Hanoi Sound Stuff Festival to feature unique performances

The 2015 Hanoi Sound Stuff Festival will be held in Hanoi from April 9 to 11, promising to offer a wide variety of unique performances from leading Vietnamese and international artists.

The annual event is being co-organised by the Vietnam National Academy of Music and the Goethe Institute in Hanoi.

This year’s festival will take place at three locations in Hanoi: Manzi Art Space, No.14 Phan Huy Ich Street; Hanoi Creative City No.1 Luong Yen Street; and the Vietnam Cultural and Arts Exhibition Centre, No. 2 Hoa Lu Street.

The event will feature an electronic concert by artists from the US, France, Germany, Israel, Denmark and Vietnam for Hanoi audiences to enjoy.

The festival is a mixture of Vietnamese and international music, focusing on electronic music and experimental pop music.

As part of the festival, numerous activities will be held including a street-art performance by Julian Vogel, a talk on electronic music in Germany, and workshops on electronic music.

Loreto hosts to build music room

Loreto’s ambassador Thanh Bui and representatives from SOUL Music Academy along with Loreto team members have paid a visit to the Music Room project at Dong Hai C primary school in Duyen Hai district of Tra Vinh province.

This project undertaken by Loreto is the first Music Room venture, and there are plans for two more rooms in the coming months of 2015 in Tra Vinh and An Giang provinces.

With a combination of providing fund for renovation and supplying the needed musical equipment, Loreto and SOUL Music Academy also host training to music teachers with the hope of planting and nurturing the hidden musical talents carried by these children in rural areas.

Loreto is proud to share the same vision with SOUL Music Academy in bringing a brighter and better future to all children in Vietnam through education and music, especially underprivileged kids in rural areas.

Loreto Program is a Kids Charity (INGO) dedicated to the reduction of poverty through educational opportunities for underprivileged and disabled students. Since 1997, Loreto has supported over 30,000 children in six provinces in Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh monument design contest launched in UK

A monument design contest to honour the late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh was launched at the University of Sussex on April 1 to celebrate his connection with the port town of Newhaven in the UK’s Sussex region.

Professor Michael Davies, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, said this is an opportunity for the school’s students, as well as those in the Sussex region, to learn about the life and career of the late President Ho Chi Minh who once worked on a ferry between Newhaven and France in the early 20 th century.

Newhaven Mayor Judith Ost said in 2013, local authorities laid a marble flagstone at its port to mark the centenary of his arrival in the UK during his overseas journey to seek ways of liberating Vietnam. The memorial is engraved with information on the late leader’s historical links with Newhaven.

One year later, Newhaven and Vinh city of Vietnam’s Nghe An province – Ho Chi Minh’s hometown – were twinned, becoming the first sister localities between the two countries, she added.

She expressed her hope that the contest will attract more youth to visit their town as well as the Newhaven port, where the monument will be displayed.

At the launch, Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK Nguyen Van Thao hailed the contest as a meaningful initiative commemorating President Ho Chi Minh, saying he hopes that the contest will contribute to the friendship and cooperation between the countries.

The competition is sponsored by the Vietnam-UK Network in coordination with the Vietnamese Embassy.

The result will be announced on May 24, five days after Ho Chi Minh’s 125 th birthday. The winning design will be made by Nghe An artisans and displayed at the Newhaven port by the end of this year.

Vietnam: 25 years of change through lens of US photographer

Photos featuring Vietnam’s changes throughout the past 25 years by US photographer Catherine Karnow will be showcased at an exhibition opening April 10 at Art Vietnam Gallery in Hanoi.

Entitled ‘Vietnam – 25 Years Documenting a Changing Country’, the exhibition is presented as the photographer’s diary since the first days she came to this country, gradually discovering its twists and turns while immersing herself in the land and its people.

Works on display are grouped into different topics, presenting Vietnam in the early 1990s, the country’s ‘Doi Moi’ (Renewal) process, Agent Orange victims, Amerasians, and images of Vietnam today.

The pictures portray a country with doors opening to international integration with strong and firm progresses and belief in a bright future.

General Vo Nguyen Giap is also one of the spotlights of the exhibition. Photos of the beloved Vietnamese general were taken by Karnow from her first meeting with him in 1990 to 2013 when she was invited to attend his funeral in Quang Binh province.

The month-long exhibition is part of activities to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Vietnam–US diplomatic relationship, and the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam–US war.

Ben Tre festival to celebrate coconut-based foods

A festival of coconut-based dishes and foods unique to the south will be held as part of the 2015 Ben Tre Coconut Festival.

The Southern Coconut Cuisine Festival place from April 7 to 13 at Hoang Lam Statue Park will see the participation of tourism sites, restaurants, and kitchens from Ben Tre, other Mekong Delta provinces, HCM City and Dong Nai Province and the Ben Tre Women's Union.

There will be over 50 food-related stalls set up by nearly 30 companies and restaurants and others in the sector and 20 stalls set up by companies from Ben Tre and other delta provinces to introduce local tourism attractions.

Hai Phong looks to become tourism hub

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the northern city of Hai Phong has announced plans to diversify the city's tourism products and improve services to turn the city into a tourism hub.

Local authorities expect to receive 5.5 million foreign and domestic visitors this year.

A fund to promote tourism in Cat Ba has been set up to develop facilities and improve services on the island.

Cat Hai District, where Cat Ba is situated, is set to organise several activities to kick start its tourism season, including art performances.

Meanwhile, Do Son District targets becoming an international entertainment and tourism centre.

Hai Phong welcomed 964,300 visitors in the first quarter, an increase of 7.23 per cent year-on-year.