HCM City plans many cultural events for New Year  

Ho Chi Minh City is currently bustling with activities for Christmas and New Year and for the coming Tet holiday season.  

The “Shining welcome for New Year” program will feature thousands of colorful lights along main city streets like Dong Khoi, Le Loi, Nguyen Hue and Le Duan in District 1 from December 26 to February 3, 2012.

The City has planned firework displays in the Thu Thiem area of District 2 and Dam Sen Park in District 11 on New Year’s Eve. In addition, an out door music performance will take place on Nguyen Hue Street from 9 pm-12 midnight on December 31.

The much awaited annual flower display on Nguyen Hue Flower Street titled “Vietnam, my country” during the coming Tet Lunar New Year will open from January 20 until January 26 (December 28 - January 4 on the lunar calendar).

Another festival, the Banh Tet (cylindrical glutinous rice cake) festival will take place from January 16-20, 2012. Started in 2004, the Banh Tet festival is celebrated every year with a focus on poor and needy people of the city and helping them to enjoy a warm and joyful Tet. The event will open with a Banh Tet cake making competition, in which 10,000 cakes will be baked and then distributed to poor families and disadvantaged children in HCMC.

An outdoor music performance on Nguyen Hue Street from 9pm-12midnight on January 22 (December 29 on the lunar calendar) and firework displays in several locations around the city will ring in the New Year.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport announced a plan to temporarily halt traffic construction works and repair of roads and drainage systems during the period December 31-January 1 and from January 8-30, 2012.

Local images featured in Idol’s music video

Vietnamese music fans are excited after seeing images from their country in the latest music video by American Idol 2002, Kelly Clarkson.

Called “What Doesn’t Kill You (Make You Stronger)”, the 3-minutue video, which was released on YouTube on December 14th, features a flash mob performed by a group of young Vietnamese in front of a background depicting Ho Chi Minh City’s Ben Thanh Market.

The flash mob, lead by a young woman wearing a T-shirt displaying the Vietnamese flag, was performed by members of Youth to Change, a volunteer network established by the NGO Action Aid International Organization in Vietnam for social activities.

It was made in response to Kelly’s call last month for her fans worldwide to submit videos of a predetermined dance to be used in the clip.

"I'd like everyone to join me in my global flash mob!" the pop star wrote on the US’s music chart Billboard.

The clip also showcases flash mobs of her fans from the U.S. states of Florida, New Jersey, and Missouri, as well as South Africa.

Born in 1982, Kelly rose to fame after winning the American Idol singing contest in 2002, and later became runner-up in the World Idol show in 2003.

In 2002, she released her first first single "A Moment Like This", which broke The Beatles' record for the biggest leap by a song to number one, from 52, in the history of the Billboard Hot 100.

"What Doesn't Kill You” is the second single to be released from her fifth studio album “Stronger”, which currently ranks 49th on the Billboard 200 chart.

The first single, "Mr. Know It All," sits at No. 20 after 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

American saxophonist cheers up Saigon streets

This tall, thin man in glasses and a beret is playing cheerful Christmas songs near a traffic light at the Phu Nhuan intersection, one of the most crowded traffic hubs in Ho Chi Minh City, during rush hour on a Thursday evening.

As soon as he starts blowing his golden saxophone, he catches the attention of the passers-by. In the middle of the street, a couple of passengers put their heads through a bus window, trying to figure out what the strange man is doing.

Some vendors pass him by, turn their back, and check him out carefully, as if he is trying to compete with their fierce business on the street.

Bikers throw confused looks at the foreign saxophonist while trying to jostle through the traffic jam during rush hour.

With a small girl sitting in the front, a father of a family approaches the musician so that his daughter can listen to a few joyous tunes before they depart again when the traffic light changes its color.

Not limiting himself to only playing music on sidewalk, the musician steps into the street and walks between drivers and vehicles as if he is trying to get closer to his “audience”.

“It’s quite strange. I don’t know why he plays on the street and sometimes merges among people like that. It’s like something from a movie,” said Le Vinh, who used his phone to capture the musician’s performance.

When the saxophonist takes a break, Vinh and his friends approach him and talk to so that they can have their questions answered.

The mysterious man’s name is Jeremy Danneman, and he is from New York. He arrived in Ho Chi Minh City a week ago and has performed at a crossroad, on a bridge, in a park, and wherever he can to catch people’s attention through his music.

