HCM City exhibits antique tea sets

HCM City exhibits antique tea sets

Antique tea sets that highlight the cultural characteristics of Viet Nam, China and Japan are being displayed at the HCM City History Museum in HCM City’s District 1.

The first-ever exhibition of this kind, which opened on Thursday, displays 267 objects contributed by the History Museum, the HCM City Fine Arts Museum and private collectors.

Visitors and researchers will have a chance to see tea sets from China that date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, traditional tea sets from Japan, including those from the 16th and 17th centuries, and tea sets from Viet Nam that originated in different areas of the country.

The exhibition will run till the end of May 2016. 

New TV show about Japanese music

HCM City Television and its Japanese partner TOHO Joint Stock Company have produced a new TV music programme that will air on HTV1 channel this weekend.

The show, Chao Khan Gia Viet Nam (Hello Vietnamese Audiences), offers the latest information and events about Japanese singers and bands to appeal to the demands of Vietnamese viewers, particularly youth.

Its highlights will provide the audience with opportunities to learn about Japanese music genres of enka and poppusu, and quality music performances popular in Japan and other Asian countries.

It will also include music videos performed by star singers, and girl and boy bands whose style “visual kei” has dominated the industry.

Chao Khan Gia Viet Nam will be broadcast on the Nippon Saitama Television channel under the name of Audience V.

The programme will air at 8.30pm and 12.30pm every Friday and Saturday. 

Concert to honour Y Moan’s memory

Dozens of singers performed in a concert at HCM City’s Hoa Binh Theatre yesterday to honour the late ethnic singer Y Moan, a rock star from Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) who popularised his region’s music among young people.

The event, Y Moan-Huyen Thoai Cao Nguyen (Y Moan – The Legend of Central Highlands), features young singers Y Zak Urun, Rodamic, Y Soan and H’Zina Bya, who were also born and grew up in Tay Nguyen.

The singer’s sons Y Vol and Y Garia, both young talents of the E De ethnic group, were featured.

The singers performed 20 songs in pop and rock in praise of Central Highlands and its culture and lifestyle, such as Em Muon Song Ben Anh Tron Doi (I Want to Live with You Forever), Ly Ca Phe Ban Me (A Cup of Ban Me Coffee), Doi Mat Pleiku (Eyes of Pleiku) and Rock Buon (Rock of Sadness).

They sang with the support of a group of E De artisans playing cong chieng (gongs) before an expected audience of 2,000 at the theatre.

“Y Moan is the pioneer who brought Central Highlands music to the people. After his death in 2010, I believe no one can perform like him for the next 100 years,” said composer Nguyen Cuong, who has spent more than 20 years writing songs about Central Highlands.

Born in a poor family in Dak Lak Province’s Buon Ma Thuot City, Y Moan liked to sing Ai Ray songs, a kind of folk song of E De ethnic minority people during his childhood.

He began his career at 19 at the Dak Lak Art Group led by musicians AMaNo and KaPaPui. In 1979, he studied music at the Ha Noi Music Conservatory and started singing professionally.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Y Moan went to villages around Tay Nguyen to use his singing to call many villagers away from the Fulro rebel group and return to the government’s side.

He spent his all life introducing highland music.

The event will take place tonight at Hoa Binh Theatre, 240 3 Thang 2 Street, District 10. It will be broadcast live on Viet Nam Television’s VTV9 channel. 

Vietnamese tattoo artist featured in book by US writer

A tattooist in Ho Chi Minh City has been featured in a book by a US tattoo historian on the work of 100 notable artists around the world.

Nguyen Dang Thien, popularly known as Danis Nguyen, is the only Vietnamese and one of 16 Asian artists in “The World Atlas of Tattoo” by Anna Felicity Friedman.

The book, published by Yale University Press, uses more than 700 color illustrations and experts’ text to tell stories about both historical and contemporary tattoo practices in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

It also tracks the movement of tattoo styles out of their indigenous settings to be transformed into multicultural, hybrid designs.

Thien, 37, who moved to Ho Chi Minh City from Nha Trang, has been studying and practicing the art for around 10 years. He currently runs a tattoo shop with some others in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.

Promoting Hue singing- a national heritage

Hue singing has been recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage. Many efforts have been made to preserve and promote this unique art form. 

Over the past three decades, performances of Hue singing on the Huong river have become a major tourist attraction. But in recent years, the art has become commercialized. 

Ancient Hue songs have been gradually replaced with chants and other folk songs. So, more efforts are needed to preserve the old songs and traditional ways of performing Hue singing. 

Artist Thu Hien who has performed Hue singing for more than 20 years says more attention should be paid to Hue vocal artists.

