People's Artist Diep Lang: The councilman of the cai luong stage and life in the late afternoon in America

People's Artist Diep Lang used to be a well-known name with many roles in famous Vietnamese classical operas and plays, he is considered a "banyan tree" in the Vietnamese art village. More than 10 years ago, the veteran male artist and his wife moved to the US to settle down and reunite with their children and grandchildren.

From a country boy to a reformed star

People's Artist Diep Lang, real name Duong Cong Thuan, was born in 1941 in Sa Dec (Dong Thap). Around the age of 13, he followed his father, the piano teacher Ba Diep, to Saigon, following the reformation group.

In Saigon these days, reformed groups often live and gather in communal houses, such as: Tan An communal house, Tan Kieng communal house, Phu Hoa communal house, Hoa Hung communal house, etc. Any troupe that performs well will last for a few years. , without a good play, only a few months will return to the temporary residence again. The artist's life goes on and on, staying at home and then back at home.

At that time, he loved to sing cai luong, it was common for him to run away from home and work as a "small worker" in singing groups. Diep Lang's luck was that he had a godfather. But no matter how you sponsor, you still have to run around to buy this and that for the group, wash clothes for the couple, cook rice for the peaches... That day, the boy Diep Lang only played the role of a military officer, holding a pennant to run. wandering around on stage to "excite" the stage atmosphere in Kim Thoa troupe.

In the early 50s, Kim Thoa troupe performed "Lap River Gianh" at Nguyen Van Hao theater (ie Cong Nhan theater today), a reformed play expressing the desire to unify the country. Halfway through the show, suddenly... a grenade was thrown from below. The delegation suffered great losses in both people and property. Fortunately, Diep Lang's father and son were unharmed.

More than a year after that incident, Kim Thoa's group disbanded. His father and son led each other to join the Viet Hung - Minh Chi delegation. After joining the group for about a year, Ba Diep got sick and had to leave the group, going back to his hometown for treatment. Left alone, Diep Lang continued to roam with the group. The day his father died, Diep Lang was acting far away. The family did not know where he was to report the news. When Diep Lang returned to visit his hometown, his father's grave was already green.

Artists, especially Cai luong artists, often believe in random chance (otherwise known as "The Treatise"), as an element of chance. Diep Lang believes in that a lot. He told me that once when he joined the Hoai Dung - Hoai My troupe, the double main brother was busy and could not act, and the boss appointed Diep Lang to replace him. So within just one day, Diep Lang finished the drama class for his role - the role of the king, in the play "Diamond Ring".

As soon as he finished his studies, he immediately went to the stage to act. After the show, many audiences were surprised by his fresh acting. Then Diep Lang signed an official contract for 25,000 with Huu Tam group. He said that 25,000 days is very large, because 1 gold price is just over 2 thousand dong.

But, just after signing the contract with Huu Tam, Diep Lang lost his voice. When the treatment was completed, the voice became hoarse again, no longer the same breath as before. That's it, if you have followed the dual career of singing and lost your breath, you are considered to have left.

Fortunately, in those sad days, he had the opportunity to observe the double poison in Huu Tam's group practice. In cai luong, double is divided into many forms, the most popular ones are double single and double singing. The duo is purely about acting, and the duo specializes in singing. The voice is no longer the same as before, Diep Lang's goal is to learn to become a double poison.

At that time, the double pull between this group and the other group happened as usual. But the manipulation must be clever, not easy to conflict. During the times of enticing between the groups, Diep Lang joined the Kim Chuong delegation with a contract of 30,000 VND.

In this group, under the influence of "Ci Luong Witch" by composer Thu An, Diep Lang has risen to become a double star of Cai Luong in the whole South at this time.

After many famous roles, Diep Lang was awarded to him by the Thanh Tam Award Selection Board (the predecessor of today's Tran Huu Trang Award). According to the regulations of Thanh Tam Award, any artist after winning the award but still performing well in the following year will receive an additional Honor Award. Right next year, Diep Lang was honored to receive another Honor Award from the Thanh Tam Award Selection Board.

In the mid-1980s, Diep Lang was honored to go to Europe to perform. The role of Thang Council in the play "Life of Ms. Luu" played by him made overseas Vietnamese shed tears. Sitting in the heart of Paris, hearing her voice over the radio, Diep Lang cried for happiness. In addition, he was conferred the title of People's Artist by the State in 2003.

Life in the late afternoon

In 2010, Diep Lang suddenly moved to the US to settle down. Since then, information about the male artist's life and health has not appeared much in the press. Partly because Diep Lang preferred a quiet way of life and did not like to share his private life, the other part was because he withdrew from the stage to relax with his children and his wife Thu Phong.

According to the artist's wife, Diep Lang, for many years, he suffered from Parkinson's disease, sometimes he remembers and sometimes forgets. However, when it comes to his plays, the veteran male artist clearly remembers every word of the song. "Many nights, Mr. Diep Lang dreamed that he was on stage and then sang aimlessly, sometimes got up to dance and sing. There were times when he was loud enough to startle the whole family. Indeed, the passion has eaten into the blood. Diep Lang misses his job very much. Maybe because he's been away from the job for so long, he should remember, but he has to accept it because of his family situation," she confided.

In addition, Ms. Thu Phong revealed that her husband mentioned a lot about Vietnam and wanted to return home, but his health did not allow it. She said that once, the couple bought a ticket to fly back, but when it was time to go to the airport, he was rushed to the airport, had to cancel.

After more than 10 years of living abroad and many years away from the limelight, artist Diep Lang has never stopped missing his job and the stage. "There isn't a night when I don't sleep without having a dream that I'm singing, standing on the stage. Then I sit up and sing, miss my job. My job is a headache, when I step off the stage every day I feel like I'm in pain. who cut the intestines. Sleep is restless, I dreamed that I was acting, but when I was about to go on stage, I forgot the drama", he said.

Artist's wife Diep Lang confided that many people did not understand why he left the stage to go to America, so he blamed and upset him.

Far from his hometown, artist Diep Lang always looks towards his hometown stage. He often plays reformed videos to help remember his job, if he has the opportunity to meet his juniors, he will only show a very enthusiastic experience. Whenever he heard someone passed away, he was deeply saddened and wished to send condolences to the family. He was teary-eyed when the audience found him and revealed that everyone missed him, looking forward to seeing him again on stage.

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