduced to the public in 1957 on the Voice of Vietnam. The song was a milestone in Binh’s music career and encouraged him to further compose. Binh also set the music for Tran Dang Khoa’s renowned poem “Our village’s rice grains,” which has become a hit among many generations of Vietnamese people.

Binh became a member of Vietnam’s Association of Musicians in 1974, and received the State Award for Literature and Arts in 2017.