Ba Ria-Vung Tau to host int’l kite festival

The 4th International Kite Festival 2012 will be held in Vung Tau city in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau over the next two weeks.
So far, 22 teams from 17 countries and territories have registered to take part in the event.

Six local clubs, including Thang Long (Hanoi), Hue, Vung Tau, Ba Ria, Phuong Hoang and Blue Sky, will participate in the festival.

The organizing board has also invited seven kite masters from Brazil, Italy, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and the US to give the public basic lessons in flying and controlling kites.

In addition to the established East Sea tourism complex and Vung Tau Intourco resort, two new free kite flying areas have been opened in the Paradise tourism area and Vung Tau tourism market.

***A yacht race festival also opened in Vung Tau City on March 17.

The second event of its kind has drawn the participation of 30 athletes from 15 teams, mostly foreigners from foreign-invested firms in Vietnam.

The event is organized by the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in co-ordination with Thuy Trieu Aqua-Rhum Shipbuilders Company Ltd.

The festival aims to attract more visitors to the city and promote its image.

Tour honours Truong Sa soldiers
 
Famous singers and other artists will participate in a three-city music tour that kicks off tonight in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Can Tho, aiming to highlight the contribution of Vietnamese soldiers working in the Truong Sa (Spartly Islands).

Tonight's concert at the Can Tho University will feature 50 singers, dancers and musicians as well as students from the university.

They will play revolutionary music and perform dances by famous composers and choreographers.

Pop stars Dam Vinh Hung, My Tam and Thanh Thao will join the tour, singing songs by popular composers Dinh Nghiem, Doan Nho and Pham Minh Tuan.

Contemporary dancers from the Windows Troupe will accompany them on the stage.

Concert highlights include Tuan's Bai Ca Khong Quen (Unforgettable Song), one of his favourite songs which praises the country and its soldiers.

This revolutionary song will be sung by pop singer Hung who is famous for his romantic numbers.

Young singers like H'Zina, Quoc Thien and Anh Khang will also participate in the tour that will perform next at the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) College in Dak Lak Province on March 24.

They will perform much-loved songs by young composers like Nguyen Hong Thuan and Duc Tri, who have made great contributions to the country's music industry.

The tour will close with a concernt in HCM City on April 13.

The show's stage director, Trung Nghia, said that through the music tour, young audiences could learn more about traditional and revolutionary music.

Soldiers will be invited to the event to share with concert goers the challenges they face in their lives and work.

The Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, which is organising the tour in co-operation with its partners, hopes to raise money that will be used for Truong Sa soldiers and their families.

Iron Chef cooking contest scheduled to begin airing on TV next month

A TV game show, entitled Iron Chef, between two professional chefs will be aired for the first time on VTV3 from April 22.

In one hour, the chefs have to make five dishes from only one material. Professional chefs and cuisine specialists will be selected to the jury.

Iron Chef originates from Japan and its copyright has been bought to broadcast in many countries.-

Da Nang to launch bi-weekly street concerts, performances

Street concerts will be organised on Bach Dang Street in the central coastal city of Da Nang on the second and fourth Saturday of every month, the Da Nang Festival & Event Centre has announced.

The street concerts would include Vietnamese traditional and contemporary music as well as other artistic performances, it said.

The street concert programme aimed to diversify the city's cultural products and entertain local and foreign visitors to Da Nang, it added.

The first Street Concert will be held next Saturday at a square to the south of Han Market on Bach Dang Street.

Vietnamese team balloons across Malaysia

Vietnam has a team of balloonists taking part in the Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Festival, which began in Malaysia on March 15.

The 26 balloons on show are from countries such as the UK, the US, Belgium, Switzerland, New Zealand, France, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Thailand, Vietnam and host country Malaysia.

The Vietnamese team, representing the Ho Chi Minh City based Chien Thang Company, have four balloons, which will raise Vietnam’s image across the globe.

Apart from ballooning, the Vietnamese team has also set up a pavilion highlighting popular tourist destinations in Vietnam such as Ha Long Bay, the Dong Van Stone Plateau, Phong Nha-Ke Bang Cave and the waterfall at Ban Gioc.

The Festival, which will last until March 18, is expected to attract around 300,000 domestic and overseas enthusiasts.

S. Korean popstar Bi Rain arrives in Hanoi

Bi Rain, who has been known for his boyish good looks and smooth hip-hop dance moves, on Saturday landed in Hanoi to contribute to two military concerts to be held in the capital next week.

The concerts are part of a series of cultural activities to celebrate the 20th year of diplomatic relation between Vietnam and South Korea.

Bi Rain and his comrades in military uniform left through the main gate of the airport where huge crowds of local fans had been long waited for seeing him in person.

There is a clip showing Bi Rain doing immigration procedures at Noi Bai airport on the local official fan club www.rainvietnam.com.

Bi Rain will perform at the Military theater on March 19 and at Hanoi Opera House two days later.

According to a reliable source, after the concerts, Bi Rain is expected to have an interactive session with students at Military Culture and Arts University based in the capital on March 22.

Born in 1982, Bi Rain is a highly accomplished dancer, singer and actor whose acting and music career has expanded beyond Asian boundaries.

He has led numerous concert tours around the world and starred in Hollywood movies like “Speed Racer” (2008) and “Ninja Assassin” (2009). In 2006, Bi Rain was named by Time magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People Who Shape Our World."

Old cotton tree recognized as national heritage

The Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment last Friday held a ceremony to recognize a 500-year-old cotton tree as a national heritage.

