France’s Arties Quartet performs in Hanoi
France’s Arties Quartet music band will give a classical concert at the French Cultural Centre L’Espace on October 31 to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between France and Vietnam.
Arties Quartet is a world famous music band consisting of international musicians who share a passion for chamber music. All of them have graduated from the European Music Conservatoires in Paris, Brussels, Berlin and Geneva and won international prizes such as Dublin, Hamamatsu, Nielsen, ARD Munich, Florence, Long Thibaud, Heerlen, and IIIzaach.
They have participated in many prestigious concerts in London, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris and Kuala Lumpur.
They include soloists, chamber musicians, amateur artists and members of French and European orchestras as well as young talents.
Tickets are available at L’Espace at the price of VND120,000 per ticket but at a discount of 50 percent for students.
Finland-VN music and fashion show organised
A gala dinner with music and fashion performances will be held tomorrow night at Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel, as a part of Viet Nam-Finland Innovation Forum.
The music show will gather quartet GEN9, who will perform classical pieces by European, Finnish and Vietnamese composers.
The fashion titled Ecomia Autumn-Winter Fashion Show will feature four Vietnamese designers namely Vu Tien Manh, Huy Nguyen, Ha Duy and Cuong Belly as well as Finnish designer Hanna Saren from Helsinki.
The fashion show is themed sustainability, ecology and looking forward to future.
The music show will start at 6.30pm while fashion show will start at 8pm at the hotel, 1 Le Thanh Tong Street, Hoan Kiem District.
Entrance is free.
Phu Yen kicks off special art show
A performance called “Welcome to Phu Yen: An Interesting and Friendly Destination” will be held especially for tourists every Saturday night throughout the central coastal province.
Starting at 7.30pm, each performance will last for 45-60 minutes and will include music played on a stone zylophone, the lithophone, Cham dances, folk singing and modern theatre.
The shows will be performed at selected tourist spots in Phu Yen Province, such as Nhan Tower, April 1st Square in Tuy Hoa City and Song Cau Town.
The event will run until the end of 2015.
Buenos Aires learns about Viet Nam
An exhibition of photos and paintings on Viet Nam, its land and people are on display in Buenos Aires City.
The exhibition showcases 30 images taken by various Vietnamese photographers.
Paintings depicting Viet Nam by Argentinean painter Maria Teresa Bobbio are also on display. Bobbio contributed to the Ceramic Road project in 2010 – a decorative tile wall which runs along Yen Phu highway in Ha Noi.
There is also a display of traditional costumes from Vietnamese ethnic groups, as well as some folk paintings thrown in to the mix.
Two Vietnamese films will be shown, namely Canh Dong Hoang (Deserted Field) by director Hong Sen, and Dung Dot (Don’t Burn) by Dang Nhat Minh.
This latest cultural week follows on the heels of Vietnamese Culture Days, a programme held in Argentina last month.
In reciprocation next month, an Argentinean cultural week will be organised in Ha Noi and HCM City.
The programme will include a photographic exhibition and a talk on Eva Peron, the renown Argentinean activist who fought for the rights of women and the poor during the 1940s. There will also be a film screening and art shows.
Nghe An communal hub restored
A traditional communal house built in the 18th century in central Nghe An Province has been restored for ritual needs after years of ruin.
According to Nguyen Van Dong, caretaker of the Dong Chau communal house, the restoration was aimed to please local residents and create a hub for community meetings and cultural activities.
Dong said the communal house had been devastated by the wars, but in the post-war period, had become a market place and then a warehouse.
The new building of Dong Chau communal house was developed on old foundations, while original precious items have been returned to the house, including carved wooden altars, incense bowls, a sword, and documents transcribed by kings.
The new house area includes a stele memorating 30 war matyrs who were native to Quang Thai Village. Locals have rallied behind the house’s restorating, donating more land around the foundation for the stele’s construction, while the village’s Council of Elders has engaged personnel to clean the house on a daily basis.
Vo Thi Loan of the province’s monuments and landscapes management unit, said the province has 100 communal houses in need of restoration for local rituals and community activities.
The restoration is crucial to preserve traditional culture as well, she said.
Due to limited capital available for restorations in the province, Loan urged for greater focus on houses in critical states and in urgent need of repairs.
Local residents have been encouraged to mobilise available resources, as most residents share the desire of restoration for their communal house, she said.
Vietnamese films screened in Sri Lanka
The Vietnamese Film Festival in Colombo, Sri Lanka was held for the second time from October 19-21.
Vietnamese ambassador to Sri Lanka Ton Sinh Thanh said that five Vietnamese films including Doi Cat (Sand Life), Song trong so hai (Living in fear), Rung Den (Black Forest) and Vua bai rac (The King of Landfills) were screened.
