HCM City rockers to compete in global battle of bands

The Andre Ngo Trio band will represent HCM City in the international Hard Rock Rising competition to be held in late April.

The band won the HCM City Hard Rock Cafe competition, which included contestants Gen, the Arrow, Sagometal and Factor 7.

The judges were Microwave band leader and composer Tran Ngoc Tung, general director of Yeah1 Production Jay Casee and Hard Rock Cafe HCM City's house band leader Patrick Querubin.

Formed in 2013, Andre Ngo Trio is a three-piece band that consists of lead singer/guitarist Andre Ngo, bassist Red Pueblas and female drummer Thao Tran.

The grand prize winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Rome to perform at the Hard Rock Live Rome outdoor music festival this summer.

The runner-up bands will each receive new musical equipment and gear valued at US$10,000.

Hard Rock Cafe and ReverbNation are the organisers of the event.

Mica Levi to perform in Vietnam

Britain’s Mica Levi will be performing alongside Vietnamese zither artist Van Mai for a traditional music and singing performance at the Hanoi Sound Stuff Festival 2014 on April 11.

She will also perform at the An Dinh Palace in Hue City on April 13-14 during the Hue Festival 2014.

Mica Levi is an English singer, songwriter, composer, and producer best known for her band Micachu & the Shapes and their experimental music genre, made famous by their debut hit Jewellery.

Levi first gained notoriety while she was a student at Guildhall, for her widely acclaimed composition of an orchestral piece for the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed at the Royal Festival Hall in April 2008.

Her composition of a soundtrack for the recently released film Under the Skin directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johansson has also garnered her worldwide acclaim.

Veteran ca tru singer dies at 84, leaving rich legacy

Songstress Nguyen Thi Chuc, a widely acclaimed ca tru (ceremonial singing) singer, died yesterday in Ha Noi due to old age and serious illness.

Chuc was born in 1930 in Ha Noi. She started performing ca tru at the age of 12 along with the members in her family and was well known for her talent by the age of 18.

In the 1990s, she not only taught ca tru at her native village, but also at the National Conservation of Music in efforts to preserve the traditional art form. She was bestowed the Folk Artist title by the State in 2005.

She was considered as a living treasure of ca tru, who had in-depth knowledge of many melodies of ca tru and had mastered different singing techniques, remarked To Ngoc Thanh, the president of the Viet Nam Folk Arts and Literature Association.

Vietnamese daily life featured in French exhibition

An exhibition of over 100 photos is casting the spotlight on the everyday life of Vietnamese people over the past two centuries in the French southern city of Perpignan.

The event, the result of a joint effort by the France-Vietnam Cultural Association, Pyrénées-Orientale province, and the Vietnamese Embassy in France, is being staged from April 4- May 15.

A Vietnamese culinary festival on April 6 provided visitors the opportunity to taste Vietnamese traditional dishes prepared by famous chief Hoang Thi Nhu Huy, a member of– French culinary institute, from imperial Hue city.

A large number of representatives from the Vietnamese business community are also taking the opportunity provided by the occasion to tout cooperation and investment opportunities in Vietnam.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Pyrénées-Orientale Governor René Bidal said he greatly values the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and France.

“Vietnam is an attractive destination for French people thanks to its inherent natural beauty, and traditional historical and cultural values”, he said, adding “At present, about 5,000 French people are living and working in Vietnam.”

Ambassador Duong Chi Dung said the exhibition- one of activities marking the Vietnam Year in France aims to help French friends learn more about Vietnamese people’s daily lives in the 19th and 20th century, especially their traditional customs and handicrafts.

Professor Jean Louis Marty from Perpignan University showed his keen interest in the exhibition, through which, he said, “A vivid Vietnamese living environment over the past two centuries are featured.”

“I am not very knowledgeable about Vietnam which I visited only once last year.  So the ongoing exhibition helped me get a deeper understanding about Vietnam, which is geographically located very far from us,” he said.

