Art & entertainment in brief 5/4 | Vietnam Guide

Antiques on display at Hue Festival

More than 1,000 antiques by 22 collectors from UNESCO Vietnam Center are part of the ?Back to land of heritages? exhibition from Wednesday to April 20 as part of the Hue Festival.

The exhibition, organized at The Thua Thien-Hue Provincial Museum of History and Revolution at 1 on 28 Thang 3 Street, will focus on Dong Son Culture. Works include musical instruments, weapons, farming tools, ceramics and jewelry with some 3,000 years old. Artifacts such as bronze crossbows, arrows, shields, axes, mourning and funeral objects, pots and bells will give visitors a chance to look back in Hue?s past.

The festival will also include typical heritages of six northern provinces, displaying not only landscapes but also many tangible and intangible heritages.

Ivory Coast rock band to perform in Hanoi

The world famous women rock band, Manu Gallo, will start their Vietnam tour with a music night in Hanoi on April 5. ?

Lead vocal Manou Gallo and backing vocal Virna Nova will play their new songs, which are selected from their three albums: Dida, Manu Gallo and Lowlin in French, English and Dida (an African language).

The two-member band will also introduce some traditional African songs.

Gallo said they are very happy and ready to perform in Vietnam, especially during the Hue Festival. She was amazed at the large scale of the event which has drawn a large number of artists from different countries.

Concert hosts world premiere of symphonic poem

Composer Tran Manh Hung?s latest piece will be premiered at a concert by the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO) on April 5. ?

Based on the beauty of nature, the symphonic poem entitled ?Bach Dang Giang? was written to honour the good qualities of Vietnamese people.

Born in 1973, Hung currently teaches at the Military Academy of Culture and Arts, regarded as one of the most powerful symphony composers.

His piece ?Le Chi Garden? was written for Germany Television and first performed at the Beethoven International Festival 2009 in Bonn, Germany, while his symphonic poem ?Thang Long Spirit? was composed to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Hanoi.

?Bach Dang Giang? will be performed under the baton of conductor Tetsuji Honna, with Japanese harpist Yoshino Naoko appearing on stage to perform Harp Concerto.

Born in London, Naoko is in great demand as a recitalist and chamber musician in Japan. She has won many prizes including first place at the Ninth International Harp Contest in Israel, the Arts Festival Prize awarded by the Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Mobil Music Award for Brilliant Young Musicians.

Two pieces by Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich and Frenchman Claude Debussy will also be performed at the concert.

Ben Tre Coconut Festival opens

The 2012 Coconut Festival themed ?Ben Tre on the road to integration and development? is taking place in the Mekong Delta province from April 5 to 10.

The festival not only showcases hundreds of coconut products skillfully made by local farmers but also features the unique beauty of Ben Tre province.

Other activities include a trade fair, a street carnival, , a seminar on how to increase the value of coconut products and a ceremony to honour coconut farmers, a tour of coconut gardens, Miss Ben Tre Contest and art performances.

During the festival farmers will have the chance to exchange their techniques for growing coconuts and making different products from the fruit.

Life Art explores gender in ?Stranger?

Life Art organization will hold a performance of play ?Stranger? at Black Box at 7:30 p.m. from tomorrow to Saturday.

It?s a joint production from SameStuff Theatre of Phan Y Ly and English theater artists Robert Hale and Paul Burgess. The performance is produced by the social enterprise Life Art and is partly funded by the British Council Arts Fund.

Lasting 90 minutes, the play themes on the power struggle between men and women, aiming at the experiment and application of new theater ? devised theater -? as well as the stimulus of discussion and critical thinking on gender in Vietnam.

Feedback and dialogue from audiences are an important contribution to the evolution of the project. Admission is free at Black Box, 2nd Floor, 56 Nguyen Khuyen Street in Hanoi.
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Exhibition to boast heritages in northern central region

An exhibition entitled ?Travelling to the Land of Heritages? will be held from April 7- 15 in Hue city to welcome the 2012 Hue Festival and the 2012 National Tourism Year which highlights cultural heritage in the northern central region.

Under the theme ?Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development ? Rendezvous of Historical Cities?, the exhibition will spotlight the Dong Son culture through thousands of artefacts, including musical instruments, weapons, working tools, utensils, jewellery and ceramic artifacts.

The audio-visual exhibition will include photographs, CDs and brochures boasting the beauty of the heritage in the northern central coastal region, including ?Nha Nhac? (royal court music), ?Tuong? (classical opera) and royal dance in Hue city; the Ho Dynasty Citadel in Thanh Hoa province; UNESCO World Natural Heritage Phong Nha ? Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh province together with historical revolutionary sites in Quang tri province.

The exhibition, held jointly by the UNESCO Centre for Vietnam Antiquity Preservation and Research, the Vietnam Culture and Arts Exhibition Centre and Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thua Thien ? Hue. Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri provinces, aims to provide visitors at home and abroad with an opportunity to explore treasures from the local areas. It also aims to promote Vietnam tourism, from both at home and abroad.

Hue Festival attracts artists from 30 countries

This year?s biennial Hue Festival, held in the former imperial city of Hue, will feature 40 different groups of performers from nearly 30 countries from all five continents and run from April 7-15.

