Californian rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club hit District 4

Saigon based promoters Loud Minority just mere weeks after the visit of UK indie heroes The Cribs have pulled off another huge coup luring American rock and roll outfit Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to town for what promises to be a cracking night at Q4 on December 6.

BRMC, known for their garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia sound, rose to fame in 2001 with their raucous self-titled debut album and notorious live shows.  They have since released seven albums, appeared on numerous movie soundtracks (‘9 Songs’ and Brad Pitt’s latest movie ‘Counselor’), and cemented their reputation as one of the best live bands around.

While their self-titled debut and ‘Howl’ are often acclaimed by critics, BRMC’s latest release, ‘Specter at the Feast’ is one of their finest and sees them about to embark on another whirlwind tour of Australia and Asia. They come to Hong Kong and Indonesia and after their Saigon show head to Thailand.

This is the first time, though, they will play in Vietnam at Q4 in District 4, with a show that promises to be one of the most memorable gigs the city has ever seen. Added to the mix are Brazilian three-piece Turtle Giant, who played their own headline show to a packed Cargo bar last month.

Tickets are VND350,000 in advance or VND200,000 for students. They are available online at www.ticketbox.com or in person from Asian Kitchen, 185/22 Pham Ngu Lao, District 1, or McSorleys, 4 Thao Dien, District 2. Q4 is located at 7 Nguyen Tat Thanh, District 4.

Whispered nostalgia at Tu Do Gallery

Van Chien and Quang Hai will share their profound nostalgia for past love stories, beloved ones with sweet memories as well as beautiful places where they have traveled in ‘Whisper’ opening at Tu Do Gallery on Saturday.

Showing regret and a keenness to pull back memories, Chien and Hai use deep color tones – somewhere strong, somewhere light, somewhere dark and somewhere bright – to tell dreams, remembrance and desires of living with memories and emotional zones.

The artists are identified with two different styles but they are absorbed in finding a way back to their memory zones.

Chien depicts his memories via lacquer with peaceful countryside landscapes, mossy old street corners and rustic daily life. His paintings seem to be plain with light colors and clear settings, creating space for the artist’s inner world.

Meanwhile, Hai takes advantage of oil on Vietnamese lacquer to depict his appreciation of women and love which obsesses his mind. His paintings are a harmony of traditional material with modern style.

Thirty-seven artworks made in both lacquer, oil and mixed media will be on show until December 23 at Tu Do Gallery, 53 Ho Tung Mau Street in HCMC’s District 1.

“I Love My City” photo contest launched

The photo contest “I Love My City, My People”, sponsored by the French Consulate General in HCM City, is now accepting entries, hoping to encourage Vietnamese artistic expressions of local love for the homeland.

Jointly held by Galaxy Publications and the French cultural centre L'Espace, the contest is open to talented photographers aged 15–35 and currently residing and working in Vietnam.

Each entrant can submit 12 photos responding to the contest’s theme, captured using anything from the latest digital camera equipment to humble cell phones.

Twenty short-listed entrants will be invited to join a guided 48-hour HCM City shoot led by French professional photographers and experts.

The best photos will be displayed at an exhibition in the city from December 20–22.

Typographic exhibition opens in Hanoi

The 59th international typographic exhibition of the New York Type Directors Club (TDC) at the Hanoi Goethe Institute will take place from Saturday until December 7, giving visitors the opportunity to discover the works of winners of the international TDC-Competition 2013 in the use and design of types, typefaces and letterforms.

On display are milk cartons with large Arial letters stating that the products are fresh, an advertising board on a bus where the best mobile phone tariff is advertised in Helvetica and in Times New Roman, the sign hanging outside the office which reminds costumers of the opening hours as well as printed letters and words that surround us every day.

The TDC was founded in 1946 and is the leading international organization whose purpose is to support excellence in typography, both in print and on screen.

This year’s exhibition presents works from all over the world. In this year’s contest more than 2,000 works from 33 countries were admitted from which 215 winning entries emerged.

The 2013 exhibition in Hanoi is organized by Richard Moore Associates in cooperation with the FPT (Future Philosophy and Technology) Arena and the Goethe Institute.

The TDC especially welcomes all professionals and students in graphic design, advertising, marketing, communications, multimedia, publishing and education, who have a keen interest in type and the written word.

Indian artist brings “Colors of love” to children in need

“Karishma – Colors of love” charity painting exhibition featuring young Indian artist Karishma Kannan will take place from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday at Level 23 of the Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers in HCMC’s District 1.

