Artist Hong Nga is suffering from dementia, but does not forget the beautiful memories of her life of "market rice and river water"

Nghệ sĩ Hồng Nga bị lẫn nhưng không quên ký ức đời — Artist Hong Nga and People's Artist Kim Cuong

Although she now suffers from dementia, whenever friends and colleagues come to visit and recall her artistic life, she immediately remembers the beautiful memories of her life, which she often compares: "The life of an artist is based on food from the market and water from the river, eating at communal houses and sleeping in restaurants. It's hard but very fun."

Then she talked about the water carrying poles. When she was young, she was famous as the little black Nga girl who carried water for hire at Cau Dua in District 4. Her family was so poor, her mother was always sick so she had to quit school early to help her mother. Every day, she had the task of carrying water to fill jars for 10 families, and she was paid 20 dong. The water carrying poles were her "friends" from childhood.

Her hobby was to spend her breakfast money to buy books of vọng cổ songs. Seeing that she liked vọng cổ songs, the artist Tam Den adopted her.

"He was a famous zither player in the amateur world. I learned to sing, but it was very difficult. Every time I sang out of tune, the teacher would hit me on the head with the zither. It was both painful and funny. Because the teacher was very gentle. My mother used to scold me at that time: "You are so dark and skinny, who will watch you sing? Just accept your fate and be a "girl" carrying water to support me, my child." I laughed to myself: "I will take back what I said!" - she laughed again and said.

When she was out of tune, she went to sing at Le Lieu entertainment bar. There, she was loved by many audiences because of her sad voice. That's why, at the age of 17, playwright Hoa Phuong assigned her to play the role of teacher Lan in the play "Tuyet Tinh Ca".

She remembered the role of Mrs. Nam, the sweet soup seller, in the play "Commemorative Ferry Terminal" which was voted by readers of the Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper to win the Mai Vang award in 1998.

She confided that she was most afraid of lies. Although she had little education as a child, life taught her many great lessons. And she affirmed that there is no similar experience to avoid, only sincerity can help you grow up.

"Playwright Hoa Phuong once said: "Singing does not follow one's will, it is like a branch of water hyacinth floating on a river during low and ebb tides. If lucky, it will reach the ocean, if unlucky, it will cling to some remote wharf" - she suddenly stopped and cried.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nghe-si-hong-nga-bi-lan-nhung-khong-quen-ky-uc-doi-gao-cho-nuoc-song-196240128181722169.htm