Even though he graduated from New York University with a Bachelor's degree in British and American Literature, Jeremy decided to pursue his childhood dream and become a professional musician.

In March 2009, instead of having a birthday party, Jeremy decided to have a parade around New York, where he walked while playing a saxophone and was followed by friends and strangers on the street. He later called that special day “The Birthday March.”

In the same year, Jeremy founded Parade of One, an organization dedicated to removing the musician from the traditional, scripted role of recording albums and giving concerts, instead finding new ways to deploy musical talent.

Since then, he has travelled to Rwanda, Cambodia and now Vietnam; the countries that, according to him, have suffered the most from the pains of genocide and war, to give several street performances.

Most of the travelling, accommodation, and food fees come from his own expenses and donations on his websites. Depending on the amount of money given, philanthropists can receive specially-composed melodies, or have the musician perform at their door.

Jeremy has an attachment for Vietnam, a destination suggested by his father, who was involved in the Vietnam War more than 36 years ago.

To make up for the pains caused by previous generations, this American man has travelled to the Cu Chi tunnels, Vung Tau, and Mui Ne to perform for Agent Orange victims, children with disabilities, and those living with HIV/AIDS.

On December 10, he also joined other artists in a charity event at the city’s University of Industry called “Dreams of a Christmas Night”, which raised 2,000 dollars to support orphans around the city.

But most of his time is spent playing music on busy Saigon streets, among vehicles and drivers. Jeremy became fascinated by the city’s jams after witnessing the heaviest traffic he had ever seen when he first arrived last April.

“The traffic here is as intimate as the crowded subways in New York. In Vietnam, people ride motorbikes in the streets as if it is a social space where they experience traffic together,” says Jeremy.

Playing on the street, Jeremy does not take any tips. He is happy when there is someone who appreciates his music, even if they only show signs like a smile, a nod or thumbs up.

Still, Jeremy considers performing on the street a kind of charity in a non-conventional sense.

“The music is free, open to the public, and is meant to make people happy,” he explains.

HCMC hosts exhibition on Vietnamese heroic mothers  

An exhibition on Vietnamese heroic mothers will be held at the Southern Women's Museum in Ho Chi Minh City on December 20.  

The exhibition will feature more than 100 photographs and 600 objects related to the Vietnamese heroic mothers and will also honor their skills and responsibilities in the household and their valour in war time.

The exhibits are chosen from over 3,000 objects and photographs of Vietnamese heroic mothers that were collected by the HCMC Southern Women's Museum over the last six months.

Ho Chi Minh City has 2,086 Vietnamese heroic mothers listed, of which only 165 are still alive.

The aim of researching, collecting and displaying objects related to heroic mothers by the museum, was to keep alive the cultural heritage of the past and build an archive of Vietnamese heroic mothers to educate the coming generations.

The event also aims to promote the sacrifices of Vietnamese women, their traditional role and contribution towards national liberation in the eyes of the youth in the country.

There will be exchanges between Vietnamese heroic mothers namely, Pham Thi The, Tran Quang Man, Ho Thi Ha, Nguyen Thanh Tung, Nguyen Thi Da, Son Thi Ky and Le Thi Thu with visitors at the exhibition.

The event will be held at 202 Vo Thi Sau Street in District 3 and will also mark the 67th anniversary of People’s Army Day on December 22.

Culture house to hold traditional music program

HCMC’s Student Cultural House will hold a Vietnamese traditional music program this weekend.

Titled “Traditional Music Exchange Program”, the event will feature performances of well-known local artists including dan tranh (sixteen stringed zither) artist Hai Phuong, Outstanding Artist couple Dinh Linh and Tuyet Mai, the traditional music band from the HCMC Conservatory of Music, Phu Xuan Ca Hue (Hue Folk Music) Club as well as of students from universities around the city.

The event, which aims to bring traditional music closer local youths, will take place at 6:30 pm on December 25 at the cultural house at 643 Dien Bien Phu Street in District 3.
Admission is free.

US funds Thai Binh Museum's preservation project

US Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear has presented a grant for US$30,000 to officials of the Thai Binh Province Museum to restore and preserve a valuable collection of wooden devotional objects.

This grant was provided through the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation.

This restoration project will allow Nam Dinh Provincial Museum to preserve 29 red-lacquered and gold-trimmed wooden objects and to enhance the training and skill level of the museum staff.

The pieces, dating from the 17th to 19th centuries, were collected by Thai Binh Museum from many places in the province (mainly in communal houses, pagodas, temples, and shrines).

