Donation concert hosted for Zone-9 fire victims

The Goethe Institute Ha Noi will host a special concert tonight to commemorate the victims of the recent fire at the new art and entertainment centre, Zone 9.

Monday's tragic fire was caused by welders during construction on Fuse Bar in Zone 9, leading to the death of six workers. The music at the concert will honour their memory, the organiser said.

Various activities that were scheduled to be held at Zone 9 have been cancelled, including the French embassy's reception for Vietnamese alumni, the year-end party of the German Embassy, and the regular meeting of the German speaker.

Musicians Yosi Horikawa of Japan; Jase Nguyen of HCM City and Tri Minh, Kim Ngoc and SonX of Ha Noi will participate in the donation concert as volunteers. Recently, the Goethe Institute had staged "Berlin in Ha Noi", with numerous art performances and film screenings in the art zone.

The Goethe Institute expressed strong hope that art, music and creativity would soon find a home again in Zone 9 once it is rebuilt.

The concert will take place from 6 to 10 PM at Goethe Institute Ha Noi, 56 – 58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. Admission is free, and donations are welcome.

Vietnamese photographer wins US prize

The image “Throwing Fishing”, captured by photographer Hoang Giang Hai, has been included among 18 photos receiving awards from the American National Geographic Magazine.

Hai’s photo depicts Thua Thien-Hue Province fishermen casting out their nets in a halo of highlighted water drops.

The 18 winning photos were chosen from more than 25,000 others submitted by 18,000 photographers around the world.

“Your Shot” is one of National Geographic’s regular contests, and this year it was themed “Exploring Our Changing World”.

Klause Priebe’s black and white lightning portrait won first prize.

Exhibition on President Ho Chi Minh in Guangxi

An exhibition opened in Thai Nguyen on November 21 displaying late President Ho Chi Minh and other revolutionary leaders’ activities in Longzhou, Guangxi province, China.

On display are more than 200 photos, documents and objects related to their stay in Longzhou before the 1945 August Revolution, many of them on public view for the first time.

Dong Khac Tho, Head of the ATK Dinh Hoa Managing Board, said since 2010, Longzhou district has helped build a link of red tourism retracing late President Ho Chi Minh’s footsteps.

The exhibition was held by the Managing Board of ATK Dinh Hoa historic relics in coordination with the Ho Chi Minh Museum and Longzhou Museum to develop tourism and strengthen Thai Nguyen’s socio-economic development cooperation and Guangxi, especially with Longzhou – some 40km from the Ta Lung border gate in Cao Bang province.

Leon Busy’s focus on Vietnam in the 1914-1917 period

The Vietnamese people’s life in the early 19th century will be lively featured at colour photographic exhibition by Leon Busy at French Cultural Centre L'Espace, in Hanoi from December 6 to January 4, 2014.

His photos taken in four years will help visitors gain a better understanding about Vietnam’s social life, occupations and beliefs.

His 10 black and white films will also be screened on this occasion.

The exhibition is sponsored by Albert Khan Museum in Boulogne-Billancourt and Paris Diderot University within the framework of cooperation between Ile-de-France and Hanoi in the French Year in Vietnam.

Photos spotlight nation's heritage

Bien Va Con Nguoi (Fishing in Hue) by Nguyen Xuan Huu Tam won the special prize in the single photograph category of the Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards 2013.

The first prize in the single photograph category went to Di Cho Ve, Sapa (Going Home from Market, Sapa) taken by Nguyen Van Dong.

Ban Gia (Old Friends) by Nguyen Luong and To Am Lao Cai (A Home in Lao Cai Province) by Nguyen Tien Dung were presented the second and third prizes, respectively.

In photo essay category, Le Hoi Phao Dong Ky (Dong Ky Firecracker Festival) by Hoang The Nhiem received the first prize.

The second and third prizes were given to Le Hoi Choi Trau Do Son (Do Son Buffalo Fight Festival) by Nguyen Viet Rung and Chieu Dinh Yen (Making mats in Dinh Yen) by Doan Thi Tho.

Twenty consolation prizes were also presented at an award ceremony held yesterday at the Reunification Palace in HCM City.

