Listen to artists Le Thuy and Hoai Thanh tell stories in Australia

People's Artist Le Thuy went to Melbourne, Australia to visit her grandchildren who are studying there. She said: "I visit them almost every year, but only now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I can go." Her daughter and youngest son are living with their family in the Footscray area of ​​Melbourne.

"Wherever we are, our people love each other"

People's Artist Le Thuy commented: "Wherever we are, our people love each other." She has toured many places around the world , wherever she goes, she meets and learns about the lives of overseas Vietnamese. In Australia, she has spent many years taking care of her children studying abroad. Singer Duong Dinh Tri also studied in Australia for a long time before returning to Vietnam to participate in performing arts and became famous with the program "Footsteps of Two Generations".

During her time in Australia, People's Artist Le Thuy noticed that Vietnamese people live in many places. "Wherever I met Vietnamese people, I saw the community helping each other to do business and make a living. Thanks to that, children of families who settled down here quickly integrated and studied with peace of mind," she said.

Author and People's Artist Le Thuy on the streets of Melbourne

According to the 2021 census of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Vietnamese speakers living in this country is nearly 321,000, most concentrated in the two states of Victoria (nearly 119,000 people) and New South Wales (nearly 118,000 people).

People I know say they like living in Australia because it is isolated, peaceful, and not affected by the world crisis. The Australian economy is stable, unemployment remains low, so job opportunities for university graduates are quite open.

Also in Australia, I met again the famous singer Hoai Thanh. This year he turned 70 but he is still resilient and persistent in integrating into life in a foreign country.

Having immigrated to Australia under the family reunification program sponsored by artist Do Quyen's daughter, artist Hoai Thanh and his wife Do Quyen quickly got used to life and helped their children, with the support of the Vietnamese community.

Initially, when he arrived in Melbourne, artist Hoai Thanh was helped by a Vietnamese family to learn tailoring. The couple sewed at home to order, and with the addition of participating in weekend cai luong performances, their income was quite high.

Later, he had an additional job rolling spring rolls for Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants, so he was proficient in buying ingredients to prepare Vietnamese food at Springvale market.

Artist couple Hoai Thanh - Do Quyen talk about life in a foreign land

Taste of home

While artist Hoai Thanh drove me to Springvale market and stopped by the best Bun Bo Hue restaurant there for breakfast, I was guided by People's Artist Le Thuy to take the tram to the market in Footscray. It is a bustling market created by Vietnamese people, selling almost all the food, agricultural products, and seafood of our homeland.

Recently, this place has developed a food-to-order business, which People's Artist Le Thuy believes is for older women. Called "Vietnamese home kitchen", this business is run by mostly Southern women, cooking delicious home-cooked dishes to meet the daily needs of families.

Looking at the menu, you can see delicious dishes with Southern flavors such as sticky rice, sweet soup, braised fish, braised pork in clay pot, steamed fish sauce, braised beef, duck cooked with fermented bean curd..., cooked "take away" style (buy to go, not eat on the spot).

The kitchen accepts orders one day in advance and delivers them to the "mainstream shop" at the markets or "ships" them to your home. The income from this job is quite good. As long as they are diligent and skillful, housewives can earn a living while preparing food for their families. The good news spreads far and wide, and the dishes served with rice, noodles, and pasta, pre-ordered in "ship" boxes, are now available at offices.

Vietnamese restaurants in Melbourne, with many hometown dishes, from pho to sweet soup, cakes...

Artist Hoai Thanh also talked about the rustic features of a high-income profession in Australia - farming, which Vietnamese people here often call "farming".

During their visits to Vietnam, some Vietnamese people take the opportunity to bring all kinds of vegetable seeds to Australia. It can be said that any kind of vegetable available in Ho Chi Minh City is also available in the land of kangaroos, from Vietnamese coriander, basil, coriander, scallions, chives... to bitter herbs, water celery, watercress...

According to famous singer Hoai Thanh, these vegetables are cheap in Vietnam but when they are brought to Australia, they become expensive agricultural products. For example, Vietnamese coriander costs 15 AUD/kg (about 240,000 VND), coriander and Vietnamese coriander cost 45 AUD/kg (about 720,000 VND), water spinach costs 6 AUD/kg (nearly 100,000 VND)...

The greatest happiness

When People's Artist Le Thuy went to the market in Footscray, overseas Vietnamese in Australia recognized her. Wherever she went, they welcomed her, expressed their joy, asked for autographs, and took souvenir photos.

In restaurants, overseas audiences always billed the entire table even though they had just met her, and some even paid in advance before meeting her. Some people ran to the market to buy fruits, candies, and specialties and brought them to the table as gifts, expressing their admiration for a reformed opera artist who had played many roles that they loved.

People's Artist Le Thuy and the author

A woman from Rach Gia accidentally met People's Artist Le Thuy and burst into tears. She said that since she was a child, she had loved Le Thuy's voice. When she grew up and followed her husband to settle in Australia, she bought and carefully kept all of her tapes and CDs.

"That is the greatest happiness in an artist's life. No matter where the audience settles, they bring the art of cải lương with them. They love cải lương to feel that they are always close to their homeland" - People's Artist Le Thuy confided.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su-quoc-te/nghe-nghe-si-le-thuy-hoai-thanh-ke-chuyen-o-uc-20230719132140453.htm