By day, they are music teachers, bakers, or bartenders; by night, they become singers and musicians on small stages of coffee shops and community music nights. It is this very passion that helps many young people in Hue keep the flame of music alive, contributing to an accessible and vibrant live music scene.

In recent years, at many festivals and events in Hue city, Phan Huy Thanh has impressed music lovers with his distinctive songs composed and sung by the musician himself, such as Non (The Conical Hat), An gi o Hue? (What to Eat in Hue), Tu dien Co do (The Ancient Capital Dictionary), etc.

Visitors at the Hue Singing Performance Space on Le Loi Street in Hue recently enjoyed an unexpected musical experience as the powerful rhythms of the West African Djembe blended with the familiar melodies of Hue Singing. Bringing this distinctive sound to the former imperial city was Michael Schmidt Kanté, a French musician who has spent years traveling across continents to study and perform traditional music.

On the evening of June 14, thousands of audiences filled the riverside stage area along the Perfume River to relive the timeless songs of the late musician Trinh Cong Son during the special artistic program “25 Years of Remembering Trinh Cong Son”, held under the theme “Hue - Saigon - Hanoi”.

Premiering in August 2025 and surpassing 700 billion VND in box office revenue, the film “Red Rain” (“Mua Do”) created an unprecedented box office phenomenon for a Vietnamese political and historical film. What few people know is that the person behind the film's music, touching the hearts of millions of viewers, is musician Cao Dinh Thang - a young man born and raised in Hue.

In 2000, in the short piece entitled “Hue Diary,” written when he returned for the first Hue Festival, musician Trinh Cong Son wrote, “When you have a place to return, or to visit from time to time, you are very fortunate. There, you have a river, a mountain, and you can find again your old friends whose hair used to be black has now turned grey. You might suddenly meet a Hue girl on the street and ask her, ‘Is there anything new in Hue now?’ And immediately, or perhaps by chance, she will recite the two lines from a poem by Bui Giang: “Da thua xu Hue bay gio/ Van con nui Ngu ben bo song Huong” (“Yes, sir, Hue now/ Still has Ngu Mount by the Huong river…”)

One morning in late 2025, at Chieu Cafe on Dang Thai Than Street, behind the Hue Imperial Citadel, young musician Huynh Anh Khang had a conversation with us about music and his love for Hue – the land he feels he “owes a debt to.”

“Afternoon in My Homeland” was not only an artistic program commemorating the late musician Trinh Cong Son, but also a gathering of kindred spirits who share a deep affinity for his music.

On January 23, the family of the late musician Trinh Cong Son, in coordination with the People's Committee of Quang Dien Commune, organized a program to present Tet gifts to households in difficult circumstances in the commune.

In the middle of the rice fields of Dien Hoa (now Dien Chau Commune, Nghe An Province) stands a small memorial site. There, the final wish of a father - the poet and musician Nguyen Trong Tao, who spent many years with Hue - has been fulfilled.