German photographer gifts Vietnam photos to Hoi An
German photographer Jochen Voigt, who has spent years traveling across Vietnam on a motorbike to take pictures, has donated 125 photos to Hoi An.

The photos show Vietnam before and after the war including Hoi An and its people.

Voight, born in 1946 in Hamburg, first came to Vietnam in 1967.

In 2003 he returned to Vietnam and traveled across the country for five years to record the changes that had taken place.

In 2009 he organized a photo exhibition in Vietnam about the war.

Museum, culture house to launch tours for students

Ho Chi Minh City Southern Women's Museum and Youth Culture House are planning to launch tours to attract students.

Titled “Museum’s Friends”, the Southern Women's Museum’s program promises to bring students a new kind of entertainment.

Visitors will have a chance to see around 600 exhibits on southern women’s life, documents about national heroes during wartime and photos about traditional professions in southern Vietnam as well as religious festivals including Binh Duong’s Ba Pagoda Festival, Kate Festival of Cham People in Ninh Thuan and Ba Thu Bon Festival in Quang Nam.

An ao dai collection reflecting the changes of the Vietnamese traditional costume throughout history will also be on show.

For its part, the Youth Culture House will soon launch a program called “The Journey to Museums and Historical Relics” in the third and fourth quarters of this year to provide tours to relics throughout the city such as Martyrs Ceremony, Hung King Temple, the 20th nationalist Phan Chu Trinh’s Grave and the Museum of the Cultures of Vietnam's Ethnic Groups.

Photo exhibition to commemorate late anthropologist’s work

A photo exhibition featuring the late French anthropologist Georges Condominas’s life-long research of Vietnamese minorities will be held by the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Science and Humanity tomorrow.

The event will showcase 20 photos about Condominas’s field trips to research life of ethnic people in the Central Highlands as well as his famous research titled “Chung Toi An Rung (We Have Eaten the Forest).”

Georges Condominas, who is well-known for having spent his entire life to study Mnong Gar people in Vietnam, passed away at the age of 90 in France due to a heart attack on July 17.

Born in the northern city of Hai Phong by a French father and a Portuguese Vietnamese mother, he returned to Vietnam in 1940 after studying in France to spend years living in a Mnong Gar village and conduct researches.

He asked the villagers' permission to build a house and became a real local who participated in every communal activity.

In 1957, he published the famous research “Nous avons mange la foret de la pierre - genie Goo” which presented his field trip observations and was later published in English under the title "We Have Eaten the Forest".

The exhibition will be held at the university and run until August 3. More info can be found at www.nhanlucnhanvan.edu.vn/trienlamanh/index.htm.

‘Mot Vietnam’ magazine makes comeback  

Vietnam Fashion Magazine or ‘Mot Vietnam’ officially makes a come back today, after a period of suspension in its publication.   
                   
The magazine broke publication temporarily to revamp its human resources and seek new ways to remodel the magazine to be as competitive with other foreign fashion publications available on stalls now in Vietnam.
 
With their slogan “Sân chơi Việt- tinh thần Việt- trí tuệ Việt”:-‘Vietnamese magazine – Vietnamese spirit – Vietnamese intelligence’, Mot Vietnam aspires to become a platform for Vietnamese designers to promote their creative ideas and boost the Vietnamese fashion industry.

Mot Vietnam will now present the latest trends in fashion in Vietnam as well as all across the world. The magazine will not only address connoisseurs of fashion but also offer opportunities for fashion entrepreneurs to promote design ideas and their creative talents.

Every Mot Vietnam copy, costing VND19, 500, will have a coupon worth VND300, 000 to win over 1,000 fashion gifts from Elle, Aimless and Mommy.

Young people reviving Cai Luong opera  

Even though the Cai Luong theater is continually facing difficulties in attracting audiences, many young people today remain dedicated to this traditional southern folk opera style and are optimistic of its future.
 
Famous veteran Cai Luong actors and actresses such as Bao Quoc, Minh Vuong, Ngoc Giau, Thanh Nga, Le Thuy and of the younger generation, Kim Tu Long, Thoai My, Tan Giao and Vu Luan were introduced to Cai Luong early in life.

