Korean Andong Culture Day held in Hoi An

The Andong Cultural Day is taking place at 106 Bach Dang street in the UNESCO-recognised ancient town of Hoi An from November 14-16, featuring Vietnamese and Korean traditional culture.

The event was jointly hosted by Hoi An city in the central province of Quang Nam, Andong city of the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the International Mask Arts & Culture Organisation (IMACO).

It features folk music instrument performances, traditional dances of Vietnam and the RoK and Vietnam’s tuong (Classical drama) as well as performances of the K-Pop group of RionFive, popular singers Park Hye-min and Cho Choyong Min, among others.

Andong’s tourism potential and traditional cuisines of Vietnam and the RoK are also introduced at the event.

Nguyen Van Dung, Chairman of the Hoi An city People’s Committee, said following the Quang Nam Heritage Festival 2017 and the Andong Mask Dance Festival in Andong in October, the event marks the long-standing friendship and cooperation between the two cities.

DIY workshop to be held in District 2

An “Artsy Crafty DIY Workshop” will be held at Oxygen in District 2 on November 25.

The workshop will offer cooking class in rice rose dumpling cake with prawns and pork, and a leather crafting class for key chains, bracelets, glass cases and wallets for men and women.

There will also be an art workshop and art playground for participants. 

The workshop will take place from 9am to 7pm at 628C Hà Nội Highway in District 2. Participants can register at www.facebook.com/theoxygenmall.

HCM City theatre to stage Ludwig’s comedy Lend Me a Tenor

The Dragonfly Theatre Company will stage Tony Award-wining comedy Lend Me Tenor by Ken Ludwig at the Soul Convention Complex next week.

Directed by Aaron Toronto, the play is about an opera company in 1934.

World well-known tenor Tito Merelli, who plays the main role in Othello, is believed to be dead after mixing wine with drugs before the performance. The opera manager persuades his assistant, an aspiring actor named Max, to pretend to be Merelli so the show can go on. But Merilli is still alive and the mistaken identity causes much laughter.

The play will be performed in English with Vietnamese subtitles.

The six performances will take place on December 24-26 and December 1-3. The venue is SOUL Convention Complex, 214-216 Pasteur Street in District 3.

Tickets from VNĐ300,000 can be purchased at www.ticketbox.vn.

French rock band comes to the city

French rock band Benighted will present a show at Le Fenetre Soleil on November 27. Formed in 1998, the five-member band plays deathgrind music, a fusion of death metal and grindcore.

They have performed at major European festivals including Neurotic Death Fest, Hellfest, Wacken, Brutal Assault, Summer Breeze and Inferno Festival.

The show will also feature resident bands Lolotica and Cruel Society.

The event will start at 7 pm at 44 Lý Tự Trọng Street in District 1. Entrance is VNĐ300,000.

Craft village to exhibit traditional trades

Craft villages in Đà Nẵng City, Hội An Town and Quảng Nam Province will introduce their traditional products and history in an exhibition at Đà Nẵng city’s Museum on November 17-19.

The crafts villages will also demonstrate skills of the trade to visitors.

The exhibition, which celebrates Việt Nam’s cultural heritage day (November 23) , will feature 11 traditional trades including sesame cake making, sedge mat weaving, stone sculpting, fish sauce, bamboo, rice cake, brass sculpture, pottery, brocade weaving and wood furniture in central Việt Nam.

According to the organising committee, a puppet show will be held during the exhibition at night, while a fashion show of áo dài (long dress) will also be staged at the museum.

The exhibition will open from 8.30am.

The museum, located at the foundation of the Điện Hải Citadel, covers 3,000sq.m and displays 2,500 objects, photos and documents related to culture of Đà Nẵng and neighbouring central provinces.

Vietnamese Embassy in Indonesia attends 50th WIC Bazaar

The Women’s International Club (WIC) Jakarta hosted the 50th WIC bazaar in Indonesia’s capital on November 15 and 16, aiming to raise funds for charitable activities.

