Local musicians brace for post-Tet race

While most of the music industry is still idling thanks to Tet, the longest holiday away, many others have seized the chance to lead the race with new projects.

Young singer Luong Viet Quang has likelyy been the first to open the New Year for the industry with “Can ban” (The Basic), his first album, during the first weeks of 2012.

The record, which gathers twelve of Quang’s best hits as well as newly composed tracks, is his debut product, although he rose to fame from the TV singing contest Sao Mai Diem Hen 2010 two years ago.

Another male singer, rocker Pham Anh Khoa, has chosen the occasion to launch his new four-man rock band P.A.K after years of an unsuccessful solo career.

The launch also marked the release of the band’s debut album, “We are P.A.K,” featuring seven songs written by Khoa, now the band’s front man after his departure from Music Faces, his old management company, to become an independent artist.

Meanwhile, pop singer Hien Thuc welcomed the Year of Dragon with her latest music video “Em yeu, yeu mai yeu”, directed by Tam Bui, which marks the birth of “Gia Bao Production”, her own music production company, named after her young daughter.

For renowned composer and producer Duc Tri, who heads the upscale Music Faces Music Production Company, which used to manage the likes of superstar Ho Ngoc Ha and rising talent Phuong Vy, a more long-term and challenging project is waiting.

Tri said he would withdraw from the industry this year to open a private music school for young people.

“Through my experiences, I have realized that many young people, even singers and known music composers, do not have an adequate knowledge of music.

“Therefore I have decided to step in before it is too late for the industry,” Tri said.

MFC Star, once the legendary MFC Company who backed the lasting success of local music award Lan Song Xanh during its heyday in the 1990s and brought fame to names like Minh Quan, Tuan Hung and Thanh Thao, has announced it will come back to the industry.

The company is running new projects to train a new generation of Vietnamese music stars, who they expect to reach regional audiences and music markets like Thailand, Taiwan or Hong Kong.

Visitors drawn to artworks made from trash

Hundreds of people visited the Phu My Hung Flower Festival in Ho Chi Minh City this Lunar New Year to see a collection of 400 artworks made from recycled trash.

The most popular works included a 46-meter-long and 4-meter-high dragon replica made from 8,000 used CDs, yellow apricot trees put together from plastic bottles, chairs assembled from used glassed bottles and road separators made from car tires.

Thanh Thao, a kindergarten teacher, said she was surprised and excited to see the beautiful artworks made from trash.

Others said the exhibition gave them many ideas about how to turn trash into useful items.

Vu Thi Hong Chinh from Le Thanh Company which produced the works said she had not expected such a keen interest from visitors.

She said besides the above artworks, her team also created daily items such as clocks made from CDs or lamps from ice cream sticks.

Her team’s most favorite work was road separators made from used car tires which are both friendly to the environment and pose less harm to drivers in case of crashing due to their elasticity.

Chinh said the HCMC Department of Transport had requested her company to conduct more researches on these road separators in order to use them on roads in the city.

French cultural center to kick off post-Tet events

The Hanoi-based French Cultural Center L’Espace will kick off its cultural events after the Vietnamese Tet Holiday with a concert and a movie screening early next month.

French award-wining pianist Marie Vermeulin, who won the Second Prize at the Olivier Messiaen International Competition in Paris in 2007, will perform at the center on the night of February 9.

Born in 1983, Marie spent six years in Paris studying with the renowned pianist Jacqueline Dussol.

In 2001, she obtained her Diploma of Musical Studies from the National Conservatory of Boulogne-Billancourt Region.

Three years later, she received another higher music degree, the National Diploma of Higher Studies Musical, from the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Lyon.

In May 2006, she won the Second Prize at the International Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona, as well as several other prizes, including the prize of the youngest finalist.

In July 2007, she was chosen to take part in the program “Déclic” which promoted young French winners of international competitions.

She has performed regularly in France and other countries like Italy, Spain, Lithuania, and Germany.

Tickets costing VND100,000 are available at the venue.

On February 10, a series of 11 three to 16-minute French cartoons with Vietnamese subtitles will also be screened at the center.

The movies include “Mr. Tong” directed by David Celler, Florent Limouzin and Arnaud; “The Baby Doll of Berni” directed by Yann Jouette; Johanna Bessière’s “Injustice;” “The Sleeping Beauty,” directed by Bernard Palacios; “Calypso, The Deadly Dance” by Bruno Collet; Jean-François Laguionie’s “Potr’ and the Mermaids;” Samuel Tourneux’s “Even Pigeons Will Be Sent to Heaven;” “50/50,” directed by Geoffroy Barbel; “The Lame Day,” by Geoffroy de Crécy; “The Sacred Love Story” by Jérémy Clapin; and” The Angel Fall,” directed by Geoffroy Barbel-Massin.

Tickets costing VND20,000 for the general public and VND10,000 for the center’s members are available at the venue.

Princess Huyen Tran Festival opens in Hue City  

The opening ceremony of the annual Princess Huyen Tran Festival was held at the Huyen Tran Cultural Centre at the foot of Ngu Phong Mountain in An Tay Ward in Hue City on January 31.  

Besides a spectacular and colourful opening ceremony, a worship ceremony to pray for the peace of the country and its people, and Tet Nguyen Tieu, a traditional cultural festival of the Chinese-Vietnamese community, will also be held.

Worshippers will offer flowers and incense in the Princess Huyen Tran Temple and also at the King Tran Nhan Tong Temple. Various activities such as folk games and calligraphy exhibitions will liven up the event, to which a large number of people have flocked to from around the country.

Princess Huyen Tran Festival is an annual event held on the ninth day of the first lunar month to show gratitude to Princess Huyen Tran for her dedication to the country. The festival will run until February 6.
 
‘National Tourism Year-Hue 2012’ opens in Central Region  

‘National Tourism Year-Hue 2012’ was officially opened for public in Hue City of Thua Thien-Hue Province on January 30.  

The grand event titled, ‘Hue-Ancient Capital-New Experience’ will be celebrated in many cities and provinces in the north central region of Vietnam.

A number of cultural activities such as musical performances, folk games, puppetry, martial arts and dance performances will be held throughout the year.

The province will focus on promoting exclusive souvenir products related to the ancient cultural heritage of the Nguyen Dynasty, the Hue Pagodas, Hue garden houses, handicraft villages, Hue royal night and the culture of the ethnic minority groups living in the mountainous district of A Luoi.

In addition, the province will also develop Central Heritage Tours and promote the Ho Chi Minh Trail to lure more visitors to view the beautiful landscape of the Central Region.

A Rem ethnic minority group celebrates Tet Lunar New Year  

The A Rem ethnic minority group in the central province of Quang Binh welcomed a joyous Tet Lunar New Year, having received much support from the people and the state.

Each household of the A Rem indigenous ethnic minority community received a kilogram of pork, tobacco and tea along with warm blankets and each person received one eight kilogram glutinous rice cake for the Tet festival.

Dinh Rau, a highly respected elder of the ethnic community blessed the offerings saying: “The good people of our country have given the A Rem people rice, tea and blankets, may God help and support such good people.”

In the middle of the A Rem village, the country’s national flag flapped in the wind. 75 houses of the A Rem community hoisted the flag.

Dinh Dan could be seen whittling a piece of bamboo for wrapping up   a Tapeng Arua-a traditional cake of the A Rem people.

The cake resembles the stuffed sticky rice cake but is smaller. It also has a square shape, symbolizing heaven and earth according to the traditional A Rem people. In the old day, ancestors of the A Rem community made the cakes as offerings during weddings as they gave the highest value to rice and hard labour.