Yen Tu nominated as World Heritage site

The bronze statue of Emperor Tran Nhan Tong, the country’s largest such statue, is on Yen Tu Mountain, Quang Ninh Province.

The spiritual mountainous relic site of Yen Tu in the northern province of Quang Ninh has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage nominations, VietnamPlus cites UNESCO.

The authorities of Quang Ninh and Bac Giang provinces are preparing documents to UNESCO recognition of Yen Tu Buddhism Complex as a World Heritage site. The documents are expected to be complete this September and will be sent to UNESCO next year. Recognition may occur in 2017.

Located on the 1,068-meter-high Yen Tu Mountain, the 20,000-hectare site is considered the cradle of Vietnam’s Buddhism. Apart from numerous temples, old religious and cultural documents are being preserved there.

Yen Tu was recognized as a special national relic site in 2012. It was also selected as one of the 10 most popular spiritual destinations in the country by Vietnam Records.

Exhibition displays blind students’ pottery works

An exhibition, featuring 100 paintings and 200 pottery works by blind children, is taking place at Heritage Space, 17 Tran Binh Street, Hanoi on January 12.

The event brings together students from three art schools: the Hanoi-based Nguyen Dinh Chieu School and Hai Duong provincial rehabilitation centre for blind people, as well as Sweden’s Tomelilla art school. The children showcased their worldview and dreams through art works.

The exhibition is part of the ‘Art Beyond Sight’ project, which was launched in 1999 by Elizabeth Person, a Swedish social activist.

The ‘Art Beyond Sight’ project aims to prove that disadvantaged people can contribute to the community if they are given the chance to.

Earlier, an exhibition under the project titled “Lights from hands“, which also featured ceramic works from visually impaired students, was held in Hanoi in 2009, and received a good response.

Another exhibition ‘Art Beyond Sight’ was also held at the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts in 2011.

H’re ethnic minority preserves gong culture space

The cultural space of gongs of ethnic minorities in the Truong Son mountain range has been recognised as an important part of human culture, especially for the H’re people in central Quang Ngai province.

Preserving and promoting the everlasting echoes of the gongs is becoming increasingly important to those living in the region.

Artisan Dinh Van Rut said the H’re people have always incorporated gongs into festivals and communal activities, representing one of the most central icons in the community. Important occasions are often comprised of playing gongs, dancing, and drinking together.

According to musician Dinh Thien Vuong, the sound of the gong represents the wishes, desires, sentiments, and life philosophies of humankind.

Vice Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Cao Van Chu said the province will focus on preserving and promoting the cultural space of gongs among ethnic minorities in the region with the H’re in particular.

The gong is not just a musical instrument but a precious asset to the H’re community in mountainous areas in the province; the sounds of gongs in the region have traditionally marked the beginning of a month-long celebration to usher in a new fruitful crop.

Art exhibition raises fund for child patients with leukemia

An art and photo show raising fund for child patients with leukemia was opened at Fix Republic Café, 30/1F Ngo Thoi Nhiem Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 3.

The event called “Ode to the City” features 20 photos of Ho Chi Minh City taken by musician Quoc Bao.

Photographed works inspire artists Tran Trung Linh, Nguyen Hoan Hao and musician Quoc Bao to create paintings by using mixed media at the display.

Pictures and paintings will be auctioned to raise fund for child patients with leukemia. The show will run until January 15.

VNAT uses social media to promote tourism

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has resorted to social media to introduce the tourism sector by launching a Youtube channel and a Facebook fanpage.

Users can now get news updates and watch multiple video clips about festivals, beautiful places and tourism products at www.youtube.com/c/vietnamtourismmedia and www.facebook.com/Vietnamtourism.fanpage.

Under the tourism development strategy until 2020, the administration will change the way of promoting tourism. In addition to traditional methods such as organizing tourism fairs and cultural programs, it will launch a marketing campaign on the internet through social networks and cooperate with individuals and businesses to carry out promotional programs.

Statistics from VNAT showed the sector served more than 7.87 million international tourists and 38.5 million local travelers last year, obtaining VND230 trillion in revenue, up 15% year-on-year.

“Fire” concert captivates audiences

The awe-inspiring “Fire” concert performances by pianist Pho An My and composer Dang Tue Nguyen captivated audiences last week.

Beautiful melodies and sounds of piano accompanied by tuong (traditional theater opera) at the concert at Gem Center in HCMC’s District 1 left audiences in awe.

“Fire” featured an ancient tuong masterpiece called Ngon lua Hong Son in the 17th century in Vietnam by contemporary scriptwriter Luong Tu Duc. The duo, My and Nguyen, brought a new form of art in which contemporary melodies of piano and percussion musical tools harmonized with the singing performance of a traditional and hard-to-hear genre of art like tuong.

Audiences were excited by fierce and powerful sounds in a solo performance by My and successive peals of orchestra drums.

Composer Nguyen successfully kept the essence of the two different genres of music to highlight their own beautiful melodies. Although this is a new kind of art that requires audiences to have certain knowledge to comprehend, the concert was the duo’s success in bringing traditional music to the world.

Another highlight was the concert took place in a beautiful open space on a rooftop surrounded by trees. This took audiences out of the usual atmosphere of a concert hall.

Commenting on the show, Pho An My said “Fire” reflected her strong feeling.

Pho An My expects to come back at the end of this year for a concert that combines her successful shows “Lua” (Fire) and “Bong” (Reflection). She also plans to join hands with composer Nguyen in a new project that features a combination of piano and cheo (traditional northern opera).