This is the second solo exhibition by the 22-year-old, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome a few months after she was born, to raise funds for disabled children and orphans of the HCMC sponsoring association for the disabled and orphans and heart surgeries for poor children in hospitals in Quang Nam Province.

The “Life is beautiful” themed event will feature 31 artworks by the amateur artist whose strokes are evaluated as “full of generosity with bright blocks of color, showing her pure heart which is filled with love and nature” by experts.

Each painting of Kannan, whose first name Karishma means miracle, reveals the miraculous colors of Vietnam’s landscapes and natural surroundings. Kannan started to paint in 2009 after moving to Vietnam with her family in 2008. Her parents’ deepest wish is to share the light of love and give hope to special needs children in Vietnam with their daughter’s exhibitions.

Kannan’s first exhibition themed “Sharing the Miracle – Karishma – I can, you can, we can” in 2011 was a hit, selling 45 paintings worth VND250 million to raise funds for disadvantaged students.

Earlier this year, the kind-hearted girl visited orphans and people at the community care center in the central province of Quang Nam and donated her three works to be auctioned and raise funds for heart surgeries for poor kids in the locality.

From the proceeds of VND295 million, six children were saved from cardiac disease and other deadly illnesses.

Benefactors who wish to help out the kids in need should head to Kannan’s second exhibition at the Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers. The event also marks the launch of Kannan’s official website at www.karishmakannan.com.

This year’s event has support from the consulate general of India in HCMC, management boards of GIBC, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam, Metan Vietnam and Sheraton Saigon.

AUN J Classic Orchestra, a former Japanese cultural envoy, will perform at the Youth Theater, 11 Ngo Thi Nham Street in Hanoi at 8 p.m. on December 12.

Formed in 2008 by eight traditional Japanese musicians to deliver a simple but strong message to worldwide audiences that “traditional Japanese musical instruments are plain, simple and cool!”, the orchestra has been actively performing in Japan, France, Italy, China, Papua New Guinea and Croatia.

The award-winning musicians cover major traditional Japanese instruments such as Taiko (Japanese drums), Shamisen (three-stringed Japanese lute), Koto (13-stringed Japanese zither), Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute), Shinobue (Japanese transverse flute), and Narimono (Japanese percussions).

The members are Ryohei Inoue Taiko, Kohei Inoue, Hideki Ishigaki, Hideki Onoue, Azumi Yamano, Shin Ichikawa, Hide and Michiko Yamada               .

Core members Kohei and Ryohei are twin brothers and form a unit AUN which was Japan’s former cultural envoy to Southeast Asia in 2011. Their performance with percussionist Hide in Hanoi caused a sensation.

Local artists Ngo Tra My who plays dan bau (one-stringed Vietnamese zither) and Nguyen Thanh Thuy on the dan tranh ((Vietnamese 16-chord zither) will join the show to add the beauty of Vietnamese culture to the program.

Free tickets will be distributed from 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam, 27 Quang Trung Street in Hanoi.

Christmas concert to be held at Notre Dame in HCM City

The 2013 annual holiday concert, A Choral Christmas, will be held on two nights in December at two special locations, St Paul's Convent and Notre Dame Cathedral.

Organised by the International Choir & Orchestra of HCM City, the concert will feature pieces by Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, Praetorius and Handel, as well as favourite Christmas carols.

This year's concert will be held next Friday, from 7.30pm at St. Paul's Convent (4 Ton Duc Thang Street, District 1), and next Saturday, at the Notre Dame Cathedral in District 1.

Entrance to both performances will be by donation only.

As always, the proceeds of the concert will go to support programmes that enrich the lives of children throughout the country through donations to Loreto Vietnam-Australia programme and Poussieres de Vie (Dust of Life).

Seminar on Literature and Arts opens in City

A seminar themed ‘Striving to creating more valuable Literature and Artworks-Reality and Solutions’ was held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 27.

A performance of K’ni in HCMC, a unique musical instrument of the ethnic minority community

The seminar aims to focus on problems in fields of theory and criticism, literature, fine arts, movies, stage, and performances.

Literature and Arts have seen strong changes with a large number of artworks by talented people in last 15 years. However this sector has only a small number of high quality works and great talents, said experts.

Delegates have discussed and analyzed the current situation of artistic composition, and launched measures to raise the quality of artistic works to meet the demand of art lovers.

The seminar held by the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Art will end on November 28.