Canadian jazz star to light up capital
 
One of Toronto's most in-demand vocalists in Canada, jazz singer Kate Bowen, will swing audiences in Ha Noi when she performs for six nights a week from October 1.

Sultry, alluring and often called an old soul, Bowen's voice never ceases to captivate audiences with its depth and vocal maturity.

Her passion for music and singing was nurtured from a very young age and in her early 20s she was signed to a record label in the US, where she worked on her own album and wrote songs for other singers. In Toronto, she has been a regular act at several of the city's popular live music venues, regularly performing with her band.

With a maturity beyond her years and outstanding poise on stage, Bowen has become a sought-after vocalist in her Canadian hometown, recording with some of the best local musicians and producers and receiving offers from international bands.

Before coming to Ha Noi, Bowen was invited to perform at the iconic luxury Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong. She will present her distinctive vocal style every night from Tuesday to Sunday, from 8.45pm at the Le Club bar at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Ha Noi, 15 Ngo Quyen Street, Ha Noi.

Festival promotes Indochina tourism

The Indochina Passion festival promoting culture and tourism in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia opened in Paris on Friday.

This is the first time such a big-scale event to promote the three countries held in Europe by Vietnam Airlines. The festival is sponsored by the three countries' embassies in France.

Opening the festival, director general of the Vietnam Airlines Pham Ngoc Minh said the initiative aimed not only to promote the image and tourism potential of the three Indochinese countries but also to create conditions for tourists and researchers to explore the special cultural identities and rich potential of each nation.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Duong Chi Dung described the festival as the first step to attract French visitors to Indochina, contributing to strengthening economic and investment co-operation between France and the three Indochinese countries.

The Lao and Cambodian ambassadors to France also affirmed that the festival helps to boost the traditional solidarity, co-operation and friendship between the three countries and attract the attention of French investors and businessmen.

Visitors to the festival would have a chance to watch traditional dances performed by artists from the three countries, enjoy culinary specialities and see a photography exhibition on the region's landscapes and lifestyles.

VN joins Asia’s largest travel fair in Japan

Vietnam has participated in the Japan Association of Travel Agents World Trade Fair 2011 (JATA World Travel Fair 2011), which opened in Tokyo on Sept. 30.

As the first large-scale travel fair in Japan after the country was devastated by earthquake and tsunami in March, JATA World Travel Fair attracted the participation of tourism management units, travel agencies, hotel operators and airlines from 144 countries and territories around the world.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, Hue city and several Vietnamese travel agencies introduced beautiful images about the land and people of Vietnam . They also provided visitors with information about well-known tourist attractions in Vietnam and tourism products of domestic travel agencies.

The same day, VNAT and Vietnam Airlines co-hosted a workshop to promote Vietnam ’s tourism in Tokyo , which was attended by a large number of tourist companies from both countries.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Phu Binh said Japan is a potential tourism market for Vietnam , emphasised the need to increase activities to promote Vietnam ’s tourism in Japan .

Nobuyoshi Yamamoto, General Director of JATA World Travel Fair, said Vietnam is likely to reach its target of raising the number of Japanese holidaymakers to 500,000 this year from 442,000 in 2010.

Vietnam Airlines hosts festival in Paris

Vietnam Airlines held a cultural festival in Paris (France) to promote tourism in three Indochinese countries this weekend.

“Passion Indochina” featured photo exhibitions, music performances and food sampling of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as connected tourist destinations.

In 2010, the three countries attracted more than 340,000 French tourists, 180,000 of whom opted for Vietnam while 120,000 chose Cambodia for their vacations.

Vietnam Airlines now offers 31 direct flights from major European cities to Vietnam and dozens of others that connect the three countries every day.

“Passion Indochina” was held at Parc Floral in Paris from September 30 to October 1.

Youth Center to hold biggest mass wedding

The Ho Chi Minh City Youth Worker Support Center is offering Vietnamese working youths who cannot afford to hold their private weddings a chance to be part of the center’s 4th mass wedding to be held this November.

Designed to accommodate 80 couples, the wedding hopes to be the biggest group wedding ever in Vietnam, Huynh Ngo Tinh, director of the center said.

To attend the event, couples need to pay only VND1million ($50) and will have a full wedding ceremony, complete with cars, cakes, flowers, rings, photographs, costumes, makeup, and a parade around the city downtown, all free of charge, and also a gift of VND2 million ($100) in a bank account.

The organizer will also present the most financially disadvantaged couple with a house as well as helping with the travel and accommodation costs for couples from neighboring provinces.

Money for the event has been donated by local enterprises. In addition, the center is also calling for sponsors to provide the newlyweds with honeymoon trips as well as essential household appliances.

