One Asia concert to feature Japanese, Vietnamese artists

The One Asia Joint Concert will be held at the Ha Noi Opera House at 8pm tonight.

The concert will feature Japanese and Vietnamese performances, with the artists playing pieces such as Rice Drum, Bolero, Furusato, One Asia and Heart of the Great River, which will be the climax of the night.

The Japanese artists are from the unique AUN J Classic Orchestra, formed in 2008 by eight excellent traditional musicians to deliver the simple but strong message, "Japanese traditional music instruments are plain, simple and cool!"

The core members of the AUN J Classic Orchestra, Kohei and Ryohei are twin brothers who form the unit called "AUN", Japan's former cultural envoy to South East Asia in 2011.

The eight young Japanese musicians have won awards in Japan and abroad, and play major Japanese traditional instruments such as drums, shamisen (three-stringed Japanese lute) and koto (13-stringed Japanese zither), as well as the bamboo flute, transverse flute and percussion instruments.

The five Vietnamese artists will play traditional instruments such as dan bau (monochord), 16-chord zither and the Vietnamese 36-chord zither, as well as t'rung (a Central Highlands' musical instrument) and the Vietnamese two-chord fiddle.

Concerts mark 25 years of ASEAN-RoK dialogue

The Korea Foundation and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Hanoi are co-hosting a special events concert entitled ‘Time &Space in Harmony’ in celebration of the upcoming ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit.

The concert is set to kick off at the Au Co Arts Centre in Hanoi on December 9, will feature the innovative world-class percussion group Gong Myoung from Korea and the traditional Vietnamese music ensemble,Binh Minh (Sunrise).

An encore performance will be held at the Ben Thanh Theatre in HCM City on December 12.

The ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit will take place on December 10-12 in Busan, Korea, marking the 25th Anniversary of the ASEAN-RoK Dialogue Relations.

InterContinental wins award

The InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort won the World's Leading Luxury Hotel Resort 2014 award during the World Travel Awards Gala in Anguilla in the Caribbean on Sunday.

The iconic resort triumphed over 500 other resorts and hotels worldwide, which were all in the running for the award this year. Contributing to its beauty is the resort's location, which is 600m above sea level on the Son Tra Peninsula in the central city.

Folk music playing and singing contest kicked off

The final round of a contest on Don Ca Tai Tu Nam Bo (southern amateur traditional music) opened at the Voice of the People of Ho Chi Minh City on December 7.

Around 100 artists of 16 clubs from Ho Chi Minh City, and neighboring cities and provinces such as Long An, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, An Giang and Kien Giang participated in the event.

The jury will whittle the top 16 clubs down to four for the climax night which will take place at Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on January 7, 2015.

The competition aims to develop Don Ca Tai Tu Nam Bo (southern amateur traditional music) that has been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December, 2013.

Convention a hit for Vietnamese comic lovers

HCMC’s first-ever Comic Con brought together fans of comic books and manga, cosplay, video games and toys all together at Phu Tho Stadium in District 11 on Sunday - PHOTO: HARRY HODGE

If you were a super-villain on Sunday, HCMC probably wasn’t the safest place for you.

Heroes like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Canada co-mingled with characters from Adventure Time and Naruto while gamers engaged in epic battles of League of Legends. If it involved anything ranging from toys to cosplay to manga, it was most likely available at the HCMC Comic Con at Phu Tho Stadium in District 11 over the weekend.

The event attracted locals and expats to the open air vendors areas, which included original artwork, comic books for sale, merchandise aplenty and a colourful gathering of costumed heroes. Tickets for the event were VND180,000 on the day, with many people happy to be among the first to ever attend a comic convention held in HCMC.

“Comic Con’s a hit,” said Adam Wateman, an English teacher from the U.S. who lives in District 7. “Lots of things to do and there are so many people dressed up.”

Indeed, there was also a children’s section for those a little too young to make costumes on their own, with face-painting and magicians. While the selection of English reading material was a bit limited (only one vendor seemed to stock any English comic books) most of those in attendance were simply happy to mark the occasion in person. Here’s to hoping next year’s will be bigger and better, but for a first time, it’s a good effort.