50 years after the fall of Saigon, a Colorado pastor's musical legacy grows
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April 30 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. After the Vietnam war, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees immigrated to the United States. Today, more than 34,000 Vietnamese people live in Colorado. Rocky Mountain PBS will follow the stories and experiences of some of these immigrants in remembrance of the anniversary.
DENVER — Sunlight beamed through a window pane, backlighting the 15-foot tall cross that towered above the congregation at Vietnamese Community Baptist Church in Montbello.
Children chased one another between the navy seats as the adult choir descended from the stage, stacking their red hymnals on the seats behind them.
Inside these hymnals, one writer’s name is ubiquitous: Lê Ngọc Vinh.
“He loved music. He loved to write music; it was his way of being comforted,” said Hien Vo, 53, about her father, Pastor Lê Ngọc Vinh, who authored more than 200 church hymns over the course of his life.
Pastor Vinh immigrated to the United States in 1983 after the Fall of Saigon, which marked the end of the Vietnam War. Refugees arrived in Denver following the May 10, 1975 collapse of Saigon. Most refugees were welcomed and sponsored by churches and volunteer groups in the Denver metro area.
Between 1983 and his death in 2017, Vinh started six Baptist churches in the Denver metro, creating spaces for Vietnamese immigrants to find community in a new country.
“[Vinh] has composed the most hymns in Vietnamese as a pastor. He wrote in all four harmonies, by hand, with no prior composing education,” said Pastor David Dong of Vietnamese Baptist Church in Arizona, who was a frequent musical collaborator with Pastor Vinh.
Today, at Colorado’s four Vietnamese churches and others across the United States, choirs perform Vinh’s celebrated hymns, “Sống Cho Chúa” (Let’s Live For Him) and “Chúa Biết Rõ” (God Knows).
Vinh was born into a Christian family in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 1938. He was always involved with the church, playing the organ and piano for the service and choir. When the Vietnam war started in 1954, Vinh’s family moved to the southern part of the country to live in Saigon, now formally known as Ho Chi Minh City.
Vinh composed his first song, “Hội Đồng Vĩnh Long Ca,” in 1957 at the age of 19. The title translates to “The Council of Vinh Long Ca.” A young adult choir performed the piece at the General Council in Vinh Long, Vietnam.
The choir practices for Easter. Video: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
The piece featured four-part harmony, encouraging the choir to sing in four different voices — soprano, alto, tenor and bass, creating a harmonious chorus. This style laid the foundation for Vinh’s future compositions where he continued to implement the four-part harmony.
Vinh’s reputation as a musician grew from that performance and he began officially writing hymns for the Saigon Evangelical church.
Outside of church, he studied at Saigon University of Medicine.
However, like many young Vietnamese men, Vinh had to enlist in the army once he graduated from medical school in 1966, where he served as a general doctor in the military. By 1975, he had risen to the rank of commander at the Duy Tan General Hospital blood transfusion center when communist North Vietnam captured Saigon.
While her father was serving in the army, Vo said the pastor remained active in the church, dedicating his free time to music and his faith.
Vinh’s family left Vietnam in 1980 in search of a better life after the country fell under communist rule.
“The government didn’t let us make a living,” said Vo, who now works as an interpreter for the Vietnamese community and lives in Aurora with her family.
“[They] didn’t let my brothers and sisters go to college,” she said.
Vo’s older siblings came to Colorado first as refugees with Vinh’s brother, Thien Le.
Vinh left in 1982 and, after a brief stay in a Hong Kong refugee camp, immigrated to Colorado in 1984. Vinh’s brother, Thien Le, sponsored his arrival.
It wasn’t until 1989 that Vinh was finally able to sponsor his wife and two daughters, Heather Le and Vo.
“It was a shock. Everything about this country was different,” said Le. Now 50, she was 14 when she first came to the States.
“But it was so lovely to see the family all in one place again. That was the same.”
Le, left, signing with her worship team. Video: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
Vinh hit a wall when he came to Colorado. Despite his medical education in Vietnam, he was not accepted into any medical programs in Colorado.
That’s when he turned to music and faith.
He pursued a degree in ministry at Denver Seminary and officially became an ordained pastor in 1989.
“He’s the first Vietnamese church founder in Denver. I remember him working with pastors from different states, bringing them here to take over the churches,” said Vo.
During the years following the fall of Saigon, Colorado’s Vietnamese population sought out community in the new country they immigrated to. According to census data from the American Community Survey, in 1980, nearly 40% of Vietnamese immigrants spoke little to no English.
Vinh saw this as a sign to bring together the community while continuing to celebrate his music and faith in God, Vo said.
Members of the congregation pray. Video: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
In the early 90s, Vinh, with the support of the city’s Vietnamese community, started the first Vietnamese church in Denver across the street from Abraham Lincoln High School. It was aptly named the “First Vietnamese Baptist Church.”
“It’s really hard to open a church,” said Dong. “At first you don’t have donations or organizations to help start it. A lot of it is self-funded until you grow a community.”
Vinh used funding from donations, offerings and churches in other states to start the church, which eventually led to five more churches.
Vinh later opened churches in Westminster, Boulder, Aurora, Englewood and Colorado Springs.
“You can say his Sundays were busy,” said Le, who today takes her two sons to the church that her father founded in 1995 and where he served as pastor until 2004, Vietnamese Community Baptist Church in Montbello.
“He had to make sure all the churches were good, so he traveled to all of them.”
Almost 30 years since its opening, the Montbello church has a regular attendance of more than 70 people every Sunday, including Vo, who also attends with her family.
Vinh retired in 2015 and entered a nursing home due to health problems. At the time of his passing in 2017 at age 79, he had produced seven CDs, translated dozens of English hymns into Vietnamese, written more than 200 songs and dozens of hymns which are all played across Vietnamese churches in the country.
“He’s a deep and passionate person. He really understands the experiences of his community and as he’s experienced it firsthand,” said Dong, who mixed and recorded Vinh’s recording projects. “He wrote simply, it came from the heart.”
Le and Vo are both part of the choir and worship team and love when they’re able to sing their father’s songs in the service. Their favorite song of Vinh’s is “Chúa Biết Rõ” which translates to “God Knows”.
“Ngài biết rõ mỗi nhu cầu của đời sống tôi”
(God knows every need of my life)
“There was always music in our house growing up. He was always singing, playing the piano,” said Vo, who also plays the piano and sings at her church, Vietnamese Community Baptist Church, which her father founded in 1995.
Vo, who is one of six siblings, said they all inherited some of their father’s musical talent.
On Sundays, Vo and Le and their 11 family members lead the worship team and sing in the choir.
Vo admits, however, that she doesn’t know every song. She sometimes listens to Vinh’s CDs and finds a new song that she’s never heard before, surprised by the vastness of her father’s discography.
“All his songs were about finding comfort in God,” Vo said.
“I like to think that even after all he’s been through in Vietnam and starting a new life here, his songs were comforting and were about finding that comfort through faith.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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