Interested couples can register at the center’s offices at Linh Trung 1 Industrial Zone in Thu Duc District and Vinh Loc Industrial Zone in Binh Tan District by October 10.

The organizer will choose the first 80 couples, with priority to be given to low-income couples.

In March 2007, the center held its first group wedding, drawing only 7 couples to the event.

This year’s wedding is scheduled to be organized on November 11.

On August 20 this year, 200 young couples across the country gathered at Hanoi’s Thong Nhat Park in the “Love and Challenge” event held by travel magazine Travellive and Hanoi Sheraton Hotel. The couples, dressed in wedding outfits, exchanged marital vows gave and then competed in a couple marathon to win a US$3,000 trip to Malaysia to shoot their wedding album.

In a more novel, breath-taking form of sealing their marriage to one another, 10 couples took part in a group underwater wedding at Nha Trang Beach Festival from June 11-15 this year, the biggest event of its kind in Vietnam.

The ceremony was organized by Vietnam Diving Center.

Postcards in fight to save elephants

A recently released postcard book titled Nhung Nguoi Ban Lon (The Giant Friends) features 51 elephants that work with families living in the Central Highlands province of Dac Lac.

A photograph, biography and the characteristics of each elephant cover a double page colour spread, along with the slogan: "Don't let elephants become a memory".

Photographer Le Van Thao said: "The portraits of the animals pull out as postcards so people can send them to relatives and friends. One person's love for elephants can be multiplied 51 times."

Vietnam Green Trip – a project carried out by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the Central Highlands – witnessed the suffering of elephants in Dac Lac. Since 1985, their numbers have fallen to 52 from 500. Most were killed for their body parts while many that are still alive are missing tails, tusks and hairs, the latter of which are sold as good luck charms.

Duong Trung Quoc, a key contributor to the book and editor-in-chief of Past and Present magazine, said: "The slogan fits our ideas about the past and the present. To us, elephants are an integral part of our history. They have accompanied us in the process of protecting and developing the country.

Other countries have elephant conservation programmes, but in Vietnam , they don't seem to be enforced," the National Assembly representative added.

"There is a paradox in Vietnam today that dead elephants are more financially valuable than live ones, which is why their numbers have dropped so much. Do we have any way of preventing them from disappearing? Losing the elephants would be like losing part of our nation's history. I will present the book and send the questions to the National Assembly," historian Quoc said.

"Elephants are the largest land animals on the planet. It is a shame that while men grow, their ‘giant friends' are abandoned," he sighed.

Da Lat to restore French buildings

The Da Lat People’s Committee is drafting a plan to restore the city’s outstanding French architectural works - the deteriorating I Palace and Governor Palace - into tourist attractions.

At a meeting on September 27, local authorities and experts discussed restoring the buildings and selling tickets for them.

The I Palce was built in 1925-1928 with the luxurious architectural style reminiscent of French palaces. From 1950, it belonged to King Bao Dai until 1956 when it became the place for South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem to work and relax when he visited the city. Later, the palace was assigned to the local tourism department for management.

Meanwhile, the Governor Palace built 1910 was the working place of the city’s governors.

Local filmmaker brings work to Asian conference

Rising director Phan Dang Di is now attending the Asian Cultural Cinema Symposium in Singapore with his high-profile movie “Bi, Don’t be afraid.”

The event, which was opened on September 29 at LASALLE College of the Arts, is gathering 18 young filmmakers in the region to discuss about preserving culture through films as well as other practical issues such as funding and technology in filmmaking.

The event will also screen 17 films divided into two topics, human life and cultural conflicts.

Di’s film, which won two of the International Critics Week’s prizes at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in 2010, and Best First Feature and Best Cinematography at the 21st Stockholm International Film Festival this year, will be screened today at 2:30pm.

In this movie, which is seen through the eye of a 6-year-old boy, Di explores the sexual desires of a Hanoian family.

The symposium will end on October 1.

More information can be found at http://asianculturalcinema.org.

HCM City musicians receive awards

HCM City's expanded Tai tu (Southern amateur) Music Festival closed yesterday with the organisers honouring eight groups and 20 individual musicians.

The first prize for groups went to District 3, the three second prizes to Tan Binh and Cu Chi districts and the HCM City Cultural Centre, and the four third prizes to Districts 5, Tan Phu, Thu Duc, and Hoc Mon.

Phuong Uyen, Minh Duc, Nguyen Thi Kim Phong, and Le Thi Phuong Thao won individual gold medals.

The organisers also conferred seven silver and nine bronze medals.

The event became a city-wide music festival for the time after being restricted to cultural centres for many years.