Sri Lankan Minister for Human Resource Dew Gunasekara highlighted the Vietnamese embassy’s efforts in organizing cultural activities to help Sri Lankan people learn more about Vietnam’s land and people.
The Minister said both nations are proud of their time-honoured cultures imbued with national identity and have great potential for boosting cultural cooperation on the basis of mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries.
The National Film Corporation (NFC)’s Chairman Asoka Serasinghe, said that both nations have closely cooperated, especially since the Gagan Malik , the main actor of Life of Lord Buddha film and Sri Lanka’s The Light of Asia Foundation returned home after introducing the film in HCM City in early October.
Ambassador Thanh noted that the film festival was part of cultural exchange activities between the two nations in 2013.
Festival creates close link between Vietnamese and Indian
The sixth Vietnam-India people’s friendship festival opened in Hanoi on October 21 with a series of cultural and tour events taking place in the capital city, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Ha Minh Hue, Standing Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association and Vice President of the Vietnam – India Friendship Association (VIFA), said the festival aims to review important milestones in bilateral relations founded by late President Ho Chi Minh and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and fostered by generations of leaders and people.
During the six-day event, a talk themed “Vietnam – India cultural exchange” and music performances will be held in the central city of Danang.
The Indian delegation will offer incense at the Indira Gandhi monument and visit Tran Quoc pagoda in Hanoi, explore Champa culture in Danang and tour Cu Chi underground tunnels in HCM City.
Devi Prasad Tripathi, Vice President of the All-India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO), said the festival has inspired the Indian people to engage in improving bilateral relations in different ways.
Tripathi said AIPSO will do its best to provide support for millions of the Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims.
AIPSO General Secretary Pallab Sengupta presented Vu Xuan Hong, President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO), with a certificate of merit in recognition of VUFO’s contributions to bolstering the friendship between the two nations.
VIFA Vice President Vu Quang Diem and AIPSO General Secretary Pallab Sengupta conveyed the message of the sixth Vietnam – India people’s friendship festival, which emphasised that the Vietnam – India strategic partnership is a common precious asset of the two nations.
Every Vietnamese and Indian citizen is responsible for treasuring, preserving and bringing into full play that valuable asset, the message said.
New quarterly enlivens art scene in HCM City
About 300 young locals and foreigners stood in queue in front of the restaurant La Brasserie De Saigon last Thursday to join a special party. Each one of them had a new copy of the Saigon Artbook in hand.
Inside the restaurant DJs Demon Slayer and Starchild lit up the decks with original tracks while party-goers checked out works of the Artbook’s artists, Sandrine Llouquet, Truc-Anh and Ayano Otani, which were hung on the restaurant’s walls.
The first edition of the newly launched quarterly is available at La Brasserie (38 Dong Du, District 1).
The free quarterly aims to “bring art closer to everyone”, says the Tuoi Tre Publishing House, which has launched the book.
Each edition catalogues the work of three people living in Ho Chi Minh City, with the underlying aim of promoting innovative and undiscovered artists.
With each entry, a party will be held where visitors can meet fellow art lovers, have a chance to observe the artists’ talents and take the art book home as personal souvenir.
The first edition features three artists: Sandrine Llouquet, Truc-Anh and Ayano Otani.
Llouquet, born 1975 in Montpellier, France, has lived in Viet Nam since 2005. The catalog carries a collection of her watercolours on the theme of travelling.
Tangled hair curls, branches of ornamental plants, animals and insects are combined by Otani (Japanese artist) to create somewhat strange portraits.
Truc-Anh a Vietnamese French artist born in 1983, moved to HCM City in 2011.
His photos and still-life installations about the city capture contrasting aspects of the city – the dome of the opera house and a rubbish dump, for instance.
All three artists featured in the first edition of Saigon Artbook say they chose the city as their residence because it has the youthfulness, chaos and spontaneity that they need.
The quarterly can be said to be the brainchild of Alexander McMillan, who taught Shake-speare for many years at international schools in Tokyo and HCM City. A year ago, he decided to shift vocations and become a photographer, opening a studio called AlexbyAlex. He co-operated with a lot of famous brands in their advertising campaigns and the job brought him closer to non-stop HCM City.
He felt that the city needs “something”, a closer, easier and more comfortable approach to art for young people, especially students who are keen on art but unaffordable to enjoy it.
So he mooted the idea of the Saigon Artbook as a bridge bringing art to people with the partners of The Other Creative House, a group he was working with.
The first edition of Saigon Artbook, of which 500 copies have been released, carries no advertising and clearly mentions on the back cover that it is not for sale.
The group responsible for bringing it out has no time to rest on their laurels.
They are already busy preparing for the second edition, which is expected to hit the stands in January.
Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri