Spring Flower and Beverage Festival 2011 opens in Hanoi 

The Spring Flower and Beverage Festival 2011 is being held at the Vietnam Culture and Art Exhibition Center in Hanoi from January 25 to 30.

The festival organizers plan to use this occasion to gather people’s opinions on various national costumes, flowers and wines of Vietnam.

The ‘People's Choice’ result will be announced on January 29.

The festival will have special displays of Vietnamese and royal costumes from the Ly-Tran-Le dynasty, famous brands of delicious traditional and industrial wines and photographs and decorations of the lotus.

Visitors will also see mock displays of the Dong Van – Ha Giang village market in the northern Ha Giang mountainous province, wine making equipment and facilities, cultural spaces for tea and coffee, traditional festivals of lunar New Year such as Kitchen God Festival, folk games, photo exhibitions and art performances celebrating the 81st anniversary of the establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Feb, 3).

50 enterprises will also present their products of beverages, paper and silk flowers, potteries and many other consumer goods for the lunar New Year.

TV Comedy act to lure viewers 

A special art performance on lunar New Year’s Eve called Kitchen God 2011 is a much awaited annual program on Vietnamese Television.

The performance is a comedy of typical questions criticizing bad things and strange habits in our society. Viewers are greatly amused at the jibes and puns of this comedy and this popular show always brings laughter to all in the family.

Viewers will also have a chance to enjoy a musical concert by famous singers My Linh, Ho Quynh Huong, the 5 Dong Ke band, dancer Linh Nga and many others.

Overseas Vietnamese singers Lan Huong, Pham Quynh Anh and musician Duc Huy will also be participating.

A theme based show ‘Laughing Gala 2011’ featuring many well-known comedians from the North and South will present short comedies on VTV1 channel on February 4.

Over 30 Tet flower fairs open in HCM City

More than 30 Tet flower fairs began in Ho Chi Minh City on January 26 to meet the local demand for the occasion of the Lunar New Year festival.

Apart from the three main locations organised by the city in 23/9, Le Van Tam and Gia Dinh Parks, many other districts held Tet flower fairs for local demand.

In HCM City’s district 7, the fair opened at a semicircle lake in the Phu My Hung urban area with an area of 70,000sq.m, displaying 500 booths. Cu Chi district also opened a flower fair in Trung An commune’s trade village with an area of 1 hectare with 500 stalls.

Popular kinds of flowers, including yellow apricots, peach, chrysanthemum, orchids and sunflowers were all on display.

The price of the yellow apricot this year was VND100,000-300,000 per tree higher than 2010, and a small flowerpot fluctuated around VND700,000-1,000,000 per tree.

According to flower garden representatives, flower prices increased by 10-15 percent compared to the same period in 2010.

World heritage photo contest launched

A photo contest on world heritages in Vietnam was launched in Hanoi on January 27.

The contest, jointly organised by the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition, the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists, the National Cultural Heritage Department and Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, aims to popularise, preserve and develop the value of the nation’s 11 UNESCO-recognised, cultural intangible, tangible and natural heritages.

All Vietnamese citizens and foreigners are able to send colour or black and white photos to the organising board prior to July 4, with each entrant allowed to send up to 11 photos.

The awards ceremony and photo exhibition are planned to take place in Da Nang city on the occasion of the National Day (Sept. 2) and in Hanoi on the occasion of the city’s liberation day (Oct. 10).

The organising board will award one first prize, worth VND10 million, two second prizes, worth VND7 million each, three third prizes, valued at VND5 million each and 10 consolation prizes.

Exhibition on ever-changing Indochina

A photo exhibition by French photographer Sebastien Laval, entitled Communities Through Time, has opened at L'Espace, the French cultural centre in Hanoi.

The black-and-white photos portray the life and culture of people in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, as well as Cambodia's Angkor Wat and Luang Prabang in Laos. Laval's treatment of floating houses, flickering cooking fires, the innocent smiles of kids, the austere expression on the face of an ethnic man, or a tobacco pipe between a woman's lips, captures the enigma that endures in this region.

The photos include portraits and depict both traditional customs and changes in people's lives. Images in opposition, such as traditional clothes and satellite dishes, old roofs and asphalt roads, reflect the changes in the lives of the ethnic people. The images have no titles, allowing the viewer to freely think, feel and discover the characters, to "try to meet them, talk to them, look at them and understand them," Laval said.