The second Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards that began in June received a total of 6,016 entries from 339 photographers across the country.

The contest, organised by Vietnam Heritage Magazine in collaboration with the HCM City Cultural Heritage Association and Canon Marketing Vietnam Co. Ltd., aims to call the community's attention to the need to preserve the nation's natural and cultural heritage.

More than 100 selections from the contest will be exhibited in Hoi An, Dong Nai, An Giang, Hue and Quang Binh through the end of February in a series of 17 exhibitions between October 22 and February 28.

 VN-ASEAN festival postponed to allow organisers to prepare

The UNESCO Viet Nam-ASEAN Heritage Festival, to be celebrated along with the Da Lat Culture-Tourism Festival from December 27 to 31, has been postponed, Lam Dong Province authorities confirmed.

Officials noted, though, that the festival will be rescheduled to allow for more extensive preparations by local authorities and ASEAN countries. The festival is co-sponsored by Lam Dong Province and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Original plans called for the UNESCO Viet Nam-ASEAN Heritage Festival to be one of four main events celebrated during the Da Lat Culture-Tourism Festival. Included in festival plans were an international conference on the preservation and sustainable development of UNESCO heritage sites in Southeast Asia, an exhibition of heritage sites and a performance highlighting the region's heritage.

In spite of the postponement, the Da Lat Culture-Tourism Festival 2013 will still offer visitors many ways to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the city's founding, as well as a flower festival and events marking National Tourism Year 2014, in which with the central highlands and Da Lat will be key destinations.

 Students in mountainous region learn traditional ethnic music

A class on the traditional music of the Bru-Van Kieu ethnic minority group began on Tuesday at a secondary school in a mountainous district of the central province of Quang Binh.

Six artisans will teach as many as 26 pupils at Truong Son Secondary Boarding School in Quang Ninh District to play folk songs on traditional instruments. The students will also learn dances traditionally performed at festivals, rituals and weddings.

The class aims to restore lost traditional festivals to attract more travelers, said Le The Luc, director of the tourism development project in Quang Binh.

 Da Nang diners ready to indulge in first French wine festival

The Georges Bubeouf Beaujolais Nouveau and Cuisine Week from Lyon, France is being held at the Square Restaurant in the Novotel Da Nang Premier Han River Hotel till November 30.

This is the city's first traditional French wine festival.

The restaurant will offer fine French cuisine, including Saucisson Beaujolais, Saucisson Sec, Rosette de Lyon, specialty sausage with garlic sauce, grilled flanked steak, roasted shallots and bitter greens, black sausage, caramelised apples and onions and potato puree at the 37-storey Novotel Hotel on the bank of the Han River.

Ha Tinh music festival helps popularise new compositions

Over 80 artists and musicians from six northern central provinces are taking part in a regional music festival beginning on November 22 in Ha Tinh province.

Coming from Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien – Hue provinces, they are set to bring to the festival a large number of new works infused with the national identity and the breath of the current life.

The two-day event also aims to promote composition and performance and satisfy the public’s increasing demand.

The annual festival has been organised in all regions across the country by the Vietnam Musicians’ Association since 2006.-

Exhibition commemorates Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap

More than 160 photos on the revolutionary activities and daily life of General Vo Nguyen Giap are displayed at the Southeastern Armed Forces Museum.

The exhibition, which was opened on November 21, also features over 70 books by scholars on the late General who died in October, and those by himself.

A range of articles about the funeral of General Giap by numerous newspapers such as Nhan dan (People), Quan doi Nhan dan (People’s Army), and Tien Phong (Pioneer) were also put on show at the exhibition.

The exhibits manifest the sentiment and gratitude of Vietnamese people to the great contributions by the General to the Party, State and people, and mark the 69th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (December 22).-

Japanese painter finds inspiration in Vietnamese scenery

Thirty one paintings by Japanese artist Toba Mika go on display on November 23 at an exhibition entitled ‘Landscapes in Memory’ at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum.

The paintings, mostly produced over the past three years using the katazome dyeing technique, feature the beauty of many tourist attractions in Vietnam, such as Cho Lon Market in Ho Chi Minh City, the streets of Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem district, Hoi An’s old quarter, and the meandering river around Hue city.