The heritage tree, which is 50 m high and has a trunk diameter of 25 m, is located in the left bank of the Chu River, near the Temple of Dieu Linh Princess and Thien Phuc Pagoda.

According to Le Ngoc Son, a culture official in Phu Yen Commune in Tho Xuan District in the central province of Thanh Hoa, the cotton tree is part of the cultural and spiritual life of local people for hundreds of years.

Wedding on buffalo cart hits web

A video clip showing a wedding ceremony with the bride and the groom sitting on a buffalo cart in a remote area in Nam Dan district of Nghe An central province has recently made a YouTube sensation.

In the clip, bridegroom Do Duc brought his bride Hieng Hoa home on a buffalo cart that belongs to his family. The clip was later posted on YouTube by a friend of theirs and has attracted thousands of hits.

The couple lives in a same village and used to be best friends. They decided to tie the knot after dating for two years.

Huge crowds of curiosity seekers flocked to see the wedding ceremony and shouted for joys and excitement.

“Although our financial ability allows us to hire a carriage decorated with flowers for the wedding ceremony, we want to have a memorable wedding in a rustic countryside style. I’m really amazed by public attention after the clip was posted,” the groom said.

Meanwhile, bride Hieng Hoa was moved to tears upon being carried by the groom onto the cart.

There are a lot of comments on YouTube. A citizen says: “If I have a wedding, I will bring my future bride home on a buffalo cart like this.”

Nguyen dynasty weapons unearthed

Local museum staff in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue have found several ancient weapons believed to have been used during the reign of the Nguyen dynasty.

The antiques were found along the Ngu Ha River in Hue City 's Thuan Loc Ward.

According to the provincial department of Cultural, Sport and Tourism, the antiques include a cannon and 29 balls.

The cannon, made of alloy, is 63cm long and has a diametre of 15cm. Five balls have a diametre of 9.5cm, 13 of 13 to 15cm, and 11 of 21cm.

All the antiques were bought from a craft warehouse on 49 Ngu Binh Street in Hue are now kept at the Thua Thien-Hue Historical and Revolutionary Museum .

Museum representatives said the antiques are very valuable and adds to the museum's collection of old weapons.

Artist adds local soul to jazz tunes

Vietnamese jazzman Quyen Thien Dac performed Vietnamese folk melodies with his friends from Sweden on Mar. 18 at the Ha Noi Opera House.

The show entitled A Oi (Mother's Lullaby) was an occasion for the 32 year-old artist to present his new album of the same name, recorded in Sweden last May.

Dac's band consists of musicians he met at the Malmo Academy of Music in Sweden, including Per-Oscar Nilson on guitar, Johnny Aman on bass, and Olle Dernevik on drums.

The group performed seven original compositions imbued with the feeling of Vietnamese folk music, including Gio Bac (Northwind), A Oi, Phien Cho (Market Day), Trong Ken (Drum and Horn), Nhung Khoanh Khac Nam Bo (Southern Moments) and Vu Dieu Thang Long (Thang Long Dance). They also performed some popular folk melodies.

Dac said that he wanted to combine jazz with folk music so that Vietnamese jazz would have its own voice.

"With the show, I wish to ‘Vietnamise' jazz," he said. "I hope that one day, when the public listens to a jazz melody that I have composed, they will say that they are listening to Vietnamese jazz."

In addition to the Hanoi show, Dac and his band will perform at the Vietnam Maritime University in Hai Phong.

Dac is the son of jazzman Quyen Van Minh, well-known as the first jazz and saxophone instructor at the Vietnam National Academy of Music. Dac began to study saxophone when he was 15. Since 1997, he has performed regularly in Hanoi , often at his father's nightclub, Minh's Jazz Club, now locates at 65 Quan Su Street . Dac studied in the US in 2004 and then began a two-year master's degree at the Malmo Academy in Sweden in 2010.

Sci-fi action thriller The Chronicle goes nationwide
 
The Chronicle, directed by Josh Trank, tells the story of teenagers Andrew (Dane DeHaan), Matt (Alex Russell) and Steve (Michael B. Jordan) discover they have the ability to fly and move objects with their minds.

But why have they been given these powers and what are they going to use them for?

Boasting an original film-making style, The Chronicle promises to infuse a new spirit into the sci-fi/action genre.

The film debuts on Friday at MegaStar, Galaxy, Cinebox, Lotte, BHDStar, Thang Long and Dong Da cinemas nationwide.

Ho Chi Minh City hosts second caricature exhibition after 15 years  
 
One of the works displayed at the ongoing cartoon exhibition on the premises of the HCMC Fine  Arts Association.

A cartoon exhibition featuring works of leading Vietnamese cartoonists is now open at Ho Chi Minh City’s Fine Arts Association.

It is the second exhibition of its kind held here after a gap of 15 years.

The exhibition, co-organized by Ho Chi Minh City’s Fine Arts Association and the Tuoi Tre Newspaper displays more than 200 works by 29 artists from all over the country.

It will remain open at 218A Pasteur Street, until March 21.

Photo exhibition on Vietnam held in France

A photographic exhibition has taken place in the French city of Tours, featuring the beauty of Vietnam’s land and its people.

On display were nearly 500 photos taken by Vietnamese children aged between 6 to 14.

The event was part of a cultural program entitled “Mua xuan cua cac nha tho” (Printemps des petes – spring of poets), focusing on children, and a Vietnamese cultural program and a children painting exhibition in Paris.

During the photo exhibition, a calligraphy display was also be held, with live performance by Ngo Ho Anh Khoi, leaving deep impression on visitors.

The proceeds of the event will be used to support charitable activities in Vietnam.