Actor Bach Long, head of the Bach Long Dong Au Club, which produces many new and young Cai Luong artists, believes that this form of art has recently begun to attract more young people who can certainly make a mark if they train and practice hard to perfect the art form.

Young Cai Luong artists can win devotees’ hearts by their own renditions which are natural and not influenced by other famous voices, added Cai Luong musician Van Ben.

According to experts, more training should be made available to nurture rising young talents in this traditional music form. For this reason, the Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theater cooperated with the Ho Chi Minh City College of Culture and Arts to open Cai Luong courses for young people in 2010.

Director Huynh Mai, head of the Department of Art of Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theater hopes that there will be several promising talents emerging by 2012.

Artist Linh Huyen, a well-known scriptwriter and head of the Kim Chau Cai Luong Theater has also discovered and trained some young talents at the theater.

The annual Cai Luong singing contest titled Chuong vang vong co (Vong co golden bell) and Bong lua vang (yellow rice paddy) organized by Ho Chi Minh City Television and Voice of the People of Ho Chi Minh City, FM Channel attracted thousands of contestants.

Besides discovering young talent, the competition also aimed at keeping alive the tradition of Cai Luong and fostering love for this traditional folk opera style among young people.

David Archuleta enchants local fans  
 
The first-runner up of American Idol 2008 captivated local audiences during his two performances at the Idol Music Event in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday (July 22) and Hanoi on Saturday (July 23).

Attendees said that Archuleta outdid nearly every local artist at the show, including the first and second place singers from Vietnam Idol 2011 Uyen Linh and Mai Huong.

Leading pop icons Ho Ngoc Ha, Dam Vinh Hung also took the stage with singer-actress Ngo Thanh Van, Tuan Hung, Bao Thy and Dong Nhi.

Many in the audience said that the local singers seemed to pay too much attention to their appearances and flashy costumes instead of their voices.

Archuleta performed nearly 15 songs, most of which were his original compostions, at HCMC’s Military Zone 7 Stadium.

Local fans rushed onto the stage with many special gifts, including a khan dong (a traditional Vietnamese headress), for their idol.  

The young singer shot to fame after the seventh season of American Idol contest and has a large international following—he will touch down in Malaysia following the performances in Vietnam.

Ethnic Cham community to hold Muslim festival

Muslims from the Cham ethnic group in south central Ninh Thuan province will celebrate their annual traditional Ramadan festival from July 29-31.

Provincial leaders will be visiting pagodas, mosques and Muslim dignitaries and followers on the occasion.

Nowadays, the Cham people celebrate the festival not only with their families but also with the participation of visitors who are interested in the culture of the Cham people in the province.

Vietnam joins youth exchanges in Thailand

A 15-member Vietnamese group, including students and teachers from universities and senior high schools, participated in an exchange programme with Thai youths in Bangkok and some provinces from July 11-25.

As part of the programme, the Vietnamese young people spent 10 days joining in daily activities and exchanges with Thai students and residents in Baan Phu, Nong Soong district, Mukdahan province.

They also visited the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Village in Nakhon Phanom province, which boasts a museum dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh and a house where he lived and worked from 1928-1929.

The programme was aimed at promoting cultural exchanges among Thai and Vietnamese youths, enhancing people-to-people ties, improving mutual understanding and building the long-lasting friendship between the two countries, said Pisanu Chanvitan, Deputy Secretary of the Thai Foreign Ministry.

This year marked the third time the annual programme has been organised by the Vietnamese and Thai Governments. In 2010, 12 young Thai people participated in exchange activities with Vietnamese students and pupils in Hanoi and Da Nang city.

Six more sites added to Hanoi heritage list

The Hanoi People’s Committee has included six more historical and cultural sites on its preservation list.

The new sites on the list are Bai Lam Ha temple (Hong Quang commune, Ung Hoa district); the Nguyen Tho clan ancestral temple (Phu Luong ward, Ha Dong district); Thuong Thuy communal temple (Phu Thuong ward, Tay Ho district); Ky Dong communal temple (Tien Thinh commune, Me Linh district); the Lung Dong shrine (Dai Mach commune, Dong Anh district) and Lien Hoa temple (Kham Thien ward, Dong Da district).

PV