Mono-string concert and Nguyen Thanh Tung

"Ma soeur est ne aussi apres la guerre, quelques annees avant moi. Mais je n'ai pas la chance pour jouer avec, car ma soeur est toujours immobile sur son lit, juste derriere la cloison separant en deux la plus grand piece du logement. Ma soeur est si silencieux que parfois, assis de ce cote de la cloison, je sursaute en realisant qu'elle est allongee la, toute proche"- Nguyen Thanh Tung's autoboigraphy.

I will try to translate this small paragraph into English for those who do not understand French because it is a very sad story, but as I will tell you how he fought against his disable, which is caused by Agent Orange, a chemical weapon, bomb that US dropped in the Vietname war, you will realise how lucky we are, how strong a person can be, and how love can give much to a person.

My sister was also born after the war, a few years before me. But I do not have the luck to have a sister with whom I can play with for she always stays fixed in her bed, just behind the fake wall that separates the biggest room of the house into two. My sister is too quiet that sometimes, when I sit next to the other side of the fake wall, I jump by realizing that she is laying there, very close.

I hope the above translation is closed enough...His sister is also suffered from the Agent Orange (dioxin-toxic hydrocarbons) like a lot of Vietnamese children in many parts of VN. When Tung was born, his right eyes had been blind, the left one was blurred. So, it was already difficult for him to learn VNese, unfortunately when he was 12, the left eye also became blind. So, he had to start again the beginning to learn VNese for blind people. I couldn't help my tears when I am writing this, not because of Tung's unfortunate (for he doesn't tell his story to have my pity) but I wonder how many children in this world are suffering famine, desease, or in general how many of us do not realise how lucky we are? I came to talk to his father who accompanied to Frence, Germany, and then to Belgium for his concerts, and knew that Tung was born 1979, one year younger than me. So, you see his parents were affected by the Agent, but the effect was rather expensive, it came to their children. But I could see his father's love for him, a father who is very friendly, positive, artistic, and I am sure he is a very strong person. But for Tung, the main person who brought him up to the person he is today was his grandfather.

Of course, today the VN war has become the past, and many of us have moved on, and forgotten about the war (even our government has become a trade partner with the States), but there are still wars somewhere else. Nobody sees the war's effects?

Tung discovered the mono-string when he was 8, for him it was an instrument that sounded a bid sad but at the same time, so much love. He graduates from National Musical Academy, and can play all traditional musical instruments, and a bit of piano. On the top of that, he also have a diploma shows that he can composite.

He was encouraged by his grandfather to enter the Academy, and his grandfather was also the one who brought him to school every day, who brought him to hospital to check the eyes to see if there were glasses that helped his left eye...Tung blames himself that because of him that his grandfather was now weak, he had to take care too much for Tung...

That's love. And you see how it make a difference? We always complain for the things we can not do, but sometimes we should realise that if we want something, we just need to do it because we have eyes, arms, legs, brain, health...

Today, I feel a strong urge of loving, and giving...I guess the sound of the mono-string also affects me.