“The pay for artists is very low so our lives are very difficult. But Hue singing has become more popular. We hope that we can preserve the art form and improve the quality of our performance to meet audience’s demands,” Hien shared.

Since Hue singing was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage in June 2015, Hue authorities, relevant agencies and the public have paid more attention to preserving and promoting it.

But it’s a challenge to inspire younger artists to continue the tradition while senior artists like Minh Man, Thanh Luong and Kim Vang are getting old. The Hue Arts and Culture College and Hue Conservatory of Music are the two centers teaching Hue singing. 

Artist Vo Que said it was important to compose new versions of the Hue singing style. “Performances of Hue singing on the Huong river have inspired a lot of people. The lyrics of the songs need to be refined to become more contemporary and more efforts should be made to promote this genre,” Que noted.

There are more than 400 artists and musicians performing on the Huong river. 

Thua Thien Hue province has recently issued a regulation under which each performance must be 60 minutes long, accompanied with three musical instruments such as 36-stringed guitar, two-stringed guitar, moon-shaped guitar, monochord and flute, and involve 7 artists and musicians on single boat and 8 artists and musicians on double boat. 

Deputy Director of Thua Thien Hue Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cao Chi Hai said it was difficult to perform the academic tunes or classic tunes of Hue songs on a boat, because of the time of performance is limited.

Hai stressed that old tunes of Hue songs should be taught during the training of younger artists. Hai suggested that the best way to preserve and promote Hue singing was to perform it at chamber.

“Hue singing has been recognized as a national heritage. So we will do our utmost to improve the quality of performances on the Huong river. The Municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will work with local authorities and clubs to restore Hue singing and perform it in the chambers of palaces and ancient garden houses,” Hai added.

In an effort to promote the genre, Thua Thien Hue provincial authorities are collecting old songs and tunes, organizing councils to review the quality of performances, and honoring artists for their contributions to preserving and promoting Hue singing.

Christine Ha looks for food guide in HCM City, Danang

Christine Ha, the visually impaired winner of reality television show MasterChef US in 2012, has announced a contest to find a food guide for her trip in Vietnam next month.

In a video titled “Be my food guide in Vietnam this December!” posted on her YouTube channel on November 8, and shared on her official Facebook page one day later, the American cook of Vietnamese origin said she is looking for someone who can help her find the best places to eat during her trip to Ho Chi Minh City and Danang in December.

“If you think you have what it takes to be my food guide, send me a thirty-second video,” she said. “And let me know why I should choose you.”

“Be as creative as possible in your video, and just show me your personality, and why you love food,” Ha added. “Don’t wait, don’t hesitate, I’m looking forward to hanging out and eating with you.”

The post on Facebook has received more than 3,000 likes and been shared almost 100 times over the social network with lots of fans promising to try to be her food guide.

Ha is the first blind contestant in the history of MasterChef US.

In the reality show’s third season, contestant Christine Ha wowed the judges and viewers with her Vietnamese dishes including ca kho to (catfish braised in a clay pot) and other courses cooked with the iconic Vietnamese ingredient, fish sauce.

After MasterChef US 2012, Ha attracted a huge number of followers and fans thanks to her friendliness, simplicity and enthusiasm for cooking.

She now has more than 240,000 followers on Facebook and over 10,000 subscribers on YouTube.

This year, Christine Ha joins the jury of MasterChef Vietnam’s third season after taking part in two previous seasons as a guest judge.

New King Kong movie to film in world’s largest cave in central Vietnam

“Kong: Skull Island,” one of the most anticipated Hollywood movies of the next few years, is expected to start filming in Vietnam very soon. 

The crew of the blockbuster film is waiting for Vietnamese officials to review the script before they can film a number of scenes at Son Doong, the world’s largest cave in the central province of Quang Binh.

Popular movie website IMDB has listed Vietnam among the movie’s filming locations, together with Australia and Hawaii.

The Location Guide, a global location filming directory, said the movie will also use other scenes from Vietnam’s northern mountainous region.

The movie is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and is set to release in the US in March 2017. It features an ensemble cast including Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson.

Son Doong has continuously won global attention since British cave experts first explored it 2009, with the help of local man Ho Khanh who discovered the cave in 1991.

The cave, which is five miles long, 450 feet at its widest and 600 feet at its highest, is not only known for its sheer size. There are shimmering rivers running through it, a dense subterranean jungle that keeps growing and fossilized corridors.

The Smithsonian magazine in August named Son Doong the greatest place to see in the 21st century.

ABC’s Zinger Zee called the cave “Avatar” as she came to make a Good Morning America episode last May. Bored Panda named it a place out of this world.

