Art performance marks New Year’s Eve

A special art performance celebrating Year of the Horse 2014 will be held by Vietnam Television on Lunar New Year’s Eve on January 30.

The event titled “Letters of the Spring” will present letters from fashion designer Minh Hanh to Master Ceremony (MC) Tran Thanh and letters from singer My Tam’s fans to the program’s organization board. It will also present letters from soldiers in border areas and islands to their relatives, letters from overseas Vietnamese’s congratulation on Tet holidays to the people at home and letters from kids to the future.

The show will combine fashion, musical performances, dancing and circus.

Famous performers My Tam, Thanh Bui, Ho Trung Dung, Uyen Linh, Ho Ngoc Ha, Minh Quan, Ngoc Anh, Phuong Vy, Duong Hoang Yen, The MTV band, the High school Musical dancing group, magician Nguyen Phuong and others will join the event.

Japanese culture exhibited in Hanoi

A Vietnam National Museum of History (VNMH) exhibition on Japanese culture opened in Hanoi on January 16 with a view to strengthening the cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

The VNMH, Japanese Culture General Department, and Kyushu National Museum collaborated to organise the display.

It showcases 70 artifacts spanning nine main themes, including Ancient Japanese pottery, metallurgy, Buddhist sculpture, Buddhist decorative arts, the Mongolian invasion, a history of Vietnamese-Japanese exchanges, 17th–18th century Edo overglaze-enamel porcelain, armour and weaponry, art and cultural preservation during turbulent times.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Dang Thi Bich Lien noted the Vietnamese Party and State welcomes the chance to promote the preservation of Japan’s rich cultural heritage and expand cultural exchanges and cooperation.

The ongoing cultural exchange programme, hosted by both countries in recent years, has helped deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

The current exhibition offers Vietnamese audiences an opportunity to build on their cultural knowledge.

It also incorporates the “Cool Japan Fukuoka” initiative, a celebration of Fukuoka City featuring a Japanese folk game workshop.

The exhibition will run until March 9.

Musical countdown for Tet

Vietnam Television will broadcast a music festival on January 30, Lunar New Year's Eve, as part of its annual Tet show.

Don Tet Cung VTV 2014 (Welcome the Lunar New Year with VTV) will have the theme Nhung Canh Thu Xuan (Letters of Spring) and carry the message: "Let's share, cherish the love between people and people, family and country, and live with your love."

There will be short clips on other topics between the music and dance performances.

They include a funny and unexpected "message" from fashion designer Minh Hanh to MC Tran Thanh, one from singer My Tam's fan to the programme, several from children describing the future they would like to see, from soldiers stationed on remote islands to their loved ones, and New Year greetings from overseas Vietnamese to viewers.

The programme will be divided into three parts.

The first will be a review of the success, failure, happiness, and sadness of the past year. It will feature an Ao Dai fashion show by designer Minh Hanh and a performance by singer Thu Minh with the three dance groups that played a big role in her huge success last year.

The 30-minute second part will feature live reports from various places around the country about how people are counting down the New Year.

The third part will see more music by top singers like Ho Ngoc Ha, Minh Quan, Phuong Vy, and Ngoc Anh.

The programme will be seen in many countries where VTV broadcasts.

‘Homeland spring’ to assemble overseas Vietnamese

Some 2,000 overseas Vietnamese throughout the world will return to the home country for “Xuan Que Huong” (Spring in the Homeland) – an annual event to usher in the Lunar New Year at Thang Long imperial citadel in Hanoi on January 23.

This year’s event is part of activities to review the 10-year implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution 36/NQ-TW on overseas Vietnamese affairs, said Deputy Foreign Minister and head of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs Nguyen Thanh Son at a press conference in Hanoi on January 16.

Co-hosted by the Foreign Ministry’s State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, the Hanoi municipal People’s Committee and Vietnam Television, the event will start in the morning with a diverse range of activities.

President Truong Tan Sang and other prominent officials will offer incense and release carps, and visit Bat Trang ceramic village and flower market.

A music performance will bring together popular singers and artists from home and abroad, promising the audience a memorable night. It will be broadcast live on channels VTV1 and VTV4.

Last year, remittances to Vietnam hit 11 billion USD, exceeding the 10 billion USD and 9 billion USD seen in 2012 and 2011 respectively.

According to the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, some 4.5 million Vietnamese are living in more than 100 countries and territories around the world.-

Hue restores ancient Long Thuyen temple

The Hue Monuments Conservation Centre on January 16 officially completed the restoration of the Long Thuyen Temple, part of the Hue Imperial city’s historical vestiges in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.

