Cao Ngoc Son: Famous for "speed" in the rowing village, the past is full of difficulties

For many years, the name Son "cheo" - the stage name of Lieutenant Colonel, Outstanding Artist (Meritorious Artist) Cao Ngoc Son (Military Cheo Theater) has become familiar to a large number of people who love rowing.

Cao Ngoc Son was born in 1981 in Thanh Luu commune, Thanh Liem district in a purely agricultural family. Orphaned by his father when he was still holding his back, the family had up to 5 brothers, so Son's childhood was chaotic and sad. At the age of 7, Son helped his mother with farming, crab hunting, and catching snails to sell at the market. After graduating from secondary school, Son had to put aside his dream of a book lamp, went to Son La, Lai Chau to make a living.

Thinking back, Cao Ngoc Son found himself coming to rowing as a kind of "destiny". In 1997, during a visit to his hometown, he went to his uncle's house to play, the two uncles and grandchildren were sitting and confiding when they heard the radio station announce that the Ha Nam Cheo Troupe had just been established after separating the province, and was recruiting actors for the work-study system. Seeing that Son had a good voice, he inherited his mother's passion for folk songs and rowing, so his uncle encouraged him to try. Nervous because for the first time standing on stage, Son failed the exam. But then, he was called by the delegation to add to the list of students attending the school.

With passion and hard work, Cao Ngoc Son gradually became an official student. The National Rowing Young Talent Contest in 1998 was an important milestone. Under the leadership of People's Artist Manh Tuan, he had a quite successful performance. Up to 5 contestants chose the excerpt "Cu Sut the district lord" to compete in the contest, but only Cao Ngoc Son, the youngest was awarded the Silver Medal. The joy multiplied when Son was actively approached by Artist Vu Ha, Deputy Head of the Literature and Art Department of the Voice of Vietnam at that time to say that he was a young actor full of potential. He gave Son a pendulum watch with the hope that it would remind Son to constantly persist in trying every day.

That gift, over the years, he has always cherished because it is really a spiritual fulcrum for him. Therefore, there was a time when he had to take advantage of the break to practice lace embroidery to earn more income, the meal was just going around with tofu, fat, water spinach, and sweet potato, but Son never intended to quit his job. Even when many colleagues have retired from the runway, inviting Son to turn in another direction to make life better, Son still diligently pursues his passion for rowing.

Successful as a clown, but Cao Ngoc Son is not satisfied with what he has done. He is eager to renew himself by trying his hand at different types of roles: peach, double, old, and midwife. In 2003, sent to participate in the National Rowing Young Talent Contest, Cao Ngoc Son transformed into an 80-year-old man who fell in love with a girl in her twenties in the excerpt "Fishing Boat Couple", although in real life he had just turned 22 years old. From his eyes to his gait, the voice of the old man's character, Son showed very honestly, making the audience cheer warmly. In that contest, Son won another silver medal.

In 2007, Cao Ngoc Son returned to "join the army" for the Military Rowing Theater. In the military environment, Ngoc Son always tries to train to be worthy of being an artist-soldier of the "army rowing mat" that has been famous with a long tradition. Just by studying and training with him for a short time at the 2nd Military Training Course of the General Department of Politics in 2013, we knew him well that he was a very diligent, hard-working, strictly abiding by military discipline and etiquette standards. As an artist, Ngoc Son takes political tests, completes serious training contents; At the end of the training class, he was one of the few students who achieved good results. Busy performing to serve the military and people all over the country, actively working in the troupe as Secretary of the Youth Union of the Military Rowing Theater, but he still arranged to complete his university studies. The good degree of studying and working as a theater actor issued by the Military University of Culture and Arts has proven his efforts and diligence, which is his nature.

The precious point about Ngoc Son is that he is very passionate about his job. Many times I have been in contact with him, only to notice anywhere, even if it is singing happily between a small group of close friends, whenever he sings, he tries not to sing, singing as if he is on a real stage. When on stage, he transforms himself into the role, crying and laughing according to the fate of the character; how to act and sing the most successfully, satisfying the viewers. Ngoc Son's memorable memory is a performance to serve the army and people in Bac Ninh. While preparing to perform with the main role, unfortunately he fell and broke his finger. But he still suppressed the pain of performing so as not to "break" the program. In the last scene, the female actor did not know that he had fallen, so the most emotional part of the play was when the two characters held hands, she held him tightly, making him extremely sad but did not dare to react for fear of affecting the viewer's emotions.

Until participating in the performance in the paddle play "The Song of the Mesopotamian Region" competing at the National Professional Rowing Theater Art Contest in 2013, Ngoc Son added to the personal achievement table the 7th silver medal. Therefore, his colleague boldly awarded him the title of "king of second place". But everyone believes, with the talent and love for the profession of a person born to sing, sooner or later he will win himself a prestigious gold medal in a big role. The trust and expectations of the audience and colleagues were responded to worthily by Ngoc Son when in two years, he won two gold medals through the role of Dat in the play "What remains after the war" at the National Professional Art Festival in 2014 and the role of Tien "The star at the head of the mountain" at the National Professional Rowing Theater Art Contest in 2016. With more than 20 years in the profession and achievements, Captain Cao Ngoc Son at the age of 38 was honored to be awarded the title of Artist of the Year in 2019 by the President. This is a worthy thing for efforts to overcome difficulties on the training floor... Heaven endows Ngoc Son with strong vocal cords, but to become a famous rowing actor, he must always explore acting, singing, creating a unique character, making a deep impression in the hearts of the public.

After conquering two noble gold medals of the acting profession, a new challenge came to him again when the leaders of the Military Rowing Theater agreed to transfer him to be an assistant performance organizer of the Arts Department. Colonel, Artist Vu Duy Tu, Deputy Director of the Military Rowing Theater said: "The task of the assistant to organize the performance is to connect units and individuals inside and outside the military to perform the task of organizing for artists to perform; including performances with revenue to increase income for everyone. The leaders of the Military Rowing Theater have considered and decided to transfer Cao Ngoc Son to take on this job because he has good ability to organize and diplomatize."

Receiving a new job in 2017, Cao Ngoc Son traveled like a shuttle with official letters, papers and many administrative tasks to find more performance contracts for the unit. His efforts were recognized when over the past time, the artists of the Military Rowing Theater can rest assured that the preparation has been carefully organized.

Accepting fewer roles because he wanted to give up the stage for young colleagues to show their talents, but Cao Ngoc Son was still immersed in the art of rowing. That is the reason for him to release his first rowing album "Grace of Birth" to thank the born, directing listeners to filial piety, compassion and charity. Temporarily away from the spotlight, every day, he still practices his voice and exercises to maintain his physique to be ready to take on difficult roles when asked by the theater. Cao Ngoc Son thinks that no matter what job he does, he is trusted and loved by his superiors and colleagues, he tries to complete well with all his strength to be worthy of the title of artist-soldier.

Ho Ngoc Trinh: Shining with a cross-legged role, the young generation fuels the art of Cheo Mặc Lan12:52:13 23/01/2025With a natural singing voice, People's Artist Ho Ngoc Trinh started singing at the age of 14 when she worked with the Cultural Center of Moc Hoa district at that time. To help her family, she went to school and sang to earn income.