Chairwoman of the France-Vietnam Cultural Association, Nguyen Thi That Peel, a French Vietnamese who was awarded top French award (the National Order of the Legion of Honour), said her love for both Vietnam and France inspired her to organize this exhibition in a bid to strengthen bilateral ties.

Vietnam’s beautiful landscapes highlighted

Vietnam joined more than 50 other nations and territories from around the globe at an international tourism exhibition held in Ottawa, Canada on April 5-6.

At the event, Vietnamese pavilions introduced exhibition goers to the country’s inherently beautiful and diverse landscapes and seas, along with a plethora of photos and information on its culture, cuisine and popular tourist destinations.

Many visitors expressed a high level of interest in travelling to Vietnam and said they plan to visit the Southeast Asian nation in the coming time.

Most notably, almost all of the Canadian and international visitors praised the beauty of Vietnam’s landscapes, especially Ha Long Bay and the northwestern region.

This year’s event has featured 200 pavilions, 14 seminars and culinary arts of many famous chefs from Egypt, Aruba, the Republic of Korea and Canada.

Andre Ngo Trio wins Hard Rock Rising 2014

Andre Ngo Trio won the final round of a music competition for talent bands at Hard Rock Café HCMC in District 1 last week. As the grand prize winner of this local competition, the group will receive a chance to rock against other Hard Rock Café’s winning bands in Italy in late April 2014.

The trio beat other Hard Rock Café HCMC’s top competitors, including Gen, The Arrow, Sagometal and Factor 7, which were narrowed down from HCMC’s seven registered bands during an online voting at www.facebook.com/hardrockcafevietnam in February 2014. The live battles were run from March 13 to April 3 under the judgment panel of industry experts such as Microwave band leader and composer Tran Ngoc Tung, general director of Yeah1 Production Jay Casee and Hard Rock Café HCMC’s house band leader Patrick Querubin.

The trio will represent HCMC to compete in a global Hard Rock Rising 2014 battle of the bands competition which is co-organized by Hard Rock and ReverbNation. This group will also receive a chance for an all-expenses paid trip to Rome to perform at the first Hard Rock Live Rome music festival this summer.

During the global competition, fans will be able to vote on participating Hard Rock Facebook pages to shortlist the 80+ local winners to twenty-five bands. A judging panel of celebrities and music industry professionals such as Steven Van Zandt, Bonnie McKee and more, will select the Grand Prize winner and two runner-up bands. The Grand Prize winner will stage at Hard Rock Live Rome, an outdoor music festival that is expected to attract more than 40,000 fans from across Italy. Each of the selected runner-up bands will receive new music equipment and gear valued at US$10,000.

Formed last year, the trio consists of lead singer/guitarist Andre Ngo, bassist Red Pueblas and only female drummer Thao Tran.

African jazzy soul Gasandji blows city stage

The French Institute in Vietnam and Idecaf will host a concert of popular African singer Gasandji at Idecaf, 28 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, HCMC, at 8 p.m. on April 17.

Gasandji will stage in HCMC together with Koto Brawa who plays drums and percussion, flutist Dramane Dembele and guitarist Abdoulaye Kouyaté with.

Born in Congo, Gasandji blows, as a sort of mystery, the sacred dimension of both her music and songs. She defends naturally a certain idea of her African origins.

Gasandji’s first theatrical experiences happened when she was a dancer-choreographer. She became famous for her own shows and appearing as a guest star for well-known artists such as Lokua, Keziah Jones or Imany.

Gasandji sings mainly of herself. At first sight, she does not resemble her music. This Congo-born artist stands out for her rather unconventional haircut; her voice is instead gentle and soft. Her music has been labeled afro-jazz, or afro-soul.

Gasandji released her self-titled album in 2013 and won the award “Coup de Cœur Francophone 2013” of the Academy of Music Charles Cros.

Tickets for Gasandji’s upcoming show cost VND100,000 and can be purchased at Idecaf.

