Hung Cuong - The unique "Triple King", making People's Artist Bach Tuyet "terrified" when performing together

During his lifetime, artist Hung Cuong was known as the "King of the Trinity" when he was successful at the same time with 3 roles: singer, actor and reformed artist. He was one of the "four golden pillars" before 1975, including: Duy Khanh, Nhat Truong, Che Linh, and Hung Cuong.

From the singer to the legendary Cai Luong "tsunami"

Singer Hung Cuong, whose real name is Tran Kim Cuong (1936 - 1966), was born in Ben Tre, but later moved with his family to Saigon to live. When he was still a high school student, Hung Cuong composed and performed student songs at school concerts. He officially followed the singing career after completing his baccalaureate and performing at dance halls such as Kim Son, Baccara...

Hung Cuong started to be famous at the age of 18, his name resonated with such songs as: "The ferryman", "Vong green day", "Son nu ca", "The old road"... All the songs he performed were recorded and reached record sales in Saigon at that time.

In particular, until now, no one has been able to do the "earthquake" story on the cai luong stage like Hung Cuong. It was in 1959, an unknown artist in the reformed world, who had never taken on any supporting roles, suddenly appeared in the main role and was a huge success.

That is the role of Romeo in the play "Beautiful Dreams on a Moonlit Night" by composer Viet Bang - Nguyen Thanh Hiep, opened at Nguyen Van Hao theater, with veteran actors at that time such as: Ngoc Dang, Ngoc Giau, Kim Should, Hoang Kinh, Thanh Sang, Kim Nguyen, Thanh Ky...

Artists at that time spread among themselves that Hung Cuong's first appearance and success on the Cai Luong stage was incomprehensible. Because a reformer takes at least 2-3 years of practice to get to a supporting role, and then it takes about the same amount of time to get to the main role if really talented and hard-working.

Since that successful role, Hung Cuong has become a shining star on the Southern Cai Luong stage. At that time, he helped increase the reputation of Ngoc Kieu troupe, and at the same time brought significant revenue to the group.

Bringing success beyond initial expectations, the group's owner Ngoc Kieu continued to sign a contract with Hung Cuong to sing the lead role in a new script called "Snow covered in the winter afternoon", which opened at Vien Truong theater in My Tho (province). Tien Giang).

After a month of practice, Hung Cuong personally hired an old musician to come to his house to practice day and night. In addition, he collaborated with the composer cai luong to insert a lot of new music into the script, properly exploiting his talent and creating new points for the play. Therefore, "Snow covered in the winter afternoon" by composer Bach Yen Lan and new voice Hung Cuong created a shock wave that people called "the reformation holy land" of My Tho.

Following the success, in 1960, Ngoc Kieu troupe continued to build a cai luong play "Purple paper flower lights", opened at Nguyen Van Hao theater, and then continued to tour in many major provinces in the West. Hung Cuong plays Kha Phong - a swordsman Phu Tang, next to the talent Ngoc Dang brings a new success to the reformed troupe.

Also in the 1960s, Hung Cuong and artist Bach Tuyet combined to form a legendary "tsunami" couple in Saigon.

As for Hung Cuong, his life-changing roles are probably the bandit general Bach Hai Duong in the play of the same name and the role of Van Chau in the play "Love the madman" are plays that make the audience appreciate his talent.

People's Artist Bach Tuyet once confided that the audience still loved her and Tan Tai, Thanh Sang, Minh Vuong, Thanh Tuan... but kept a corner in their hearts. And in her, irreplaceable, irreplaceable, is Hung Cuong.

"Before being a cai luong artist, Hung Cuong was an excellent tenor of the Vietnamese new music village. Only the disc "The Ferryman" with the release number reached a contemporary record, he stirred up the market. With a strong and enthusiastic voice like pulling listeners into a waterfall, when he stepped on the stage of musical theater, he swept me along, creating waves of "tsunami", which is also the position that The public gave it to me and him in the cai luong castle", People's Artist Bach Tuyet once said.

According to People's Artist Bach Tuyet, singer Hung Cuong is a talented person who is both romantic, arrogant, delicate and considerate. The sessions she practiced with Hung Cuong argued yes, sublimated yes.

"For every 10 shows, there are 6-7 nights when I get blamed, and I don't understand why. After singing that part, he will say: I don't remember how much I sing, do you have a conscience? Is it humiliating to receive money?

In response to his strictness, I half knew my fault, half grumbled: "Oh my god, I already knew that. But the audience didn't pay close attention like you"... How detailed and careful he was. I am so careless and superficial", People's Artist Bach Tuyet once shared.

The movie is also the most sought after

After resounding success in the field of reformation, Hung Cuong continued to stick with the music scene and again delighted fans with a new genre of music that first appeared in Saigon. At that time it was called "trap music", a form of pop-rock that was Vietnameseized.

The "music jerk" with vocalist Hung Cuong only really reached its peak when collaborating with singer Mai Le Huyen. The two created a new atmosphere for the music scene at that time when performing the songs: "Two golden hearts", "Meet on the street", "Love wreath", "Building a house by the stream". , "Because they haven't asked", "The ideal hut"... They excited the youth of the South in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Not stopping there, Hung Cuong continued to encroach into the film industry. The first film Hung Cuong participated in was "Purple Horizon" which brought financial success. Moreover, the film also won the Literature and Art Prize in 1971. At the same time, "Purple Horizon" was also sent to be screened at the film festival held in Dianard (England). It was the first time a Vietnamese film with French subtitles named Lhorizon Pourpre had this honor.

When he first entered the cinema, Hung Cuong was satirized very maliciously, criticized as "cai luong", but after succeeding with his role in the first movie "Purple Horizon", he was invited by many studios to join him. His works and movies are also very popular. In which, Kim Than film studio paid a high salary to invite Hung Cuong and Mai Le Huyen to pair in the movie "Power of money".

Hung Cuong became the most sought-after name at that time when he appeared in many famous films such as: "What's left for each other", "Afternoon sunshine", "Happy glass of wine", "Vengeance on the back of a wild horse". .. Only in 1971, a total of 17 films were shown, in which 4 films were present by Hung Cuong and all 4 films had high turnover.

In addition to being successful at the same time with 3 roles - singer, actor and reformed artist, Hung Cuong is also a talented musician. The number of songs he composed is not too large, but the songs he wrote are loved and admired by many people until now such as: "Night giving memories", "Returning to the cold country", "Which is sadder". ..

Ca sĩ Duy Khánh: xuất thân danh gia vọng tộc, được xưng tụng là một trong "tứ trụ nhạc vàng" Đình Thi16:37:18 24/07/2023Duy Khánh được biết đến là nam ca sĩ, nhạc sĩ và nhà sản xuất âm nhạc nổi tiếng bật nhất trong thời điểm trước năm 1975. Ông được người đời xưng tụng là một trong tứ trụ nhạc vàng cùng với Hùng Cường, Chế Linh và Nhật Trường.