Meritorious Artist Ngoc Ha: The beauty of a voice imbued with Nghe An culture

Meritorious Artist Ngoc Ha - who is always remembered by the public for her sweet voice when performing works by many famous musicians of Nghe An, is a person who always knows how to overcome herself to conquer new heights, and is also a person who knows how to humbly step back and stop when her talent and stage experience are at their peak. In Ngoc Ha, people feel the most rustic and gentle beauty of a voice imbued with Nghe An.

The song arose from the lullaby

Born in the land rich in tradition of Hoa Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), Ngoc Ha was soon imbued with the distillation of Vi and Giam through her mother's lullabies, and through the folk songs and chants on the radio broadcast by her father's tiny radio. Perhaps it was these absorptions and loves that sowed in the heart of little Ha at that time a great love for folk songs. Ngoc Ha sang lullabies to her younger sibling with folk songs in a clear, high-pitched, passionate voice, making everyone who heard it captivated. Therefore, her neighbors always waited for her "time" to lull their sibling to sleep to put their ears to the fence in order to hear Ngoc Ha's lullaby in its entirety.

Childhood passed until the day youth knocked on the door, Ngoc Ha still had one hand working with a hoe, one hand plowing to help her parents, taking care of the housework and the fields in the family. Then her natural singing voice was still clear in the village meetings, in the communal house yard or in every village festival. One time by chance, the Director of the District Cultural Center heard this voice and he was captivated. Ngoc Ha was invited by him to become a special collaborator and from here she had the "space" to be free, to sing the folk songs that she loved since her childhood.

The vibrant days at the Yen Thanh District Cultural House, now the District Cultural Center, made her feel like she was living a different life, a life of an actor and singer, sometimes singing, sometimes acting. However, her talent did not stop there. By chance, one time when the National Conservatory of Music, now the National Academy of Music, was recruiting, she secretly "hid" from the Board of Directors of the center. The reason for "hiding" was because they kept her like "keeping a safe place", if she was accepted, she would leave the district and go away... Unexpectedly, the "carelessness" of the Board of Directors made her receive a notice from the Academy in the most unexpected situation. That was when she went to the district to meet the secretary and she asked: "Did you come back from studying at the Conservatory?", she was shocked and said: "No, why did you study at the Conservatory?". It turned out that when the Director of the District Cultural House received the notice from the National Academy of Music, he secretly hid it, not letting her go to school for fear of "bleeding" talent. By the time she knew about this, the enrollment deadline had passed.

Missing the precious opportunity, she could only cry sadly, but the years in her beloved homeland also gave her the first awards in her career. Those were many First and Second prizes at the Mass Art Performance Festival for solo singing, and A prize for drama.

There is an interesting thing, although she was only eighteen or twenty years old, Ngoc Ha soon asserted herself in the role of assistant director for plays, when she was invited by the famous playwright Phan The Phiet to be his assistant. In this role, Ngoc Ha was extremely loved by her colleagues and the public because of her quickness and meticulousness in each scene and each character's performance, she always inspired the scriptwriter as well as the actors.

Just like that, she grew up and matured on the path full of fragrant flowers of glory in the rice land of Yen Thanh. Then, by chance, she sang at a conference attended by Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Ky Cam. He saw her talent and suggested that she go to the Provincial School of Culture and Arts to study.

During her time studying in 1987 - 1989, Ngoc Ha showed that she was always the leader among the vocal faces of that time because of her good technique, deep musical sense and heart that knew how to express emotions in songs to give to the audience. Therefore, songs likeFolk song you and me(An Thuyen),Forced marriage(Tien Dung) orLove of Nam Dan countryside(Mai Cuong) was sung by her with such passion. It was these songs that helped her receive major awards at the National Professional Festival later on.

New steps

Ngoc Ha studied at the Provincial School of Culture and Arts for a short time, then the school's Board of Directors invited her to be a teaching assistant, which was a challenge for her but also a great honor. For herself, she is always strict to master the most professional techniques, and for her students and peers, she always inspires them and gives them the thoroughness in researching songs and musical pieces before singing them to the public. For Ngoc Ha, singing means telling a story through a work, so the singer must make that story the most impressive, the best and the most emotional.

It is her meticulousness in her profession and her high spirit of learning and progress that has helped Ngoc Ha gain a great position in the heart of the school's Board of Directors. Therefore, after graduating, she was retained by the school as a lecturer with the great task of creating motivation and skills for the young generation. It is also in this position that Ngoc Ha has trained many generations of students studying at the provincial art school during those years. Ngoc Ha is trusted by the school and is expected to stay with the school for a long time to create quality resources for the school.

The reason for this is because, at this school, her reputation also "spread far and wide", when professional art troupes in the province often invited her to collaborate. In 1989, she sang music for plays such as "Bi vo", then participated in professional performances for the Cai Luong and Nghe Tinh Folk Theatres. In every performance, she won a Gold Medal and a Silver Medal. "Thinking back, I realize that apart from her natural talent, if it weren't for her academics, it would be difficult to have the Ngoc Ha of the years to come," Ngoc Ha expressed.

Although the Principal kept her, once again the opportunity to become a singer came to Ngoc Ha, when the Deputy Director of the Ethnic Song and Dance Troupe at that time (now the troupe has merged with the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Nghe An Folk Heritage to become the Provincial Traditional Arts Center) Mai Cuong, when he came to school, suggested to Ngoc Ha: "You should become a professional, only by standing on stage a lot will you have medals and a name, even though your ability is excellent". With the encouragement of her husband, Musician Vu Tien Vinh, Ngoc Ha listened and confidently stepped onto the professional stage.

Grateful for life

However, the professional path was not always a bed of roses for her. When she wanted to reach that sparkling light, she had to step on sharp thorns many times. It could be external thorns, or it could be thorns from within her heart.

That was the first time the music and dance troupe set out on a mission to the western provinces of the province, when she had just given birth to a child over a year ago. The little child was still thirsty for mother's milk and "clinged" to his mother, so even though she had packed her luggage a day before, when it was time to leave, she told her husband, "I don't want to go anymore." Then she had to wipe away her tears and leave her child to do her mission with determination and encouragement from her husband. "Do you want to have a career? The child has his brother and grandmother, you don't have to worry about anything!" Her husband firmly said so that she could feel secure on her journey. Then, wherever she went, she asked for a landline phone to call the school to see her husband (her husband also worked at the Provincial College of Culture and Arts). Every time, her husband told her child to stay home and be good, even though she later found out that the child had been sick for a whole week.

"Without her husband's companionship and determination, there would be no Ngoc Ha today," she mentioned him with gratitude and love.

The second time she had to step on another thorn was at a National Music Festival where she was only awarded a Silver Award for her excellent performance of the piece.Folk song you and mefor a very trivial reason even though her score was the highest... The third time and the other times were temptations of material things and fame but Ngoc Ha overcame them like the simple person she is.

Throughout her career, Ngoc Ha always kept in mind that she only came to this life and held the mic to sing, to stand on stage and tell the story of her life through musical works. Therefore, even though there were many offers for her to take on management positions, she still refused, only accepting the position of Head of the Vocal Department of the troupe.

Up to now, although retired for many years, Ngoc Ha is still invited to sing regularly, invited to recite poetry because she has a very captivating talent for reciting poetry. She said, even if you only perform a poem, you must recite it with understanding and with all your heart. “Be grateful for life” is the phrase she often uses.