30th Mekong Delta Photographic Festival

The Mekong River Delta is Vietnam’s largest rice growing area. Its beautiful landscapes, zigzagging canals, floating markets and diverse cultural traditions, the region have inspired a lot of photographers.

The 30th Mekong Delta Photographic Festival was held in Can Tho city recently. The annual event was launched 30 years ago by poet Bao Dinh Giang and photographer Lam Tan Tai to create a venue for photographers to share their photos. 

The festival has steadily attracted a growing number of participants. Van Ngoc Nhuan, former President of Soc Trang province’s Arts and Literature Association, has won a number of international photographic awards.

“There is a photo collection of the first festival. At that time, the photos were black and white. The festival was held at Can Tho Cultural House. I’m moved to see all those photos again. After 30 years being held in different Mekong Delta provinces, the festival has proved to be successful,” Nhuan noted.

The festival has become an annual event where photographers of 8 provinces in the Mekong Delta share their experiences and new photographic technology and show off their creativity. 

This year, Long An province’s Photographic Association proposed online judging of photo entries to reduce costs and enable the public to admire the beautiful photos. This idea will be applied across Vietnam.

Vice President of the Vietnam Photographic Association Le Xuan Thang said,“Over the past 30 years, the number of festival participants has increased a hundreds fold and so has the quality. Photographers in the Mekong Delta have a great passion for photography. Festival entries document the development of photography in the Mekong Delta region”.

The festival attracts new participants every year. Some of them just take photos as a hobby and participate in the festival to show their passion for photography. 

With his photo collection “Welcoming father”, Le Phong Vu of Tien Giang province won a gold medal at the festival. His photos depict the beauty and peacefulness of rural Vietnam. This is the 4th time Le Phong Vu has participated in the festival. 

Vu shared, “I love photography but I find it difficult. I have learned a lot from my predecessors. At this festival, I have met a lot of famous photographers from whom I have learned a lot of things”.

The event was organized by the Vietnam Photographic Association and Can Tho Association of Arts and Literature. 

Under the themes “Mekong Delta Region- Its land and people” and “Hometown River”, the festival attracted more than 400 photographers with over 3,000 entries in various categories: color photos, black and white photos, and photos of Can Tho. 

The organizing board selected 183 outstanding photos to exhibit.

Exhibition of artist’s book opens in Hanoi

An exhibition of artist’s book and zine opened at Nha San Collective’s new space in Ha Noi from November 13-30. 

The event themed “Ke” telling about an ignoring attitude and abandonment among youth in Vietnam who are towards what is called foundation and traditional. This attitude is often criticized as irresponsibility but at the same time it reflects a readiness of shift-making among young people in Vietnam.

The exhibition features artworks in form of publication or book form. Although artist’s book has been a major pillar among movements of contemporary art, it is lesser known in Vietnam due to the lack of information on international art movements and the restriction of independent publishing in the country.

The show hopes to bring the work to Vietnamese audience to show them how artists – artwork – and audience can interact with one another in a non-traditional way, when the artwork could be in the hands of the audience and not in a traditional display method.

The display is part of the Vietnam Artist’s Book Project (VABP) under the Noi Project in order to connect Vietnamese creative talents, uniting writers, poets, visual artists, sound artists, researchers, and any creative person to ambitiously create a new movement of creativity in Vietnam. VABP promotes works by Vietnamese artists who make artist’s books and artworks in “publication” forms.

The event attract local and foreign artists , such as Art Labor, Xem Magazine, Saigon Artbook, Ajar, Temporary Services/Half Letter Press from the U.S, Math Paper Press from Singapore, and Green Papaya from the Philipinines.

Vietnamese creative industry’s products displayed in Hanoi

An exhibition titled “Creative Hanoi Show” introducing products of the Vietnam’s creative industry opened at Hanoi Creative City on November 14. 

The exhibition is considered as “Typical Model” that can widely illustrate the term “Creative Industry” to society – as “a field create welfare by intelligence resources. The event gathers typical representatives from several fields of the Creative Industry in Vietnam.

The show inlcudes a creative square featuring street music perfromance and mini party of mint cupcake and “Think Play Ground” project creating traditional playing space for children.

There is also a miniature exhibition with the participation of typical creative individuals, units, agencies and enterprises working in the creative industry, such as Lartique La Art Jewelry, Lo Mo Shop, Artu’s Boutique, TinyWoods, IVY moda, To he, BOO, Nha San Collective, lacquer artist lacquer Dund, Dep Magazine, Alpha Book, Alezaa and more.

The event will run until November 22.

SGGP/VNS/TN/TT/ND/VNA

HCM City exhibits antique tea sets

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