South Korea restores royal music instruments

A set of Bien Chung (brass bells) and Bien Khanh (stone gongs)The National Institute of Traditional Art Performance of the South Korea Wednesday handed over a set of Bien Chung (brass bells) and Bien Khanh (stone gongs) to the Hue Imperial Relics Preservation Centre (HIRPC).

South Korea Institute helped HIRPC restore Bien Chung and Bien Khanh, percussion instruments of Nha Nhac (Royal Court Music), as the techniques for making them have been lost in Vietnam since early the 20th century.

However, the instruments are sill preserved in the South Korea.

The instruments were used in Hue royal orchestra under the Le dynasty (1427-1788) and Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945), according to HIRPC Director Phung Phu.

They will be handed over to the Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theatre to be used on the occasions of traditional rituals during Hue festivals.

Park il Hun, Director of the South Korea Institute, hoped that through the cooperation the world will know more about the bilabial traditional music.

Youth Year 2011 to feature various activities 

The Ho Chi Minh City Committee of Communist Youth Union on December 30 introduced various activities and functions, which will be held from December 31 to January 9. The event aims to celebrate the upcoming 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Specifically, on December 31, members of the city Youth Union from 24 districts will launch the event entitled ‘Day for poor’. This event will offer free tickets to students, some scholarships, and the organises, will distribute free medicine to the poor.

On January 1, the city youth union will honour an outstanding young citizen of 2010. On the same day, they will also start construction of the Ly Tu Trong Communist Youth School and will meet city authorities.

On January 2, the youth union will launch a program to clean 8,000 lampposts and to organise friendly environmental products for the city. The event will include an exhibition of creative products, from young people and children.

Japanese Cartoon Film Festival to take place in Hanoi  

Japanese Cartoon Film Festival will be held at the National Cinema Center in Hanoi on January 12-16, 2011.      

Eight outstanding Japanese animations for 2000 will be screened with Vietnamese sub-titles.

The highlight of this event will be the movie entitled ‘Spirit away’, which is directed by Miyazaki Hayao in 2001. The film won the Golden Bear award in 2002, and was among the Oscar nominees for best-animated feature film, at the 75th annual Academy Awards ceremony.

’Spirit away’ tells about the adventures of a 10-year-old girl, Chihiro, who is lost at an abandoned amusement park. Japanese directors, filmmakers and producers, including popular voice actress Mitsuki Saiga and guitarist Kazuya Nishikawa, will arrive in Hanoi for an exchange with Vietnamese audience.

The Japanese Culture Department, the Japanese Cultural Exchange Centre of Vietnam, the Cinematographic Department and the National Cinema Center are jointly holding the event.

Free tickets are available at the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange from 2 pm on January 5, 2011.

VN folk arts on display in southern province

An art exhibition featuring Vietnamese folklore paintings and antiques are on display in the southern Vinh Long Province as part of a series of activities to mark the upcoming Lunar New Year.

The exhibition at the Vinh Long Museum at No 1 Phan Boi Chau Street, Ward 1 features 57 art works in various genres like Hang Trong paintings and Dong Ho paintings, both originating from the north. Dong Ho paintings are considered among Vietnam’s finest folk arts and a cultural heritage.

Other features include more than 200 artifacts belonging to Dong Son, Sa Huynh, Oc Eo, Cham Pa – all famous Vietnamese ancient cultures dating from to 2,500 to 2,000BC years ago.

The exhibition is aimed at introducing various values and meanings and expose visitors to the Vietnamese way of life captured through the art.

Painted hundreds of years ago, these artworks depict farmers’ simple life in symbolic ways and poke fun at human foibles besides satisfying spiritual, moral and artistic values.

The exhibition in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum runs till March.

In related news, the Vinh Long provincial library is showcasing newspapers and magazines themed “Congrats the Party, Welcome Lunar New Year”, aimed at serving visitors during first days of Tet – Lunar New Year falling in early February.

Photo exhibition on Vietnam – Cuba ties opens in Hanoi

A photo exhibition themed “Vietnam – Cuba, 50 years of solidarity, cooperation and development” opened in Hanoi on December 30 to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Cuba (Dec. 2, 1960 - Dec. 2, 2010).

Attending the opening ceremony were Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Tien Tho, Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Fredesman Turroz Gonzalez and representatives of the Embassies of Cuba, Thailand, France, the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association and news agencies.

On display are almost 100 photos depicting the friendly cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba and as well as the Cuban people, land and culture.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister Tho described the exhibition as a chance to review the traditional friendship and bilateral cooperation between the two nations in the fields of politics, economy, culture and education since the two countries established their diplomatic ties in 1960.

He said he believed that the exhibition would contribute to strengthening the bilateral friendship and boosting the comprehensive partnership between the two nations.

For his part, Cuban ambassador Fredesman Turroz Gonzalez expressed his thanks for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s participants in the event and affirmed that this year was important in exchanging bilateral culture between Vietnam and Cuba, especially the exchange visits by the two nations’ culture ministers and the signing of cultural exchange programme in the 2011-2013 period.

The exhibition, which is co-organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Cuban Embassy to Vietnam, will last until January 3, 2011.

PV