Since the establishment of the province, up to now, the Quang Ninh stage arts sector has had 4 people awarded the title of People's Artist (NSND). The first person was Le Dung, then Quang Tho - both are very famous. With Minh Hue (Cheo) and Tien Mac (Cai Luong), fewer people know. Because Cheo and Cai Luong are two types of traditional stage arts that are selective of audiences. Currently, the 2 Cheo and Cai Luong troupes have been merged into the Quang Ninh Art Troupe. However, the outstanding achievements and contributions of these 2 NSND cannot be forgotten.
People's Artist Tien Mac's full name is Vu Tien Mac, born in 1960 in a poor farming family of 6 brothers and sisters in Minh Quang commune, Vu Thu district, Thai Binh province. Since childhood, Tien Mac had a talent and passion for singing and dancing, enthusiastically participating in the commune's children's art troupe. One time, the woman in charge of teaching him a cai luong song praising the heroic example of Vo Thi Sau, Tien Mac absorbed every word and memorized every sentence, with his voice sometimes low, sometimes high. The woman in charge discovered that Tien Mac was very suitable for cai luong, so she took him to houses with radios to listen to cai luong programs on days when there were cai luong programs. Tien Mac was "infected" with cai luong from that moment.
In 1977, when the Vinh Tra Opera Troupe (Thai Binh) went to the countryside to recruit actors, Tien Mac, then 17 years old, applied and was selected and then sent to the Vietnam Stage Arts School (Hanoi) to study.
Like going from a village pond to the ocean, here Tien Mac was taught by many good teachers, such as Ms. Lien, Ms. Nga, especially Mr. Trieu Quang Vinh, the father of People's Artist, Director Trieu Trung Kien (currently Director of the Central Opera Theater). Mr. Vinh really liked Tien Mac. On holidays, he often took Tien Mac to his house to "secretly" listen to opera tapes and CDs of famous artists in the South before the liberation. The "blood" of opera became more and more ingrained in Tien Mac. At school, he also met good classmates recruited from other provinces, such as To Hoan (Hai Phong Opera Troupe). In their free time, the two sisters To Hoan and Tien Mac practiced together the vọng cổ songs. The school discovered, encouraged and every Saturday night invited both of them to perform on the school's internal radio, which made the Mai Dich Cultural Area very excited at that time.
Tien Mac remembers clearly, after a year of studying at school, he saved up some money during the summer break, took a boat trip to Saigon to meet his idol, artist Thanh Tuan, who was famous throughout the South before 1975. Unfortunately for him, Thanh Tuan and Thanh Kim Hue were on tour in the Southwest. Disappointed, Tien Mac went to his cousin who had been in the South since 1954. After chatting, his sister took him to Ben Thanh market to buy all kinds of things like clothes, shoes, ties, but he was still not happy. Seeing that he was not happy, his sister asked him, so Tien Mac suggested that she exchange the new things she had bought for herself with a cassette. His sister took Tien Mac to the tape store to buy him all kinds of things, especially original cai luong tapes, all of which were by veteran singers such as Ut Cha On, Bach Tuyet, Phuong Lien, Ngoc Giau, Ut Bach Lan, Hoai Thanh, Minh Canh, especially Thanh Tuan and Thanh Kim Hue.
Back at school, Tien Mac hid those things. Only at midnight when the whole school was asleep, did he dare to cover himself with a blanket to eavesdrop, because at that time, golden music, sad and mournful vọng cổ melodies were all classified as “banned”.
Thanks to his passion and hard work, along with the dedicated teaching of his teachers, especially the "pick-up" of breath compression and word concentration techniques from famous cai luong singers (through tapes and CDs), Tien Mac's singing voice became more and more skillful, becoming the most outstanding in the school's cai luong course. Tien Mac was often invited to "single tour" with the Trung Duc and Thu Huyen music groups to agencies and offices around Hanoi. The remuneration at that time was only a kilo of sugar, a carton of milk, and a few kilos of rice, but Tien Mac still felt extremely proud and happy.
