Charming Vietnam to be held in Indonesia

The Vietnam Duyen Dang (Charming Vietnam) Gala will be organised on December 15th in Jakarta, Indonesia, by the Department of International Cooperation to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relation between Vietnam and Indonesia and to mark Vietnam’s chairmanship of the ASEAN 2010.

The gala, an event to strengthen the relationship among ASEAN countries, includes a number of performances by actors and actresses from Vietnam and other ASEAN member countries.

So far, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar and Thailand have registered to display their performance arts for the event.

Festival to highlight Vietnam’s rice tradition

"banh khot", a rice dish, on display at the Binh Quoi Tourist VillageSome 100 rice dishes from around the country will be showcased at Hat Lua Que Toi (My country’s rice grain), a cultural-culinary festival to be held this week at the Binh Quoi Tourist Village in Ho Chi Minh City.

At the three-day festival that opens Friday, “vendors” will peddle their goods by crying out as they do on streets everywhere in Vietnam.

Visitors can also see farmers hard at work, tilling, cultivating, harvesting, and drying rice.

The festival, open from 5 pm to 10 pm daily, will also feature folk games, traditional art performances like "Dan ca Nam Bo" (folk music of the south), "Cai luong" (Reformed Theatre), and "Hat boi" (Vietnamese opera).

Traditional craft villages, where artisans will make ceramics, knit mats, and make other handicrafts, will be recreated.

Tickets costing VND220,000 (US$11) -- and VND150,000 for children -- are available at 1147 Binh Quoi Street, Binh Thanh District.

Quang Binh reserves 21 ancient Ca Tru tunes

Troupes of Ca Tru (ceremonial singing) in the central province of Quang Binh is now reserving 21 ancient tunes, according to the provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.

The province now has 10 Ca Tru troupes with 138 artists. Of them, the Ca Tru troupe of Dong Duong village, Quang Phuong commune, Quang Trach district, and the troupe in Chau Hoa commune, Tuyen Hoa district, is holding classes for over 50 people, aged between 10-20.

Since Ca Tru was recognised as a cultural heritage in need of urgent protection by the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Oct. 1, 2009, Ca Tru troupes in Quang Binh have held over 30 free-of-charge performances to the public in order to raise people’s awareness on preservation of the singing.

‘Ca Tru’, also known as “hat a dao” or “hat noi” (ceremonial singing) which dates back to the 15th century, has also been listed among intangible global cultural heritage traditions in danger of disappearing.

Ca Tru, like many old and highly developed arts, has many forms. However, the most widely known and widely performed type of ca tru involves only three performers: the female vocalist, a lute player and a spectator (who also takes part in the performance).

The female singer provides the vocals whilst playing her “phach” (small wooden sticks beaten on a small bamboo box to serve as percussion). She is accompanied by a man who plays the “dan day”, a long-necked, three-string lute used almost exclusively for the “ca tru” genre. Last is the spectator (often a scholar or connoiseur of the art) who strikes a “trong chau” (praise drum) in praise (or disapproval) of the singer’s performance, usually with every passage of the song. The way in which he strikes the drum provides commentary on the performance, but he always does it according to the beat provided by the vocalist’s “phach” percussion.

Vietnam spotlighted in works of overseas artist

Eighty-two year old artist Do Danh Than has not lived in Vietnam for over 60 years, but memories of his homeland still remain fresh in his mind. Recently, he launched an exhibition of his paintings at the Vietnamese Cultural Centre in Paris, France on November 20.

His paintings portray daily life in Vietnam and include a garden, bamboo, areca trees, betel gardens and water tanks.

His wide variety of paintings are to express his desire to preserve Vietnam’s unique traditional culture and introduce it to international friends. 

“Through my paintings, I hope to prove that overseas Vietnamese are always bound to their homeland and strive to build a peaceful and prosperous country”, he said. 

His paintings are diverse in content, form, manner of expression and colour, but all show the artist’s desire to preserve Vietnamese culture and allow French people and other international friends to understand Vietnam’s culture and uniqueness.

“I nurtured these themes in my works since my childhood”, the artist shared.

Living in France, Nguyen Danh Than is always keen for information on Vietnam from the media or his friends. 

“I feel happy and proud of Vietnam’s success and integration with the world and these achievements are due to the leading role played by the Vietnamese Party, State, Government and people”, he added.

Flowers and women featured in 'sisters' exhibition 

Two artist-sisters Vu Bach Hoa and Vu Bach Lien share the same view o­n the theme of flowers and women through their art works now o­n display at the Exhibition House, 17 Ngo Quyen Street, in Hanoi.

Born in 1959, Vu Bach Hoa experienced life during wartime so most of her works feature people’s hope for tranquility and the refined simple beauty of daily life, as in the wood sculpture ‘Thon Nu’ (Country Girl), the bas-reliefs ‘Hong Nhan’ (Beauty) and ‘Trang’ (Moon), the stone statue ‘Mau Tu’ (Motherhood), and her lithograph ‘Dem Thu’ (Autumn Night).

Her younger sister, Vu Bach Lien, was born in 1976 and is absorbed with reflecting modern people’s complicated inner lives in today’s society through graphics and digital art.

Despite their very different styles and views of life resulting from their 17 year age gap, o­ne can still see the connections between the two sisters’ work, which delivers a message of humanism and compassion for women and children.

‘Sisters’ will be o­n display through December 17.

PV