First ever Jrai-Vietnamese dictionary completed

The first electronic dictionary featuring the Jrai ethnic language was recently completed after a two-year project, according to the Information and Communications Department of the central highland province of Gia Lai.

The dictionary covers nearly 10,000 Jrai words including their meanings in the Vietnamese language, and pronunciation and spelling in both Jrai and Vietnamese. Each word was recorded as an mp3 file.

According to local culture officials, the dictionary not only facilitated understanding of the Jrai language but also helped to preserve the cultural area surrounding gongs in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands), which has been recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of Viet Nam.

The dictionary also includes 28 video clips of traditional customs and cultural features of the Jrai ethnic group such as the roles of water-storage jars and staircases leading up to houses-on-stilts in the local communities, the art of mending gongs, the buffalo killing festival, decorative patterns on Jrai fabrics and sculptures adorning tombs.

People of the Jrai group reside mainly in Gia Lai Province (90 per cent), Kon Tum (5 per cent) and Dac Lac (4 per cent) with the country's total population hovering around 412,000, according to 2009 statistics.

Jrai people are also called Gio Rai, Cho Rai, To Buan, Hobau, Hdrung, Chor and Gia Lai in the Vietnamese language.

HCMC to host 1st vertical race up 49 floors

Ho Chi Minh City will host a vertical race up the city’s tallest building Bitexco Financial Tower this October.

The Bitexco Vertical Run, the first of its kind in Vietnam, is scheduled on October 30 and will require participants to run up a total 1,002 steps through 178 meters to reach the 49th floor that houses the Saigon Skydeck.

The Skydeck promises a panoramic view of Ho Chi Minh City and the Saigon River.

Vertical running, a new sport starting in the 1970s, has drawn many runners and sports enthusiasts to races held globally in some of the world’s tallest buildings.

The Bitexco Vertical Run has been selected as a trial race for the 2011 Vertical World Circuit, the world’s first and only skyscraper racing circuit which includes the Empire State Building Run-up and the Taipei 101 Run-up in Taiwan.

Professionals and runners of all fitness levels and children above 12 are all welcomed at the race, an organizer said.

“Vertical running is a bit like the challenge of Mount Everest; why do people climb it? Because it’s there. Because it’s a challenge.” David Shin of Sporting Republic who organizes the event said.

Inaugurated last October, the 262m high Bitexco Tower, owned by Vietnamese corporation Bitexco Group, is the 124th tallest skyscraper in the world.

Online registration started on July 1 at http://www.vietnamrun.com/ and closes on August 31, with a US$12 registration fee.

Art performance to raise funds for ethnic minority students

An exchange and art performance designed to raise funds for the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Program supporting ethnic minority students nationwide will be held at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on July 7.

The show titled “Road to glory” will offer 100 scholarships worth VND1 million each, to outstanding ethnic minority students.

The organizers will also give the Vu A Dinh Award to 10 individuals and 3 organizations that have made outstanding achievements and contributions in scientific research, community activities and development of mountainous areas.

The event is co-organized by the Central Youth Communist Union, Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund, Ho Chi Minh City TV (HTV) and International Communication Company. The show will be broadcast live on HTV9.

100 Vietnamese food specialities announced

The Vietnam Records Book Centre (Vietkings) on July 5 announced the second publication in its S100 Records series – “100 Vietnamese natural and food specialities”.

Following the first publication which honoured 100 elderly people across the country who were aged over 100 years, this publication recognises specialities that met criteria in both popularity and origin, such as 13 popular dishes of noodles, porridge and vermicelli in the northern, central and southern regions.

In addition to 17 varieties of cakes, 14 types of special wine and 17 kinds of confectionaries, the publication also featured famous tea from the northern province of Thai Nguyen and the southern province of Lam Dong.

Among the recognised specialties are many kinds of fruit from the three regions such as Xuan Dinh sapodilla, Luc Ngan lychee, Xa Doai, Bo Ha orange, Phuc Trach grapefruit, Soc Trang watermelon and Dong Nai jackfruit.