Mika has also planned an exchange with students at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University.

Born in 1961 in Aichi prefecture, Mika is currently a lecturer at the Kyoto City University of Arts, where she earned an MA. She first visited Vietnam in 1994, and Vietnamese scenes have become the main theme in her paintings. Her first exhibition in Vietnam was organised in Hanoi in 2001 under the theme ‘Katazome dyeing technique and Vietnamese landscapes’.

She has brought the katazome technique, a longstanding Japanese dyeing method, to the world of painting. In the technique, which was traditionally used to dye kimonos, fabrics are dyed with patterns using a resistant paste applied through a stencil. Mika has adapted the process to create large-scale paintings and a new form of contemporary art.

She was awarded the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s Award in 2012 for her contribution to promoting friendship between Japan and Vietnam through her artwork. She has also won nearly 20 art prizes and has held 40 exhibitions – both collective and solo – in Japan, the UK and Vietnam.'

 Dang Phuong Viet’s ‘Sen Viet’ graces Hanoi

Vietnamese artist Dang Phuong Viet will open ‘Sen Viet’ at Casa Italia in Hanoi, as part of the program ‘Vietnam-Italy 2013: Italian Year in Vietnam’.

On display will be 11 artworks depicting lotus flowers and fish in contrasting colors, strong and gentle, light and colorful.

Born in 1972 in Hanoi, Viet graduated from Hanoi Fine Arts University. His works are mainly oil on canvas in the language of modern realism. In the last fifteen years, Viet has participated in several exhibitions, both in Vietnam and abroad. He is known for his works with lotus flowers. His special oil painting technique and usage of colors is impressive. Viet gives a modern vision to the traditional concept of lotus as a symbol of beauty, resilience and enlightenment. The artist’s choice of colors is challenging, with a seeming cacophony of colors – ranging from acid greens to shocking fuchsias and fire-engine red, combining them harmoniously: the results indeed are surprising. It seems that the painter is working more with the emotions than with reality.

The show will run until December 9 at Casa Italia, 18 Le Phung Bieu Street in Hanoi.

 ‘The Netherlands and Vietnam in your eyes’ winners named

‘You are Welcome!’ by Nguyen Quang Toan won first prize in the ‘Happy Moment’ category in the photo contest ‘The Netherlands and Vietnam in your eyes’

Casey Scholz won a special prize for the work ‘Flower Field’ depicting Vietnam more colorfully and decorated with landscapes from the Netherlands in the photo contest ‘The Netherlands and Vietnam in your eyes’.

On Thursday all winners were revealed for the contest which was launched in early September and was part of the Holland Village in HCMC program to mark the 40th celebration of diplomatic ties between the countries.

Vietnamese photographer Nguyen Quang Toan won first prize for ‘You are Welcome!’ in the category ‘Happy Moment.’ Phan Tuan Huy was top in the ‘Light’ category for his ‘Tulips in Saigon.’

In category ‘Life and People,’ Huong Phan took first prize for ‘Floating Life’ and Sebrina Radostinova Yaneva topped with ‘Factories and Technologies’ in the category ‘Modern and Renovation.’

The winning works will be displayed at Holland Village 2013 which will take place at September 23 Park in downtown HCMC from tomorrow until December 1.

 Erik Truffaz Quartet graces HCMC Conservatory of Music

The French Institute in Vietnam hosts a jazz concert with the headline performance of Quartet Erik Truffaz at the HCMC Conservatory of Music tonight at 8 p.m.

The outfit consists of Truffaz (trumpet), Marc Erbetta (drum), Benoit Corboz (keyboards) and Christophe Chambet (bass guitar).

Truffaz is a Swiss-born French national jazz trumpeter who studied at the conservatory in France, where he chose jazz after discovering the rhythms of Miles Davis. However, he refuses to be locked in a fixed genre which has resulted in his unique style, where the trumpet is not limited to jazz only but also blended with hip hop, electro, rock and funk.

This concert is part of the France Year in Vietnam festivities.

The HCMC Conservatory of Music is located at 112 Nguyen Du in District1.