Themed “Unity in Diversity”, this year’s event saw nearly 60 booths from embassies in Indonesia and over 200 of local enterprises.

The Vietnamese Embassy’s booth introduced traditional goods such as lacquer products, pottery statues, jewellery and coffee.

The organising board said that 40 percent of the profits will go to 15 humanitarian projects, including presenting learning tools for schools dedicated to poor and homeless children and orphans, upgrading infrastructure in care centres for the elderly and people with mental disorders.

Established in 1950 by women of four different nationalities – India, Indonesia, the UK and the US – the club has become a gathering place for women from foreign embassies in Indonesia. 

It regularly holds humanitarian activities to assist people with disabilities, the elderly, street children, orphans and disadvantaged students in Indonesia.

HCM City holds book fair to celebrate Teachers’ Day

A book fair in celebration of Vietnamese Teachers Day was opened on Wednesday on Nguyễn Văn Bình Book Street in HCM City’s District 1.

Many books, including textbooks, reference books and children books, will be sold with discounts ranging from 30-50 per cent of the original prices.

Among the books is a collection of “extra lessons” that include fun facts and information not usually included in textbooks.

On November 19, other activities will be held, including exchanges and roundtable talks with teachers who will speak about their teaching experiences.

A mini-craft workshop on making roses with modeling clay will be offered for those who want to make handmade gifts for their teachers.

The six-day event was organised by Nhã Nam publishing house in collaboration with the city’s Book Street.

Type exhibition open

An exhibition  from the New York Type Directors Club (TDC) opened in Hà Nội’s Goethe Institute on Wednesday, attracting many typography lovers and visitors.

This TDC63 event includes more than 200 works seclected from 2,030 pieces from the TDC’s annually international typeface design competition and communication design contest, from 50 nations and territories.

It displays topography in a wide range of categories, such as books, posters, corporate branding, logos, web graphics, film and TV titles, products and magazines from the US, Germany, China, Japan and many others. 

Nguyễn Văn Tuyển, a student of the Việt Nam Design Institute, said he was interested in the topography at the exhibition. “ It helps me a lot in my design career.” 

The exhibition, which will last until November 30, is open free of charge from 9am to 7pm daily. 

A similar exhibition will be held in HCM City’s 92 Lê Thánh Tôn, on December 8-12. 

Child library complex opens

The first library complex for children in Việt Nam opened at the National Library of Việt Nam earlier this month.

The 240sq-complex provides about 2.000 books in Vietnamese, South Korean and English. The library was designed as a "tree of wishes" to attract children to a wide range of cultural activities such as traditional instrument playing and film screens.

"The library is important to children and their families," said Việt Nam Library’s director, Kiều Thúy Nga, at the library complex launching ceremony. "The library will help make reading and research easier."

The complex is a co-operation between Việt Nam National Library of Việt Nam and the Korean Intenational Cultural Foundation with backing from Hyundai Corporation.

Art programme to raise funds for the poor in HCM City

A fund-raising art programme is scheduled to be broadcast live on the Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) channel on November 26.

The municipal chapter of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) released the information at a press conference held on November 15.

Vice President of the VFF’s HCM City chapter Trieu Le Khanh said the programme will call on donors, businesses, and people from all walks of life to support the municipal fund for the poor.

The new feature of this year’s event is to honour individuals and households who once lived under the poverty line but ultilised social funding to overcome their hardships, she added.

With the participation of many artists, the programme will introduce effective poverty alleviation models and honour philanthropists. It is an activity to mobilise community assistance for the poor toward the upcoming Lunar New Year 2018.

Over the past 17 years, the HCM City chapter of the VFF has raised a total of over 1.6 trillion VND to support the disadvantaged. The money has been used to build more than 28,600 houses, repair 13,897 homes, and present over 433,650 scholarships and 83,779 health insurance cards to poor locals.