In a bid to fully promote the value of these specialities, the first festival displaying Vietnamese food specialities in the three regions will be held in Ho Chi Minh City this year.

“Impressive Vietnam” TV programme makes debut

A new television programme called “Impressive Vietnam” will be launched on VTV3 on every Sunday with an aim of introducing the country’s landscapes and the unique socio-cultural features of each region.

The series will last for five years and hopefully will help develop attractive tourism products and promote sustainable tourism growth, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said at a press briefing in Hanoi on July 5.

The prolongation group will travel to all sites of informative and ancestral seductiveness and beauty spots across the nation to deliver these singular attractions to the audience.

The programme is jointly conducted by the Vietnam Television (VTV3 and VTV6), cable Style TV, Fansipan TV, the Victoria Group and the Go Vietnam joint stock company.

Mythologies of heavy metal at Galerie Quynh

‘A Physical Obedience Of A Certain Geometry’ by French artist Thierry Bernard-Gotteland opened on Tuesday at the city’s Galerie Quynh.

Visitors will see his take on the mythologies of heavy metal music and culture. Thierry’s works are loaded with semiotic markers of defiance, destruction, order, control and power where social roles, cultural models and moral values are examined.

Installed in accordance to the principle of golden mean, the works possess a symmetry and harmony that belies their violent and aggressive titles. Incorporating text, image and sound, the exhibition is part intimate, domestic space, aftermath of a live concert and private fantasy.

A contorted bed of ersatz leather dangling from the ceiling, metal chains, paintings of viscous black enamel, stage lights arranged in a pentagram, text from Hollywood scripts fashioned with black duct tape, a tree branch bandaged with tape, the whirring sound of industrial fans whose movement creates discordant noise from a guitar lends the exhibition a sexy, sensual and forbidden atmosphere. The exhibition, at 65 De Tham Street, District 1, is on until July 30.

Bernard-Gotteland was born in 1974 in Chambery, France. He received his MFA from the School of Fine Art in Grenoble and a Post-Diploma at Le Fresnoy, National Studio of Contemporary Art in Tourcoing where he worked with acclaimed artist Antoni Muntadas. Bernard-Gotteland has exhibited in North America, Europe and Asia.

He lives and works in HCMC.

Young guns’ emotion and passion in Hanoi exhibition

Contemporary art exhibition ‘Arts of a handspan’ is a convergence of art performance, video, paintings, music and collaboration.

It will open at the OM Studio in Cong Thon Port, Yen Vin Commune, Gia Lam District, Hanoi on Thursday, reports VietnamPlus.

The exhibition will feature works of young artists such as Nguyen Xuan Hoang, Pham Van Truong, Nguyen Hong Phuong, Le Nguyen Manh and Virginie from Belgium.

“The exhibition is a message to visitors that contemporary art is very lively and full of special situations. We, the artists, will bring our affection and feeling to the public,” said Truong.

OM Studio is home to many young artists who desire creativity and new sounds for contemporary art of all genres from paintings, stage, collaboration to video art.

The show will run until July 20.

Nation’s top students perform at L’Espace

A classical concert featuring outstanding students from Vietnam Academy of Music will take place at the French Cultural Center, L’Espace, in Hanoi at 8 p.m. on Thursday.

The show will be staged by artists and professors who have studied and performed all over the world.

The concert will present well-known pieces such as Impromptu N.1. Op 29, Etudes N. 9. Op.10 and Fantasie- Impromptu by Frederic Chopin, Sonate in E-moll (1 movement) and Sonata in G by Mozart, Scherzo Tarantelle by Henryk Wieniawski, Golliwog’s Cakewalk by Claude Debussy, Sonata N.3 by Edvard Grieg, Meditation by Jules Massenet, Rondo brillante by Carl Maria von Weber, Rondo Capriccioso by Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E-moll by Felix Mendelssohn, Hungarian Dance No.2 by Johaness Brahms and Etude dis-moll Op.8 No12 by A. Scriabin.

Tickets are sold at L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, Hanoi at VND50,000 and VND25,000 for students.

PV