Director of the centre Phan Thanh Hai said that the temple was dedicated to gods protecting Long Thuyen soldiers who served the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty when they travelled by waterway.

The project was funded by the Central Monument Restoration Joint Stock Company under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It has both restored the temple and upgraded the surrounding landscape.

Earlier, the centre successfully restored the Long Quang royal boat, which together with the Long Thuyen Temple gives visitors an insight into Vietnam ’s culture and history.

The Hue Imperial Citadel was recognised by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage in 1993.

Festival Marks 95th Anniversary of Cai Luong

A festival themed “95 Years of Growth and Development of Cai Luong” will be held on January18 by the People’s Committee of Tien Giang Province.

It will showcase Southern Vietnamese Opera and mark the 84th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam Communist Party.

In the past time, My Tho city ever was a city center of western provinces, thus, My Tho was considered as a cradle of Cai Luong with many famous artists at that time.

This one-day festival will be divided into three segments.

Don Ca Tai Tu Nam Bo, recognized as a representation of cultural heritage by UNESCO, will be performing southern traditional music in the opening reception with displays of over 250 artifacts, documents, costumes and musical performances.

A seminar titled “Tien Giang with Cai Luong” will be held in the second segment where over 100 artists and art researchers from across the country present their work.  Child of Tien Giang, Prof. Dr. Tran Van Khue will be attending as Chair of Seminar.

A performance titled “Tien Giang – A Cradle of Cai Luong” will take place that evening in the third segment of the program.  Covers of famous songs, such as “Doi Co Luu” and “To Anh Nguyet” will be performed by Bach Tuyet, Le Thuy, Minh Vuong and Vu Luan.

Tien Giang Province will also present honoraries for 30 local artists contributing to Cai Luong.

The program was organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Tran Huu Trang Theater, Ho Chi Minh City Museum and Ho Chi Minh City Television.

Cai Luong, a traditional form of opera in South Vietnam, originated in 1919 in My Tho. The first song was “Da Co Hoai Lang” by Cao Van Lau.

Ten Years of Video Art in Indonesia comes to Goethe Hanoi

Fourteen artistic videos from Indonesian artists will be screened at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Goethe Institute in Hanoi, the institute announced in a statement.

To provide a survey of developments in Indonesian video art over the past decade, the Jakarta-based artist-run collective ruangrupa has compiled 27 works by artists and collectives who have made significant contributions to the medium.

A new generation of video artists in Indonesia has sprouted up in that time and they continue to work intensely and develop these techniques with fresh ideas that give new color to the development of video art in Indonesia.

Many of these works have been screened at OK. Video Festival, a biannual video festival held since 2003 also by ruangrupa. In this volume of Sup Video Soup, Doclab is presenting to the Hanoi audience 14 works from this selection. The works are: Memanen Matahari by Prilla Tania, Ari Satria Darma’s IQRA, Bercerobong from Eko Nugroho, Fish Market by Mahesa Almaida, Aditya Satria’s Happiness is Milk, Everything’s OK by Tintin Wulia, Once Upon a Time in China from Wimo Ambala Bayang, Reza Afisina’s What, Crash from Anggun Priambodo, Bagasworo Aryaningtyas’s Bilal, Sunrise Jive by Mahardika Yudha, Jalan Tak Ada Ujung from Maulana Muhammad Pasha, Rumah by Otty Widasari and Forum Lenteng’s Andy Bertanya.

Vo Viet Chung brings royal images to My Nu

Vietnamese designer Vo Viet Chung has introduced his new ao dai (Vietnamese long dress) collection named ‘My Nu’ (Beautiful Girl).

The collection consists of velvet, felt and lace. On each ao dai the designer depicts patterns which as royal symbols and models will be accompanied with fabulous accessories, ensuring that those wearing the dresses express noblility and royalty.

Via the collection, the designer wants to bring viewers back to a time of traditional values. This move is coincided with the cozy atmosphere of the Tet festival.

Committee set up to seek recognition for Chau Van singing

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has just assigned the Viet Nam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies(VICAS) to host and cooperate with relevant agencies to compile a dossier on  “Chau Van singing of Vietnamese people” to seek UNESCO's recognition as intangible cultural heritage.

The MCST set up a Steering Committee to monitor the establishment of the dossier.

As known, Chau van is a kind of spiritual singing accompanying the hau dong (mediumship) ritual of the Mother Goddesses religion. It's popular throughout the country, but Nam Dinh Province is considered its birthplace.