Cao Văn Lầu (22 December 1892 – 13 August 1976), also known as Sáu Lầu (Lầu the Sixth in Vietnamese), was a Vietnamese musician. He was the original composer of the song vọng cổ which started a new genre of cải lương music in the 1920s.Dance of Life: Popular Music and Politics in Southeast Asia - Page 19 Craig A. Lockard - 1998 "The song that originated vong co was first composed by Cao Van Lau between 1917 and 1920, during the formative ...Songs of the Caged, Songs of the Free: Music and the Vietnamese ... - Page 187 Adelaida Reyes - 1999 Vgng co ("longing for the past" or "nostalgia for the past") was originally an individual composition by Cao Van Lau (Sau Lau). It became part of cai ...
He was born on 22 December 1892 in Long An province, French Cochinchina. At the age of 4, he moved to Bạc Liêu and spent all his life there. In Bạc Liêu, he studied chữ Hán with a monk and then attended a French primary school. In 1907, Lầu stopped schooling because of his poverty. In 1908, he began learning music from local musician Lê Tài Khí and began his music career four year later. In 1913, he married a woman named Trần Thị Tấn.
Because Tấn was not pregnant after three years of marriage, Lầu was forced to send his wife back to her family due to local custom. This separation inspired Cao Văn Lầu to compose his best known love-song Dạ cổ hoài lang (Night Drum Beats Cause Longing for Absent Husband), a song that has had a great influence on cải lương music. He died on August 13, 1976, in Bạc Liêu.
References
External links Ca Mau club spreads music rooted in native soil Page with portrait of Cao Văn Lầu.