European music fest to enthrall Vietnamese audiences

The European Music Festival is returning Vietnam for its second edition on November 22-December 5.

The event will feature the latest music from Europe in differing genres ranging from symphony, orchestra, folk and national music to opera and chorus and contemporary.

This year, the festival will take place at the Youth Theatre in Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music.

The annual festival is jointly organised by a Delegation of the European Union and embassies of some European member countries in Vietnam.

Hanoi launches World heritage discovery competition

A competition on world heritage discovery in Hanoi officially opened on November 6.

Hanoi now has four world heritage sites: the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, 82 stone stele records of doctoral laureates in the Temple of Literature, Giong festival at Phu Dong and Soc temples and Ca Tru (ceremonial singing).

Entrants are required to demonstrate their knowledge about these four world heritage sites and propose conservation and development solutions.

Entries can be presented in various forms-written texts, reportages, short films and graphic products and sent to Hanoi Cultural Fund under Hanoi’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism on 47 Hang Dau street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi or via email address: disanvanhoahanoi@gmail.com.

Deadline will be December 15. The official result will be announced on December 26.

The organizing board will award one first prize (worth VND10 million) for written text category and VND15 million for first prize winner of reportages, short films and graphic products.

The competition is part of activities celebrating Vietnam Cultural Heritage Day (November 23) and 15 years of UNESCO’s recognition of Hanoi as a city for peace.

Disabled children's paintings on display

Disabled children will tell their stories and dreams through a painting exhibition that opens this weekend in Hanoi.

The exhibition is the result of Imperfection, a project that aims to bring out the talent in children with disabilities.

The project was launched by the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies Vietnam (CSDS) along with a group of high school students in Hanoi.

These students visited the centres for disadvantaged children, taught them to paint and selected the best artworks for the exhibition.

Entitled Pieces, the exhibition will be held over two days at Cong Nhan (Workers) Cinema, 42 Trang Tien street, Hanoi.

All the paintings will be on sale to raise funds for the children and their Hoa Binh (Peace) Village in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi.

It's hoped that the exhibition will be a bridge between the disabled children and society, giving them an opportunity to open their minds with other people and express their talent, according to Le Dao Duc Anh, a representative of CSDS.

Tra Vinh celebrates intangible heritage Ok Om Bok festival

The southern province of Tra Vinh celebrated Ok Om Bok festival, and received the certificate of the recognition of the moon worshipping ritual of the Khmer ethnic minority group as the national intangible cultural heritage on November 6.

Local authorities, monks from all 142 Khmer pagodas in the province and thousands of people attended the event.

Ok-Om-Bok is one of the three main festivals –Sene Dolta and Chol Chnam Thmay- they celebrate every year. The Khmer believe the moon is a God who controls the weather and crops throughout the year.

The festival takes place at full moon in the 10th lunar month. On this occasion, the local residents provide offerings to show their gratitude for the God for giving them good weather conditions and fruitful harvests.

Each village organises their own festival in the courtyards of their local pagodas, while the large provincial festival is held at Ba Om pond cultural relic site. The festival features a number of entertainment opportunities, including art performances, traditional sports challenges and folk games.

Tra Vinh is currently home to 320,000 ethnic Khmer, accounting for 32 percent of the province’s total population. During the moon worshipping festival, Ba Om pond cultural relic site attracts thousands of local inhabitants and tourists.

Film screening responds to Year of Solidarity with Palestinians

A documentary film screening was held on November 6 in Hanoi in response to the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 2014 and the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (November 29).

Addressing the event, Ho Anh Dung, Chairman of the Vietnam Committee for Solidarity with Palestinian People, affirmed Vietnam ’s support for Palestine ’s struggle for its basic national rights.

He expressed belief that with the strong support given by the international community, Palestine’s struggle will come to a victory.

Palestinian Ambassador to Vietnam Saadi Salama thanked the Vietnamese people for their backing, saying his country’s fight for basic national rights over the past years also pursues the right to establish an independent state.

The film screened at the event was “Five broken cameras” directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, which shows the non-violent fight of people in Bil’in, a village in the West Bank. During the struggle, five cameras used by Emad to record dramatic moments experienced by Bil’in villagers were broken.

The film won the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival 2011, Sudan Film Festival 2012, and Emmy Award 2013. It was also recommended for best documentary film in Oscar Award 2012.

Archival documents on President Ho Chi Minh in Russia on display

Over 200 documents, photographs and objects from the time President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked in the former Soviet Union are being showcased at an exhibition which opened in Hanoi on November 6.

The exhibition “President Ho Chi Minh and Russia - Archives and Records” is jointly organised by Vietnam’s archival authorities and the Federal Archival Agency of Russia as part of the celebrations of the 97th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution (1917-2014) and the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Russia (1950-2015).

The exhibition is divided into three sections, with a focus on President Ho Chi Minh and his journey to find the way to liberate Vietnam; the friendship between Vietnam and the Soviet Union during the time Ho Chi Minh was President of Vietnam (1945-1969); and the Russian people’s sentiments towards the Vietnamese leader.

The event aims to highlight the late President’s diplomatic strategies, consolidate the traditional relations between Vietnam and Russia, and enhance the public’s understanding of the role of archives in building and protecting the nation.

The exhibition is running at the Ho Chi Minh Museum, 19 Ngoc Ha Street, Ba Dinh District, until December 5.

Cao Bang brocade comes to handicraft market in HCM City

A collection of brocade products made by ethnic minorities in the far northern mountainous province of Cao Bang will be sold at the Traditional Handicraft Bazaar this weekend in HCM City.