From France, the street performing act Carabosse will bring a unique fire lighting act to the festival. While the Combo Box and Ego will play their brand of jazz along various streets.

The Nantes based trio Smooth, is a jazz-funk / electronic outfit, who first got together in 2005. Their music is a mix of influences from different times and places that could easily have been played in a 1960s underground venue in London or a Berlin caf? in the 70s.

Many have put together special acts to perform at the festival, including ?Russia, My Love? by the Raduga dance troupe from Khabarovsk in Russia.

Added to this, Deep Roots, a Cuban folk group, will bring a colorful and exciting dancing and singing performance to the festival.

The band Cuartoelemento from Argentina, singer Manou Gallo and composer Max Vandervorst from Belgium are also set to entertain the public with their unique performances.

All the acts will give their first performance for patients in hospitals in Hue and for workers and soldiers throughout the city.

Ha Long Bay to offer tourists free Wi-Fi
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Tourists visiting northern Vietnam?s Ha Long Bay , recently recognized as a new world natural wonder, will be able to enjoy free Wi-Fi service from 44 locations starting from the end of this month.

The People?s Committee of Quang Ninh province has issued guidelines to the provincial Department of Information and Communications to make a plan to install internet transmitters along the National Highway 18A in Ha Long City before April 20.

The stretch runs from Ha Tu ward post office to Ha Long night market in Bai Chay ward, an area densely populated by locals and tourists.

On connecting to the free Wi-Fi, users can access several tourist information pages. However, there is a charge for using entertainment services or for downloading big files.

Nguyen Minh Hong, director at the Department of Information and Communications said Ha Long aims to become a modern tourist city and it is essential to build an information technology infrastructure like this.

With this plan, Ha Long is now the second tourist destination in Vietnam to offer free Wi-Fi service to visitors after Hoi An town, an ancient site in the central region recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage.

Ho Chi Minh award and State award nominees announced

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced the list of nominations for the Ho Chi Minh awards and the State awards for Literature and the Arts.

The nominees for the Ho Chi Minh awards are late musician Mai Van Chung and musician Pham Tuyen in the music category; painter Nguyen Gia Tri in the fine arts category; late People?s Artists and directors Nguyen Dinh Nghi and Duong Ngoc Duc, and late People?s Artist Nguyen Xuan Kim (S? Tien) in the State category.

The seven nominees in the literature category are the late writer Pham Tien Duat (Pham Lam), and writers Hoang Tich Chi, Dinh Trong (Ma Van Khang), Nguyen Huu Thinh (Huu Thinh), Nguyen The Xuong (Ho Phuong), Chu Ba Binh (Do Chu) and Luong Ngoc Huy (Le Van Thao).

In addition, 27 musical, 14 cinematographic, five architectural, five choreographic, 16 fine art, two photographic, 16 theatre, 38 literary and seven folklore works and group works have been nominated for the State awards.

The State Council has also submitted a list of 74 nominees for the People?s Artist title and 356 nominees for the Meritorious Artist title for the Prime Minister and the State President?s approval. They are all artists in the fields of music, cinematography, theatre, choreography, radio and television.

Weekend yoga class to begin downtown

Zenith Yoga is offering Saturday morning classes at 10.30am throughout April at a new, more central, location.

The classes will be held at the American Club on 19 Hai Ba Trung Street. The cost of a five-class pass is VND1,150,000, while drop ins are VND250,000. For information and registration contact: info@zenithyogahanoi.com.

Music event to raise funds for Blue Dragon

Synergy Music Production will host an art and music event gathering Ha Noi?s best electronic artists on Sunday, April 8.

The event, aiming to raise funds for Blue Dragon ? a charity foundation working with kids in crisis throughout Viet Nam, will take place at Track Bar under the Long Bien Bridge (head to the ramp that takes you up to the bridge, the bar is under that road on the traffic island) from 3pm until very late.

Party-goers can enjoy bluesy beats from local music makers while watching Gypsy Doodle Jammers paint up a storm. Music will move through the bluesy vibe and onto gypsy and balcan hip hop beats to more electro. Free entry and donations welcome.

Zen seminar seeks to awaken ?hidden power?

A Zen seminar titled Awaken Your Hidden Power will be held at Gala Royale event hall in HCM City by trainer Robert Bridgeman on Saturday.

Bridgeman is founder of the L.Y.O.N (Live Your Own Nature) Foundation in HCM City. The seminar, he says, aims to help ?you live and work with all your body, heart and mind?.

The seminar held from 9am to 1pm, will also feature a talk on Seizing Control of Age and Health by Dr Tran Huu Hanh, manager of the FV Hospital?s sub-department of anti-aging and medical sport.

Australian indigenous dancers set for HCM City show

A traditional and contemporary indigenous dance performance featuring one of Australia?s leading indigenous dance groups, Descendance, will be held at the HCM City Youth Cultural House in District 1 on April 16.

Descendance, established in 1993, has performed across Australia in movies, theatre, television, cultural centres and international festivals. It has also toured over 40 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the US.

Free tickets for the show beginning at 7pm can be obtained at chauthuy.hang@dfat.gov.au.

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