One morning, Laval said he came to a Lao village and met a young girl carrying her brother in front of her house. By the afternoon, she had become acquainted with Laval, who was able to capture a photo of her sitting on sand with a radiant smile.

Born in 1973, Laval discovered photography when he was given a camera by his father. He moved to Paris to work as an assistant for a photo studio in 1992 and subsequently began working as a professional in Poitiers.

Laval visited Vietnam for the first time in 1995 and has accumulated thousands of images of people in about 20 Vietnamese ethnic groups, which he intends to publish in a book.

The current exhibition runs through February 11 at L'Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, in Hanoi.

Unique hybrid music to daze HCMC tonight

A music show entitled “The ever-green desert” by composer Le Van Tuan will take place at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera Theater today at 20:00 at No. 7 Cong Truong Lam Son Street in District 1.

This will show off a new kind of music called CROR – the combination of four different genres: classic, romantic, opera and rock developed by Tuan.

According to the composer, the four genres: classical, romantic (Renaissance period), opera (17th century), and rock (20th century) come from different eras with hundreds of years’ difference, so the combination is not easy and will create a strange feeling in the audience.

In CROR music, classical is understood as something that brings you back to the original sound of human, romantic as the romance that can only be achieved when there is true freedom in your soul while opera is the expression of operatic emotions in a modern way.

They require performers to indulge themselves in the characters, and rock, unlike the typical understanding of rock as fast rhythms, here will be presented as the beats of our breaths and the speed of blood running through our veins.

CROR was first coined in 2005 and have been patented by Vietnam’s Copyright Office.

So far 9 CROR symphonies have been composed with hundreds of songs.

In 2010, Tuan released his debut album with 8 tracks, and in the CROR concert this January 27, he will introduce his second album with another 8 CROR pieces.

Highly appreciative of Tuan’s work in CROR music, singer Quoc Tru, holder of the honorable title Excellent Artist and former head of the vocal music department of HCMC Conservatory of Music, said, “Tuan’s music is non-key, non-rhythm, and non-melody”.

It’s spontaneous. This type of music requires performers to have a certain musical level, and those who are amateurs will ‘tremble’ dealing with this music. I have listened to and really enjoyed his music, with no difficulty, but I think it requires time for it to be welcomed by the public.”

Talking about his music, Tuan emphasized its ‘for a united world’ purpose, “CROR is an appeal for people to get closer to each other, to sympathize with the miserable, to lend them a hand.”

Danang opens its first private museum

Dong Dinh Museum displaying old artefacts is open today in the central city of Danang. This is the first private museum in Da Nang, licensed by the city People’s Committee.

Located on Hoang Sa Street, Tho Quang Ward, Son Tra District, the 10,000 sq.m museum is designed as a midland garden in harmony with nature of the Son Tra peninsula.

Artefacts are dated back to 100-2,500 years ago. Belonging to ancient cultures like Dai Viet, Sa Huynh, and Cham Pa, they were collected from central and highland tribes.

There is also a special section with modern architecture to display contemporary paintings and statues.

Dong Dinh museum is a new cultural spot for tourists visiting Danang, said Doan Huy Giao, head of the project.

For the moment, the museum is open on weekends.

Hanoi animal circus heads south

An advertisement banner of the Le Hong Loc circusHanoi-based animal circus Le Hong Loc will perform in Ho Chi Minh City’s September 23 Park from February 3 to 13, the first 11 days of the new lunar year.

Besides cats, dogs, and bears, which are normally kids’ favorites, the circus now has new performers like roosters, geese, and white wolves.

After the shows in the city, it will then travel to the Mekong Delta and central region before returning to Hanoi.

The circus is one of entertainment activities targeting kids.

House renovation firms prosper ahead of Tet

House cleaning and renovation services firms in Hanoi are doing a roaring trade when Vietnam’s biggest festival Tet, or the Lunar New Year, is approaching.

Homeowners are now coming to those companies to just get a refusal due to an excess of requests.

Hanh from Dong Da District said most of the companies she has contacted will not take any more orders because they have closed their customer list nearly two weeks back.

Le Dinh Chi of Thien Uy company said he has also turned many customers down after closing enough deals with long-time customers almost a month ago.

