La Doãn Chánh (Chinese: 羅允正, 1920–2 April 1945), known by his stage name La Hối (Chinese: 羅開), was a Vietnamese musician of Chinese heritage.
La Hối | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | La Doãn Chánh |
| Born | 1920 Hội An, French Indochina |
| Died | 2 April 1945 (aged 24–25) Đà Nẵng, Empire of Vietnam |
| Years active | 1934–1945 |
Biography
Born in 1920 to a Hakka family with origins in Dongguan, Guangdong, China, La Hối started writing songs at the age of 14. Between 1936 and 1938, he studied in Saigon and began to embrace Western musical conventions.
In 1939, La Hối returned to his hometown Hội An, where, along with some of his close friends, he founded the Faifoo Philharmonic Society.[1] From this period until his passing, he authored songs by himself and collaborated with other well-known musicians of the time on others, such as Gấm vàng (Golden Brocade) with Dương Minh Ninh, Nắng chiều (Sun in the Afternoon) with Lê Trọng Nguyễn and Chiều tưởng nhớ (Afternoon of Mourning) with Lan Đài.
1944 was when La Hối composed his last and most popular song, Xuân và tuổi trẻ (Spring and Youth, Chinese: 青年與春天) and a year later, in the wake of the Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina, he made the Philharmonic Society an anti-Japanese resistance group. However, the Kempeitai captured and executed him on the foot of a mountain outside Đà Nẵng on 2 April. He was 25. Ten of his comrades also met an identical fate.[2][3][4][5]
Legacy
Out of La Hối's estimated 20 self-made works, only Xuân và tuổi trẻ, as well as Xuân sắc quê hương (The Colours of Spring),[6] remains. In his memory, poet Thế Lữ wrote the lyrics to Xuân và tuổi trẻ during a visit to Hội An in 1946.
Many of his descendants and relatives also became musicians, most notably La Gia Thắng (or La Xuân, 1919–1966) and pianist La Gia Quảng (or La Châu Quảng, 1926–2014).[7][8][9]