In the excerpt “Honey Mouth, Sword Heart” written for his graduation essay, Tien Mac played the role of Luc Van Tien, who was blinded by a bad guy on his way home from the exam and thrown into the river. Rescued by a fisherman, he painfully sang three mournful vọng cổ verses, making the packed hall shed tears. Everyone admired Tien Mac’s soulful and emotional voice.
Four years of study passed quickly, and Tien Mac graduated with a good degree. The Voice of Vietnam Radio's Arts Department invited him to work, but Tien Mac wanted to return to his hometown Vinh Tra Opera Troupe.
At that time, Vinh Tra Opera Troupe had just taken over the disabled war camp in Dong My commune, Dong Hung district, 7 kilometers from Thai Binh town. The material and spiritual life of the actors was very difficult, especially the lack of clean water, they had to carry muddy water from the river to use as alum. Yet Tien Mac and his fellow actors still practiced day and night with enthusiasm.
In 1985, participating in the Cai Luong Theater Festival in Nghe An, Tien Mac played the role of engineer Khanh in the play “I and us” adapted from the play by Luu Quang Vu and won the Silver Medal. In 1990, participating in the National Cai Luong Theater Festival in Hai Phong, with the role of Ktam in the play “The singing of the highlands”, Tien Mac won the Gold Medal with actress Huong Sen, forming a famous pair of actors and actresses in the festival.
When the Vinh Tra Opera Troupe moved to the town (now Thai Binh city), Tien Mac was already married, but he was still passionate about art. With a little money saved, he went to all the markets and streets, wherever there was a cassette with good sound, he would search for it at all costs and buy it.
Until now, those who love the art of reformed opera in Thai Binh still remember Tien Mac's memorable roles such as Berbide (Persian Queen), Kim Trong (Thuy Kieu), Diep (The Love Story of Lan and Diep)... Remember the vọng cổ singing voice that was both far-reaching and pure and full of charm of the young artist with a charming crooked tooth.
In 1996, Tien Mac joined the Quang Ninh Cai Luong Troupe and with the role of Bien in the play "The Woman on the Grass", at the Northern Cai Luong Theatre Festival in Nam Dinh, Tien Mac won the Gold Medal. To make a strong impression, director Doan Hoang Giang arranged for him to stand in the middle of the stage in silence for five minutes of smoke and fire. The voices of his comrades echoed. Suddenly "Huy, Dung! My comrades!..." Tien Mac's voice, without taking a breath, without pausing, soared as if tearing the speaker apart, shooting out 80 consecutive "xuong xe" words, making the entire audience stop breathing and then burst into emotion. People's Artist Manh Tuong, People's Artist, director Pham Thi Thanh and many co-actors, when the curtain fell, rushed onto the stage to hug him, expressing their admiration.
In 2000, at the National Cai Luong Festival held in Ho Chi Minh City, Tien Mac won the Silver Medal for his role as Thai in the play “Sac Phu Dung”. In 2012, also at the Cai Luong Festival held in Ho Chi Minh City, Tien Mac won the Gold Medal for his role as Tran Thu Do in the play “Phu Van”. Two years later (2014), at the National Cai Luong Festival held in Dong Nai, he won another Gold Medal for his role as Lang in the play “Nguoi da 13 ben nuoc”…
With the successes achieved in his career, on January 11, 1998, Vu Tien Mac was awarded the title of Meritorious Artist by the State; on January 10, 2016, he was awarded the title of People's Artist by the State.
After retiring, People's Artist Tien Mac still continued to sing. Whenever there was an invitation to meetings or summaries at agencies, he enthusiastically participated. There were retired coal mine leaders who missed his voice and invited him to sing at a tea room, and he happily accepted.
Although he is over 60 years old, Tien Mac is still young and healthy, his singing voice is always clear. He has 2 children, the eldest daughter is working at the Vietnam Cheo Theater, while the son went to Ho Chi Minh City to pursue a career in puppetry. In a small house in the Cultural Collective Area in Cai Dam (Bai Chay Ward, Ha Long City), People's Artist Vu Tien Mac and his wife, Cai Luong artist Bich Lien, still live a frugal and cozy life, taking care of each other and happily reminiscing about the stage whenever friends and old colleagues come to visit.
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