Urgent need to timely honour artisans

Vietnam’s traditional craft villages where artisans for hundreds of years have turned out bronze, ceramic, silk and bamboo products, among other crafts, are under threat.

Suffering from the impacts of economic recession, as well as a lack of capital, problems with the sustainability of the material supply source, shortfalls in management and importantly, little recognition for the artisan’s work, Vietnam’s craft villages could be lost.

Villages like Chu Dau and Bat Trang pottery villages, Van Phuc silk village, Dinh Cong and Dong Xuan bronze vilages, Quat Dong embroidery village, and Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan village, with hundreds of years of history could eventually become desolate.

A key threat to the survival of the villages is the lack of recognition for the artisans, which discourages young people from continuing on their family history. There are yet to be clear regulations on the criteria for the title nor a specific organisation entrusted with the recognition process.

This poor management has meant that not only are the right people not being awarded but also at the same time unqualified artisans are wrongly given the title.

In Ha Tay province, for example, now merged with Hanoi, - the land of many long-standing crafts – numerous remarkable artisans have not yet been named in the awardee list.

The problem spreads widely, with artisans ‘ignored’ in other localities also, such as Tran Thi Y Lan in Ho Chi Minh City, the producers of unique sand pictures; Le Van Vong in Kieu Ky gold-inlay village; and Nguyen Thi Mai Van in the wine making village.

On the other hand, those who have been honoured do not receive reasonable economic benefits, such as free training courses, space to show their products at fairs, or invitations to train the younger generation of their field.

In short, we are pushing talent away from the crafts, away from the preservation of heritage and to the end of the villages instead of towards development and innovation.

Action is needed now in order to save Vietnam’s traditional craft villages and help those struggling to carry on with their ancestral traditions. Acknowledgement and honour for the artisans cannot be postponed any more.

Firstly, specific ministries and sectors must be assigned to manage the different issues. It is suggested the Ministry of Trade and Industry work with those from craft villages in the production and business fields while it is recommended the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism considers those working in tangible and intangible cultural fields. The Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee should further co-ordination with its member organisations and social organisations to ensure that no artisan is missed from the acknowledgement.

Vietnam can also learn from Japan, where once many craft villages faced collapse with young people flocking en-masse to big cities. To address the issue, the Japanese Government developed policies to ‘preserve’ artisanship and provided them with preferential insurance. With improved living standards, the artisans had more time to train the younger generations and develop their crafts. Thanks to the decision, the craft villages recovered.

Other ASEAN countries have been known to show appreciation for artisans by organising exhibitions of their products and providing them with benefits such as regular health check-ups.

If we value the artisans now we have a chance to not only save the villages but develop the trades above and beyond what they have ever been.

Book on Dien Bien Phu victory debuts

A book on the Dien Bien Phu victory has been published by the Truth - National Political Publishing House, in collaboration with Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper.

The book, entitled ‘Dien Bien Phu – The Resounding Epic’, is a collection of articles on the Dien Bien Phu campaign published on Nhan Dan Newspaper.

The 600-page book is divided into three parts including ‘The victories on other fronts to create impetus for the Dien Bien Phu victory’, ‘Dien Bien Phu victory and recollections’ and ‘The significance of and lessons from the Dien Bien Phu victory’.

Photographs on the victory are also featured in the book.

The debut of the book, one of activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory (May 7, 1954 – 2014), aims to honour the glorious feats of arms as well as the bravery and strong will of the Vietnamese people and People's Army.

The book also contributes to educating Vietnamese people from all strata, particularly the younger generations about the nation’s patriotism and revolutionary traditions, creating motivation and mental strength for the cause of national construction and defense.

During national construction and defence, the Dien Bien Phu victory is a symbol of patriotism and of the nation's heroic willpower and spirit.

Since its first issue on March 11, 1951, Nhan Dan Newspaper has published a wide variety of articles highlighting the brave and heroic spirit of Vietnamese people and army during their struggle against French colonialists, especially the Dien Bien Phu victory.