The bazaar will see artisans belonging to the Lo Lo, Nung, White Mong, Flower Mong, Red Dao, and Dao Tien ethnic groups presenting their products.

It will resemble a hill tribes' local market in the north with ethnic women selling their specialities and food from mountainous areas in baskets.

They will teach visitors the process of making brocade from spinning and weaving to painting patterns using beeswax and hand embroidering.

Bags, hats, scarves, and decorative items made of brocade will be on sale.

The bazaar will also see traditional music and dance of Cao Bang hill tribes.

The event, at Renaissance Riverside Saigon Hotel, will be organised by Swiss development organisation HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation Viet Nam, NGO Cao Bang Community Development Centre, and Mystere Shop Saigon.

The money raised will be used to improve water supply for ethnic minorities in Cao Bang and the environment.

The event will start tomorrow night and go on through Sunday.

Seminar series The Book Talk kicks off this weekend

A monthly seminar The Book Talk that will allow readers and guest presenters an opportunity to express views of both fiction and non-fiction books will kick off this Saturday in HCM City.

Organised by the Nha Nam Culture and Media Company, the open roundtable will take place on the first Saturday of every month from 9am at Nha Nam Book Cafe in Phu Nhuan District.

The first programme, themed "What are the benefits of literature?" will feature poet and journalist Nguyen Huu Hong Minh from Mot The Gioi (One World) online newspaper; Tran Le Hoa Tranh, deputy head of the Literature and Language Faculty of the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities; and writer and translator Tran Tien Cao Dang for Nha Nam.

Participants in the event will be able to exchange views with speakers about the contributions that literature makes to society and share their experiences in exploring a literary work.

Reservations should be made at thebooktalk.nhanam@gmail.com.

Hundreds of rowers take part in annual Mekong boat race

Thousands of residents from across the Mekong Delta gathered in Soc Trang City on Wednesday and Thursday to watch the annual ngo boat race held on Maspero Canal.

The boat race, which celebrated the Mekong Delta Economic Cooperation Forum being held in the province, is part of the Ok-Om-Bok (Moon-Offering Ceremony) festival, a traditional event commemorating a bumper harvest held by the Khmer people in the Delta.

Competitors included 40 male and 11 female teams, with 60 rowers on each team. Rowers were residents from Can Tho City and the provinces of Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Hau Giang, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long and Soc Trang.

Soc Trang initiated the race years ago and it later became part of a larger region-wide festival.

University students win 1st veneer furniture design award

Two HCM City university students have shared the first Veneer Award for innovative furniture design using wood veneer.

Dang Truong Vu of Ton Duc Thang University and Tran Le Duy Khanh of Saigon Technology University received scholarships for a design course at RMIT University in Australia.

Instituted by the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City (Hawa) and the Viet Nam-Germany Forestry Programme and an Australian Government project called "Enhancement of veneer products from acacia and eucalyptus plantation in Viet Nam and Australia," the award is aimed at promoting veneer use and innovation in the wood processing industry.

It also seeks to help the wood processing industry shift from using solid wood to veneer, making Viet Nam's furniture and interior design industry more competitive, Huynh Van Hanh, Hawa's standing vice chairman, said.

Veneer refers to a thin slice of wood glued to an inferior material, which could be wood or metal.

The organisers received 47 entries from companies, freelance designers, and others.

The winning works are on display at the Viet Nam Furniture and Home Furnishing Fair (VIFA Home 2014) at the Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Centre from November 6 to 9.

VIFA Home 2014, which seeks to promote locally made furniture, home decor, and handicraft products in the domestic market, has attracted 115 local and foreign firms, 20 per cent more than last year.

Nguyen Ba Tuan’s “Flowers and Perfume” paintings exhibited

An exhibition titled “Flowers and Perfume” by artist Nguyen Ba Tuan was inaugurated on November 5 at the Korean Cultural Centre in Hanoi.

The exhibition features 18 oil canvas paintings, depicting Ha Long Bay and the rural areas of the Northern Delta.

The natural scenery of the northern delta region is depicted with hot and cold tones under Tuan’s strokes. Different pictures, bearing different tones, bring about different feelings to each viewer.

Le Van Thin, Lecturer of the Vietnam Fine Arts College, said “Being a young artist, Tuan’s eyes for observation and his combination of colors lead viewers from one surprise to another. His paintings simplify things to the maximum, but also carry extreme colours that depict the gorgeous natural sceneries of the friendly and beautiful rural areas of the northern delta.”

According to Tuan, his colorful and sentimental paintings carry different feelings, similar to the four seasons of Korea: lively spring, hot summer, glittering autumn and cold winter.

Park Nark Jong, Director of the Korean Cultural Center said that he hoped all seasons reflected on the canvas, would help shed new light on the county, and help viewers understand more about Vietnam.

Born in 1974, Nguyen Ba Tuan graduated from the Hanoi Theatrical and Cinematography College, and has had various personal and group exhibitions. The exhibition will last until November 14, 2014 at 49 Nguyen Du, Hanoi.

Vietnam Int’l Fashion Week

The first Vietnam International Fashion Week is coming to Ho Chi Minh City on December 1-6 and the top tier event will feature works of many world-renowned fashion designers.

Works of famed fashion designers Antonio Grimaldi from Italy and Livia Stoianova and Yassen Samouilov from France will be featured at the event.

Frank Cintamani, chairman of FIDe Fashion Week, which is organising the event, said that he hopes it will provide an opportunity for the world to discover the creativeness of young and upcoming talented designers of Vietnam.

We hope the event will be a breakthrough to elevate Vietnam’s fashion industry to a new height, Cintamani said.