World heritages set to display in Hoi An

Performers, artists and craftsmen from 16 provinces will bring their traditional cultures and arts to the ASEAN-Viet Nam Heritage Space Programme at the Hoi An Statue Garden from June 18-23.

Hoi An Statue Garden.—Photo hoian.vn 

The event will be the biggest heritage exhibition ever organised in the ancient town, according to deputy director of the Viet Nam Culture and Arts Exhibition Centre Nguyen Thi Hoa.

The 16 provinces are all home to UNESCO-recognised world heritage sites as well as tangible and intangible relics, Hoa said.

Representatives from Ha Giang will promote the province's UNESCO-recognised Dong Van Karst Plateau, which was named Viet Nam's first Global Geopark in 2010.

They also plan to introduce traditional foods of the Mong ethnic people like thang co (horsemeat soup) and men men (maize powder cake), which are sold in Dong Van's market.

Bac Can Province will display exhibits on Ba Be National Park, recognised as an ASEAN Heritage Park.

Tangible and intangible relics to be shown include Dong Son bronze drums from Thanh Hoa, xoan singing from Phu Tho and ca tru singing from Ha Noi. Images of Rong Wharf and the Reunification Palace in HCM City will also be displayed.

Quang Nam Province will also promote its own UNESCO-recognised world heritage site –My Son Sanctuary – during the five-day programme. Hoi An, where the exhibition is to take place, is also a world heritage site.

The central province will also host the Heritage Journeys Festival from June 21-26.

Last year, the province hosted 2.8 million tourists, of which 1.3 million were foreigners, and obtained total revenue of VND1.4 trillion (US$67 million).

Art talk and film show held

A talk show and film screening will be held tonight introducing Canadian-French artist Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen.

Born and raised in Montreal but of Vietnamese origin, Nguyen is a research-based artist currently based in New York and Stockholm.

Recently completing the Whitney Museum of American Art's Independent Study Programme, her work has been exhibited internationally at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia; the Galerie Im Regierungsviertel in Berlin (2010); and Gasworks in London.

The artist will present a talk on her artwork and the screening of her film 1967: A People Kind of Place, produced in 2012, will follow. The film details the decision to build the world's first UFO Landing Pad in 1967 of the Canadian Centennial Committee in celebration of the 100th birthday.

The event is being co-hosted by the Goethe Institute's Ha Noi Documentary Laboratory and Manzi Art Space at 14 Phan Huy Ich Street. The event will begin at 6.30pm tonight, April 8.

Vietnamese study archeology exhibition in Egypt

A visiting Vietnamese delegation led by Nguyen Xuan Thang, President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, met with Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim Ali in Cairo on April 7.

He told the host that the delegation was on a study tour in Egypt to learn experience in organizing, designing and displaying artifacts for their exhibition later in the base of the new National Assembly building as part of the overall project covering the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long which was recognized by the United Nations of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a world cultural heritage.

Thang highly appreciated Egypt’s efforts to conserve, exploit and promote the values of historical monuments.

He wished that Vietnam and Egypt would discuss and sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in this field in the near future.

The Egyptian Minister expressed keen interest in Vietnam’s archeology conservation scheme.

Earlier, the Vietnamese delegation had visited relics sites and museums in Aswan, Luxor and Cairo.

Spanish dance duo to perform

Two Spanish choreographers Elias Aguirre and Alvaro Esteban of the EA&AE group will perform a contemporary dance piece called Entomo (Insects) on April 8 in Ha Noi.

A duo mixes their own technique with contemporary art to make animalistic and insect – like movements to creating a space where the natural world blends into the human one.

Aguirre said he was fascinated by insects, which inspired the creation of Entomo. The award-winning choreographer has performed the dance throughout the world prior to Viet Nam.

The performance will open for free on 7.30pm, at the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theatre, 11 Ngo Thi Nham Street, Ha Noi.

The night before the opening performance (April 7), a seminar on contemporary dance will be held, allowing the opportunity for the audience to exchange with the Spanish dancers and artists of the theatre.

The event, co-organised by the Embassy of Spain in Viet Nam and the Spanish Cultural Centre, is part of the Asia-Pacific tour of the Spanish choreographers.

Northern region hosts folk festival

The final round of the 2013 Viet Nam folk song festival kicked off in the mountainous northern province on Saturday.

Veteran masters and amateur singers from 12 provinces performed their unique styles of folk singing and dancing. The performances featured unique lyrics and tunes that reflected the distinctive cultures of these ethnic people.

The festival aims to preserve and promote this aspect of traditional culture. The most outstanding pieces will be performed at the National Folk Song Festival finals in May.

The event was organised by Viet Nam Television in co-ordination with the provincial authorities.

Khmers celebrate New Year

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh delivered his best wishes to the ethnic Khmer community on the occasion of their New Year festival, Chol Chnam Thmay, at a get-together held by the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on Friday, April 5.

At the event, Ninh, who is also head of the committee, praised the achievements the region gained in 2012, including economic growth of nearly 10 per cent, an average per capita income rise by VND6 million (US$285), and reduction of poor households by over 3 per cent.

However, a section of the Khmer community is still disadvantaged, he noted, asking ministries, sectors and local authorities to pay more attention to supporting them.

Deputy head of the committee Nguyen Phong Quang said the region was home to about 1.3 million Khmer people, accounting for 8 per cent of its population.

Over the past years, the committee has mobilised VND867 billion to help poor people in the region. The sum was used to fund the construction of 12,000 houses for poor Khmer households and 5,000 scholarships for disadvantaged students gaining outstanding academic results.

The Chol Chnam Thmay, which falls annually in mid-April, is one of the most important festivals of the year for the Khmer people. It is usually held at pagodas and sees people wish and pray for a lucky new year.

VNN/VOV/VNS