Held at the Van Thanh Tourist Park, it attracted 5,000 fans.

There are around don ca tai tu 100 clubs and 1,000 artists in the south.

Heartfelt show wins over judges
 
Nguyen Van Meo from the central province of Binh Dinh won three prizes at the HCM City Television's sixth Vong Co (Nostalgic Tunes) Golden Bell contest on Thursday.

The 24-year-old Meo won the first prize from a jury composed of artists. He also won two Favourite Competitor prizes, awarded by a jury of journalists as well as the audience.

His emotive singing voice and acting impressed the jury as well as the audiences during the month-long final, said cai luong playwright Le Duy Hanh, head of the jury board.

Phung Ngoc Bay of Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Long An was the runner-up, whose voice was judged less emotive than Meo's.

The third prize went to Nguyen Thanh Nhuong of the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh.

The annual Vong Co Golden Bell contest encourages young people, particularly in urban areas, to learn vong co, an art form that is part of cai luong (reformed opera) theatre performed in the southern part of the country.

The contest's preliminary rounds, held last month in Ha Noi, HCM City, the central province of Phu Yen and the southern provinces of Ca Mau, Hau Giang and Ben Tre, attracted hundreds of candidates, aged 16-35.

Week of lifelong learning launched

A “Week in response to lifelong learning” was launched in Hanoi on October 2 by the Ministry of Education and Training in coordination with the United Nations.

The week, which will run through October 8, delivers the message: “Lifelong learning – key to every success”.

Addressing the launch ceremony, Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan emphasized that Vietnamese people always attach importance to learning and consider learning a foundation for every victory. That valuable tradition has developed throughout the country’s history, she said.

She affirmed that the Vietnamese Party has regarded education-training and science-technology as a top national policy, creating a broad learning environment and pouring large amount of investments into education.

The State leader asked authorities at all levels and people to build a learning society, in which all citizens have equal opportunities in study and education.

UNESCO Chief Representative in Vietnam, Katherine Muller Marin, praised Vietnam’s efforts in building a learning society. UN organisations are ready to help Vietnam realise the commitment to popularise the spirit of lifelong learning to every citizen, she added.

"Indochina Passion" festival held in France

The "Indochina Passion" festival promoting culture and tourism in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia opened in Paris on September 30.  

Vietnamese Ambassador Duong Chi Dung, Lao Ambassador Khouanta Phalivong, and Cambodian Ambassador Uch Kiman attended the opening ceremony along with Vietnam Airlines General Director Pham Ngoc Minh.

Mr Minh said that the event aims to introduce the three countries to the French people and strengthen ties between them.

Vietnamese Ambassador Dung praised the efforts by Vietnam Airlines, saying that this is the first time the three Indochinese countries have held such a large festival.

Visitors to Indochina Passion can watch traditional dances performed by artists from the three countries, enjoy culinary specialties and see a photography exhibition on the region's landscapes and lifestyles.

Thang Long Royal Citadel introduced in France

The thousand-year history of Thang Long-Hanoi, in light of archaeological objects found since 2002, was the main theme of a seminar held in Paris, France on September 29 under the chairmanship of Professor Phan Huy Le, President of the Vietnam Association of Historical Science.

At the seminar, Professor Le made a presentation on the recent archaeological discoveries to introduce the history and the development of Thang Long Royal Citadel through different periods, as well as special characteristics in terms of architecture and decoration of the Citadel.

Pascal Bourdeaux, Associate Professor from EPHE University of Sorbonne stressed the importance of the event and Professor Le’s major conclusions on the process of long-term archaeological research. The event also helped French researchers learn more about Vietnam’s historical capital city.

During the working visit to France, Professor Le will deliver another presentation on the situation of rural areas and the history of Vietnam through different periods at the Academy of the Institute of France.

In July, Professor Le was elected as a foreign correspondent member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Humanities.

Japanese comics, cartoon characters come to major cities

Local fans of Japanese cartoons will have the opportunity to enjoy images of Ultraman, Hello Kitty and others at the exhibition ‘Japan-The kingdom of symbol characters and cartoons’, in Hanoi, Hue and HCMC.

Well-known characters such as Astro Boy, Doraemon, Gundam, Evagelion, Pokemon and Haruhi Suzumura will be on display at the event under the forms of effigies, photos and videos.

Japanese comics and cartoons are now popular worldwide. Thus, the exhibition can help fans understand who the characters are, why they have become popular, the origin of these characters and the influence they have on society.

The free exhibition opens at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in Hanoi from October 6-23, Hochiminh Museum in Hue from November 2-13 and the HCMC Museum from November 25 to December 4.

PV