The objects not only have historical and cultural value but are also folk art pieces which reflect the culture and spiritual life of the Vietnamese people living in one of the key Red River Delta provinces.

The Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) was established by the US Department of State in 2001 to help less developed countries preserve cultural heritage and to demonstrate US respect for other cultures.

Since then, the AFCP has supported more than 650 cultural preservation projects worldwide, including ten projects in Vietnam, totaling $29 million.

Gov’t is key to cinemas’ success: seminar

Film experts from South Korea and the United Kingdom said government support was a key to the success of their cinema industries in an international seminar held Friday in Phu Yen.

The event was part of the 17th Vietnam Film Festival currently taking place in the central province which opened on Thursday evening with the attendance of nearly 1,000 local film professionals.

Simon Farley, Head of Business Development, Creative Industries at British Council Vietnam said the UK had an Art fund which channeled government funding to art and entertainment activities.

From 2008 – 2011, the agency supported nearly GBP 1 billion to 800 art organizations and in 2010, GBP 266 million was given to the cinema industry through policies such as tax refund for film producers.

15 out of the UK’s 20 international award-winning films received some amount of government funding in 2010, he said.

Kim Jung Ah, Cinema Development Executive of South Korea’s group CJ E&M which recently purchased Vietnam’s leading film distributor and Cineplex chain Megastar, said governmental support played a key role in developing Korea’s film industry.

Kim said in the latter half of 1990s, South Korea started to establish the domestic cinema market with competing local distributors.

The 1999 blockbuster “Swiri” by director Je Gyu Kang was a milestone which helped the cinema market to expand. More films were later produced thanks to professional filmmaking, a widespread distributing network and nationwide cinema complexes.

The South Korean government also played a critical role when it ruled that each cinema had to show domestic films to a maximum of 165 days a year. This helped to protect the fledging Korean film industry from foreign movies, Kim said.

In 2006 when this policy was replaced with a 73-day rule, the Korean film industry was strong enough to compete directly with such giants as Hollywood.

Thus, Kim said, only in a decade from 1990 – 2000, the South Korean film industry had achieved a remarkable growth of 20 times and created a “Korean wave” that swept through Asia and other continents.

In response to Vietnamese director Nguyen Vinh Son’s question about censorship, Kim said that Korean government used to impose a censoring mechanism on film scripts before filming started in the 1980s.

However, the process was later abolished as it was thought to restrict creativity. The South Korean government now only puts age restriction on domestic movies, she said.

Hue photographer awarded in Japan photo contest

A photo by artist Truong Vung, from central Hue City, recently won a special prize at the 72nd Japan International Photography Contest.

Entitled Vuot Song (Riding the Waves), the black-and-white photo features a boat, oared by three fishermen, crossing gigantic waves. It was among six works entered by the photographer himself, an Indian, an Iranian and three Japanese artists to compete in the same category.

Contest results will be announced via the Asahi Shimbun newspaper later this month, Vung said.

Organised by Japan Photographers' Federation, the event received more than 13,000 entries from 41 countries all over the world.

The organisers will choose 130 works for exhibition during the next few months in various cities in the country, 12 of which by Vietnamese artists.

Vuot Song also won a silver prize at the 6th International Artistic Photograph Contest in Vietnam, held earlier this year.

Concert to feature Beethoven

Beethoven’s works will be featured at a concert staged by the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) at the Opera House on the evening of December 19.

The Beethoven Night programme will open with the Prometheus Overture, Romance in F Major for Cello and Orchestra and Piano Concerto No 4.

Cellist Nguyen Tan Anh, pianist Nguyen Thi Uyen Sa and the orchestra will perform under conductor Do Kien Cuong.

Anh studied cello at the Gnesin Academy of Music in Moscow, while Sa graduated with a master’s degree in piano from the HCM Conservatory.

Cuong graduated in oboe, and conducted at the Hanoi Conservatory, later studying at Brooklyn College in the US. He is now a conductor of the HCM City Conservatory.

The concert will continue with Symphony No 2 in Major D, consisting of four movements. It was written between 1801 and 1802.

HBSO conductor Nguyen Anh Son, a graduate of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory in opera and symphonic conducting, will lead the performance.

The concert will begin at 8pm at the HCM City Opera House at 7 Lam Son Square, District 1. Tickets, ranging from VND150,000 to VND250,000, are available at the box office.