Meritorious Artist Le Thien tells the story of meeting the leader at Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper

On the morning of August 11, at the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space of the Lao Dong Newspaper, the Reporters Party Cell organized a thematic meeting "Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style". The Lao Dong Newspaper Party Committee and a number of Party sympathizers attended and listened to the stories of the female artist who had met Uncle Ho when she performed at the Southern Opera Troupe.

Mr. To Dinh Tuan - Party Secretary, Editor-in-Chief of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper - on behalf of the Party Committee presented a beautiful flower to Meritorious Artist Le Thien, expressing his emotion at her meaningful stories in her life as an artist who had the honor of meeting and talking with President Ho Chi Minh.

Dr. To Dinh Tuan, Party Secretary, Editor-in-Chief of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper and Meritorious Artist Le Thien at Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh highly respected artists and writers, whom he always considered "soldiers on the cultural front".

Meritorious Artist Le Thien said that many generations of artists still consider Uncle Ho as a role model and a great inspiration in artistic creation. More than 50 years have passed since President Ho Chi Minh passed away, but his image is still present and accompanies the country's development.

And like other artists in Ho Chi Minh City, she kept the memories of meeting Uncle Ho in her heart. "Every lesson I learned from Uncle Ho is the awareness of training, studying and not letting youth be spoiled" - She recalled with emotion.

Dr. To Dinh Tuan, Party Secretary, Editor-in-Chief of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper and Meritorious Artist Le Thien at Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper

In the story about Uncle Ho, Meritorious Artist Le Thien told that when she was only 13 years old - in 1956, she was the youngest person in the General Political Department's Art Troupe that gathered in the North.

Two days before attending the reception of the Soviet delegation, she was taken to have a new military uniform tailored and was given a pair of beautiful shoes to prepare for entering the Presidential Palace.

Meritorious Artist Le Thien tells stories about Uncle Ho at Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space, produced by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper

"One morning in the capital, when the clock pointed to 18:30, I had the honor of entering the Presidential Palace to meet Uncle Ho. At that time, because it was still quite early, I deliberately separated from the group, ran around the palace and stopped in front of a large hall, admiring myself in front of a large mirror in the hall. While admiring, I was suddenly startled by someone's question from behind: "What is this little girl doing here?". I was moved when I saw Uncle Ho, because before that, through the press and through images, I had known that the leader of the country was Uncle Ho. I folded my arms and said to the person who asked me: "Yes, I came to see Uncle Ho". Uncle looked at me and smiled, then said, "It's 7 o'clock, why did you come early!?". I immediately replied: "Yes, the uncles in the group told me to come early to make up for lost time". Uncle smiled and patted my head!".

Meritorious Artist Le Thien views the exhibition at Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper

Two days later, a special vehicle came to my residence at the headquarters on Ly Nam De Street to pick me up and take me to the Presidential Palace again. Honestly, this second time, I was very nervous and told myself not to say a word. However, when I arrived at the palace, all my worries disappeared because Uncle Ho gave me lemon candy and pineapple candy.

"Then Uncle asked me where I was from, I said my hometown was Binh Dinh. My friends said, when I went to the North and met Uncle, I should ask for a strand of his white beard." Uncle laughed and said this little girl was very talkative. Because I was very naughty and active, when I went into Uncle's garden before dinner time, I asked Uncle's permission to run out to the garden to pick roses and put them in my hair" - Meritorious Artist Le Thien emotionally recounted.

The Party Cell of the Reporters of the Lao Dong Newspaper took a souvenir photo with Meritorious Artist Le Thien at the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space, organized by the Lao Dong Newspaper.

Meritorious Artist Le Thien said that in her artistic career, she had the honor of performing in 12 countries. Three of them were performances and she reported the results to Uncle Ho. That was the performance in North Korea, where she learned to sing Korean songs. She was given CDs to listen to, then the uncles in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs translated them into Vietnamese, transcribed them carefully, and she learned them quickly in one night. And that performance, she and her colleagues were proud because President Kim Il Sung attended.

"When I recounted, Uncle asked me to sing for him and joked with the uncles in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they listened to this Binh Dinh girl sing and then checked to see if she sang the right lyrics" - Meritorious Artist Le Thien still remembers Uncle's words and that song until today.

She sang this song to the Party Cell of the Lao Dong Newspaper Reporters and young reporters who are sympathetic to the Party.

Meritorious Artist Le Thien (left cover) took a photo with Uncle Ho and the Polish General Secretary in Hanoi - the woman wearing a white ao dai on the right cover is a female interpreter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The greatest lesson Uncle Ho taught Meritorious Artist Le Thien was to never stop learning, to speak and do the smallest things, and to always try to keep his youth.

"Uncle Ho is a leader who is extremely close and dear to artists. Stories about Uncle Ho have followed me and become valuable luggage on my artistic journey. Today, I was able to attend a special topic about Uncle Ho at the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space organized by the Lao Dong Newspaper. I still feel happy when I met Uncle Ho.

Thank you reporters for giving me a moment to recall beautiful and meaningful memories about the beloved father of the nation. I believe that Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space is not only a place to organize thematic activities of the Lao Dong Newspaper but will also be a meeting place for many agencies, organizations and artists of Ho Chi Minh City to visit and participate in thematic activities about Uncle Ho" - Meritorious Artist Le Thien hopes.

Reporters from the Lao Dong Newspaper asked many questions to Meritorious Artist Le Thien to better understand the stages of artistic development, from a 12-year-old "Binh Dinh girl" following the art troupe to becoming the youngest female leader of the Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theater, founder of the Tran Huu Trang Youth Assault Group, contributing to training a generation of talented artists such as Meritorious Artist Thanh Thanh Tam, Kim Tu Long, Chi Linh, Van Ha, To Chau, Thuy Trang, Linh Trung....

She visited the images and documents at the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space organized by the Lao Dong Newspaper.

Meritorious Artist Le Thien writes his thoughts after participating in a thematic talk at Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/van-nghe/khong-gian-van-hoa-ho-chi-minh-tai-bao-nguoi-lao-dong-nsut-le-thien-ke-chuyen-gap-bac-20230811120851572.htm