People's Artist Kim Lien: "Pink Lotus" in Vietnamese rowing village, 4 times met Uncle Ho

People who are passionate and love singing will be familiar with the name Kim Lien. She is a veteran artist of the Vietnamese rowing village, growing up in parallel when our country was still resisting. Mrs. K's voice was elegant, clear, sometimes soaring, sometimes deep.

"Kim Lien is like a pink lotus / Nam Ha is like lake water in summer", that is the opening word of the poem "Pink lotus" composed by the late former Minister of Foreign Affairs Xuan Thuy to give to People's Artist Kim Lien - a talented female artist Thanh Nam. She is one of the first artists to collaborate with TNV on singing performances from the 60s of the last century. Her voice has followed the waves of TNVN and won the special affection of the audience.

People's Artist Kim Lien was born in 1942 in Xuan Truong district, Nam Dinh province in a family with artistic traditions, her father is a singing duo of the famous Ong Trum Toai ward in Xuan Thuy, Nam Dinh. The old man specializes in playing horizontal double roles and has a voice that resonates like a bell. Early orphaned by her father, Kim Lien inherited from her father a very beautiful, bright, and vibrant voice. From childhood, little Lien has been exposed to singing and singing the unique rhythms of her homeland. And the biggest turning point in the artistic life of artist Kim Lien, that is, at the age of 17, Kim Lien was admitted to study as an actor in the Nam Dinh Provincial Cultural Troupe, now the Nam Dinh Provincial Rowing Theater. Under the guidance of famous artists such as Artist The Tuyen, Quang Thiem... the voice of artist Kim Lien has matured, become more profound, purer and become an excellent actor of the troupe.

In 1965, a number of new lyric songs recorded by the Voice of Vietnam with the singing of artist Kim Lien really resonated greatly. Both the profession and the public are amazed by the new, healthy beauty of a once forgotten music line. Literary songs with diverse rhythms, sometimes deep, sometimes jubilant, are a place for artist Kim Lien to show off her youthful voice, exposing her youth. Over the next twenty years, artist Kim Lien became a familiar and beloved voice on the Voice of Vietnam. During decades of artistic activities, artist Kim Lien has been honored to receive many gold and silver medals in professional festivals nationwide as well as certificates of merit and awards awarded by the State.

Not only possessing a great voice, People's Artist Kim Lien has also achieved a lot of success in many roles. In which, the most prominent is probably the role of "Dao Hue" in the ancient oar play "Chu Mai Than", the role of Ms. Tu Hong - a subordinate of the Hue royal family in the play "He drives the boat on the Vi River" and a series of character roles such as: Mu Cam in the play Tam Cam, Queen Thuong Duong in the play "Regent Y Lan"... The successes of People's Artist Kim Lien are not only recognized by experts, but many songs and roles such as Dao Hue, Ms. Tu Hong that she performed have become a threshold that few generations of actors have touched. With her dedicated contributions to art, in 2015 she was awarded the title - People's Artist by the State.

Now, that artist is still interested in art. Still ready to teach generations of children and grandchildren the essence of singing and singing. And for listeners who love to sing, it will be difficult to forget the elegant, clear, soaring, and sweet voice of People's Artist Kim Lien, that voice will continue to be sung on the waves, through the audio tapes stored in the tape archive of TNVN.

Since childhood, Ms. Lien has revealed that she has a sweet and passionate voice, flexible and impressive rowing acting. In 1959, she was called to the Nam Dinh Provincial Youth Union rowing team to tour. Recalling the first time he met Uncle Ho, People's Artist Kim Lien said, on May 21, 1963, the Nam Dinh Rowing Troupe was invited to the hall of Nam Dinh Textile Union Factory to perform to welcome Uncle Ho and the delegation to visit Nam Dinh.

At that time, People's Artist Kim Lien was assigned to play the role of Ms. Tam in the play "Ms. Tam Ben Coc". At the end of the performance, Uncle Ho brought the only bouquet of flowers to the stage to give to the young female artist and kindly said: "Uncle Ho gives Ms. Tam, to Kim Lien, a girl who dances flexibly and sings well. I hope you try to be like Ms. Tam." Receiving a bouquet of flowers from Uncle Ho's hand, Ms. Lien was touched: "I beg Uncle, listen to Uncle's words, I will try to be like Ms. Tam". Celebrating the founding day of the Vietnam People's Army on 22/12/1968, the Nam Ha Rowing Troupe (Ha Nam and Nam Dinh merged together) went to Hanoi to serve the Politburo in the play "Tran Quoc Toan goes to the army".

In the spring of 1969, the Ministry of Culture and Arts established a general art troupe consisting of 78 people who went on a long-term tour in Paris (France) and some places in Europe, around the same time that the Paris Conference was taking place. Artist Kim Lien was summoned to strengthen the Central Cheo Theater with the task of reciting Uncle Ho's Spring 1969 poem.

In Paris on New Year's Eve in 1969, she recited Uncle's poem "Happy Spring 69". Thousands of viewers applauded emotionally, wanting her to read it again. After a tour to serve overseas Vietnamese in France, on July 16, 1969, she returned to Hanoi with the touring troupe. During the tour summary, artist Kim Lien was elected by the delegation as a representative of the Central Cheo Theater to receive the Uncle Ho badge.

At the Presidential Palace's guest house, the tour group was honored to meet Uncle Ho, because Uncle Ho's health was weak at this time, so he only confided in the tour group for a few short minutes. Ms. Lien recalled: "At that time, Uncle Lien asked: "Kim Lien, do you like going to the west to recite Uncle's poems, overseas Vietnamese?" I just said, "Uncle! Overseas Vietnamese like it very much! One sentence is one applause, 6 sentences is 6 applause. I feel happy. Because Uncle's poems are good, the soaking is also fragrant."

The next day, artist Kim Lien was welcomed into the Presidential Palace by Uncle Ho's secretary, Mr. Vu Ky, to meet Uncle Ho and have dinner with him. Artist Kim Lien said that the 4th meeting with him was the one she will never forget. She said: "Just met, Uncle asked: "Is Kim Lien hungry?" I said, "Uncle, I'm not hungry yet! He immediately said that he would eat if he wasn't hungry. So the 3 uncles sat down at the dining table together. Then Uncle asked: "How many bowls can Kim Lien eat?", I replied: "Yes! I can eat 7 bowls." Uncle smiled affectionately and joked with Mr. Vu Ky: "So he has eaten all of his nephew's portion!" In that simple meal, Uncle Chan personally gave me a bowl of field crab soup. He also inquired about the health of his first 2 daughters, and told Mr. Vu Ky to prepare candy for his 2 grandchildren."

Ha Thao: Actress passionate about Cheo, "sticks" to the roles of meek girls Mặc Lan15:17:09 18/02/2025Ha Thao entered the actor training class of the Vietnam Cheo Theatre at the age of 15, when the Theatre came to her hometown of Then village (Thai Dao commune, Lang Giang district, Bac Giang province) to recruit students. Ha Thao started her life away from home from then.