Trinh Cong Son – dubbed the "Bob Dylan of Vietnam" by American folk singer Joan Baez – and Hong Nhung talk with each other before lunch sometime in 1993. |
Hong Nhung says that she still remembers every detail exchanged between her and the musician during their break in the middle of recording an album. They were sitting on the stairs, and behind them a poster of a famous album by veteran singer Khanh Ly was hung on the wall. |
Trinh Cong Son gave a flower bouquet to Hong Nhung during a performance at the Nhac Sy venue in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, in 1997. |
The two artists after a practice session in 1994. Son had been quoted as saying: "I like how Hong Nhung brings a fresh atmosphere to my songs. She makes them up-to-date. Through her performances, my works become relevant in the current era, and not simply echoes from the past." |
Hong Nhung recalled that during her first encounter with Son, when she was 21, she whispered "Hello uncle," which was a Vietnamese pronoun used to call men who are many years older. Trinh Cong Son responded "Am I your relative?" and asked the singer to call him "anh" - a Vietnamese pronoun often used to call men who are a few years older than the speaker. "Since then, I referred to Trinh Cong Son only as ‘anh,’" she said. |
The singer attributed the close relationship between her and the veteran musician to the fact that both were introverted but love joking around. When she first met him, she was hated by many people for "hanging out with a famous musician despite being skinny, ugly, and having dark skin." Yet she didn’t let herself be affected by those words, because she was adored by the musician. Trinh Cong Son once advised her, "Just calmly wave and say hello to your life." |
In addition to the photos of Hong Nhung and Trinh Cong Son, many photos at the exhibition feature Hong Nhung in her early-twenties. They include one photo of her taken in 1991 at her home in Van Thanh, Ho Chi Minh City. |
Hong Nhung when she had a snaggletooth, distinguished eyes, and bangs. |
Hong Nhung’s innocent beauty inspired the musician to compose the song "Thuo Bong La Nguoi" (When Bong Was Human), which includes a line saying "Bong had fun with the sea. Bong had fun in the mountains. Bong had fun with me." |
Hong Nhung and her father - translator Le Van Vien. The photographer once considered not including the photo in the exhibition as the singer’s father was topless, but the singer herself asked him to exhibit it, as she loved the comfortable vibe of the photo. |
Duong Minh Long and Trinh Cong Son in Hue in 1995. Long was born in 1962 in Hanoi, and used to work as a photojournalist at the Lao Dong newspaper between 1991 and 1998. During the period between 1984 and 2004, he had 25 personal exhibitions in Vietnam and also in several European countries. |
Photos by Duong Minh Long