The current cold spell in the capital city has driven the demand for house cleaning and renovation services because people are afraid to do the work by themselves to prepare for Tet which falls early next month, Hoang Le Hien, director of a renovation firm, said.

Prices for those services have thus risen by 20-30 percent this year depending on the requirements.

Yet, firms still take orders of cleaning household objects with prices running up to VND700,000 (US$35.9) for carpets and VND600,000 ($30.8) for sofas.

Rising input costs for cleaning equipment is cited as one of the reasons that have driven up the prices, cleaning and renovation firms said.

Cai luong legend dies from infections

Reformed theater (cai luong) actor Tan Tai was gone at 6:00am Thursday at the age of 73 at his private house in Ho Chi Minh City after a long time suffering from bile duct infections.

Le Tan Tai – his full name – was born in 1938 at Vinh Trach Commune, Nui Sap District, Long Xuyen Town, An Giang Province.

Best known for his melodious and sweet voice for a man, Tan Tai had been a teacher before choosing reformed theater acting as his career.

He started by joining the Buom Vang (Yellow Butterfly) troupe in 1959. After 4 years, Tan Tai became its main actor and then won a gold medal in a prestigious cai luong competition named ‘Thanh Tam Awards’ thanks to his leading role as Diep Nhut Lang in a play called Cat Dung Phuong Tu performed in 1963.

He was also the main actor for other renowned theater companies in former Saigon like Thu Do, Da Ly Huong, and Kim Chung. Some of the classic plays starring Tan Tai include Khoi Song Tieu Suong, Bong Hong Sa Mac, Co Gai Do Long, Anh Hung Xa Dieu, Tieng Vong Ba Deo, Vo Tong Sat Tau, Suong Mu Tren Non Cao, to name but a few.

He was crowned ‘the Emperor of plastic discs’ after recording more than 400 discs of cai luong plays and thousands of nostalgic songs in the 1960s. His recordings sold like hot cakes and he even earned up to 1 gold tael (a record high at the moment) for each of the discs released then.

Recently, he took part in several cai luong performances and organized his first live show in January 2009 entitled ‘Dem tri an’ (A Night for Gratitude) at the Hung Dao theater in the southern metropolitan to mark his 50 years being part of the Vietnamese artistic form.

His children include Tan Beo and Tan Bo who are now among the most favorite comedians in Vietnam.

Tan Tai’s funeral will be held at his private house at 109 Nguyen Duy Street, Ward 9, District 8.

He will be buried at the Chua Nghe Si cemetery in Go Vap District , Ho Chi Minh City at 8:00 am on January 31.

Giant flying cat to herald New Year

A manned hot air balloon 18m in diameter with the face of a smiling cat will rise high on the New Year Eve February 2 in downtown Ho Chi Minh City to welcome the Year of the Cat.

The balloon, which is to be piloted, will fly 50 meters high from District 1’s 23/9 Park near the iconic Ben Thanh market.

The aerostat measures 22 meters tall, 18 meters in diameter and 2,000 cubic meters in volume.

Visitors can see and photograph the balloon from February 3-6 at 7AM-9AM30 and 17PM-20PM30.

Before taking flight, the balloon’s wicker basket will open to take in written notes from visitors and passers-by. Their messages of hope and love will surely fly high.

Established 7 years ago, Ho Chi Minh- based Chien Thang Company who designs and produces the balloon participated in many cultural festivals throughout the country as well as business campaigns.

It also employs the first hot air balloon flight crew in Vietnam.

Fireworks dazzle the city

Ho Chi Minh City also announced it will hold firework displays in 9 spots spreading over 9 districts of the city to welcome the new year.

The displays start the same time at midnight February 2 and will last fifteen minutes.

High-altitude fireworks will be set off at the Caric Shipbuilding Factory in District 2, District 7’s Administrative Center project site in District 7, Go Vap Cultural Park project site in Go Vap District, Hoc Mon District’s Nga Ba Giong Memorial Temple in, and Ben Duoc Memorial Temple in Cu Chi District.

The four other displays, at a slightly lower height, will be at the National Culture and History Park in District 9, District 11’s Dam Sen Cultural Park, Mau Than 1968 Memorial Temple in Binh Chanh Districts and Can Gio District.

PV