VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese version of BBC's popular reality singing contest Just the Two of Us will air on Viet Nam Television (VTV) this month.

Cap Doi Hoan Hao, produced by VTV and the Cat Tien Sa Media and Television Company, pairs eight famous singers with celebrities, who each week sing in duets in eight shows from October 9 to December 4.

The contest will feature Vietnamese celebrities including MC Tran Thanh, actors Quach Ngoc Ngoan, Kim Thu and Le Khanh, models Ha Anh and Phan Le Ai Phuong, scriptwriter and actor Dinh Tien Dung, and bodybuilder Pham Van Mach.

The celebrities will team up with popular singers Doan Trang, Ngoc Anh, Dam Vinh Hung, Minh Quan, Noo Phuoc Thinh, Phuong Linh, Van Mai Huong, and Ho Trung Dung.

The duets will perform songs in various genres like pop, rock, hip hop and country.

The judges and the votes of the audiences will decide the elimination, which will begin in the third show.

The winning duets will receive VND200 million (US$9,500) awards, while two runners-up will receive VND150 million ($7,100) and VND120 million ($5,700).

All the shows will be broadcast live every Sunday on VTV 3 at 8pm.

* City tourist spot to host Trinh Cong Son music competition

HCM City's Binh Quoi Tourist Village will hold its annual singing contest of Trinh Cong Son's compositions on November 5-27.

Held since 2004 at the Hoi Quan Hoi Ngo, or the Club – which was built in memory of Son – the contest seeks to unearth talented new singers.

People aged 15 or above can register at the village, 1147 Binh Quoi Street, Binh Thanh District, before October 15.

Hoi Quan Hoi Ngo has become a meeting place for lovers of the maestro's music.

* Award winning poet Chim Trang passes away at age 73

Prize-winning poet Ho Van Ba, who wrote under the pen name Chim Trang, died of liver cancer in HCM City on Wednesday at the age of 73.

Ba, a native of Ben Tre Province in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, joined the revolutionary movement in 1955 and the Communist Party in 1964.

In 1966, along with Le Anh Xuan and Vien Phuong, he released his first book of poems titled Co Dau Nhu O Mien Nam (The South is the Most Beautiful Place).

His Nhung Nga Duong (Path Ways) won the A Prize from the Viet Nam Writers Association in 1981.

From 1995 to 2007 Ba was the editor-in-chief of HCM City Van Nghe (HCM City Literature and Arts) newspaper.

In all he published more than 10 collections of poems, the last one in 2008. His works were translated into Korean by Kusugeong.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News