"The Cheo Boss" Tran Bang

On the morning of July 19, Meritorious Artist Tran Luc announced that his father, People's Artist Tran Bang, passed away at 6am the same day after being hospitalized. He was 97 years old.

Director Tran Luc posted a photo of People's Artist Tran Bang in May.

A few days ago, artist Tran Bang fell and had to undergo joint replacement surgery. Director Tran Luc announced the good news of a successful surgery. However, he had a fever for many days afterwards due to pneumonia.

In recent years, his health has been poor but his mind is clear. The artist has lived with his son's family for the past 6 years. At the age of over 90, he still updates news via social networks and is proficient in using the iPad.

People's Artist Tran Bang was born in 1926 in Co Am commune, Vinh Bao district, Hai Phong. He is the son of writer Tran Tieu and the nephew of writer Khai Hung. His wife was Cheo artist Tran Thi Xuan, who passed away in 2016.

People's Artist Tran Bang has lived in a small apartment with his son Tran Luc in Hanoi for the past 6 years.

Artist Tran Bang is known as the "boss of Cheo" because he belongs to the first generation to restore the art of Cheo that gradually faded away due to the Europeanization movement in the 1950s. He is a director, composer, researcher, and theorist of Cheo.

He adapted and reconstructed many ancient Cheo plays such as: "Quan Am Thi Kinh", "Suy Van" (from the play "Kim Nham"), "Nang Thiet The" (from the play "Chu Mai Than")... The play "Quan Am Thi Kinh" alone was re-staged by him 3 times (1956, 1968, 1985).

In addition, he also staged many modern Cheo plays such as: "Magic Water Bottle", "Love of the Forest", "Liberation Flag", "Two Paths", "Our Blood Has Flowed"...

In addition to his role as director, he also wrote many cheo scripts such as: "The buffalo of two houses", "The road goes with two directions", "The girl and the wrestler", "Love of the forest", "The love story of 80 years", "Our blood has flowed"...

He also wrote a number of research books on Cheo such as Overview of Cheo, Cheo Performance Techniques, Cheo - A Phenomenon of National Theatre...

The veteran artist once held the position of Director of the Central Cheo Theater, Head of the Department of Stage Arts of the Ministry of Culture and Information, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Stage Artists Association, term 1 (1957).

He was awarded the title of Professor and the title of People's Artist in 1993. He received the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2001 and the Ho Chi Minh Prize in 2007.

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