Viet-kieu artists keep in their mind the local road traffic accomple

 
Actress Kathy Uyen and singer Thanh Bui paid a visit to Truong Van Thanh Primary School in Ho Chi Minh City in honor of World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims on November 20. 

Uyen and Bui distributed informational packets about Vietnam’s frightening road situations to school representatives before joining the students in their classrooms. 

Approximately 50 students were split up into five groups to encourage interactive and candid group discussions about how to reduce the number of road traffic accidents.   

The group with the best idea to combat road traffic casualties was awarded a prize. 

The event, organized by Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation), aims to enhance student’s awareness of road safety issues through discussions; remembrance activities including prayers and releasing birds;and through interviews with artists, students and local authorities. 

The AIP Foundation is a US-based nonprofit organization that uses public-private partnerships, public awareness education, and school-based programs to reduce the rate of traffic injuries and fatalities in developing countries. 

“With events taking place around the world for this Remembrance Day, I am thrilled to continue being a Goodwill Ambassador for AIP Foundation’s meaningful activities,” Bui said. 

“As a road safety Goodwill Ambassador, I strongly believe that public awareness can effectively minimize the loss and pain that families such as these ones are experiencing,” Uyen added.

Vietnam is one of more than 100 countries worldwide dedicating November 20 to those who have died and have been severely injured by road traffic accidents. 

World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims was created in 1993 by the organization Road Peace. The day was endorsed by the United Nations in 2005. It is now observed annually around the world on the third Sunday of every November.

World famous Niels Lan Doky gets attraction from audience

 
World famous jazz pianist Niels Lan Doky, born from a Vietnamese father and a Danish mother, will perform in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. 

World famous Danish artists together with Vietnamese artists will jointly perform in a two-special-night concert to celebrate 40 years anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. 

Wishing upon the Moon 2011 Concerts, to take place at the Opera House in Hanoi on November 28 and Ho Chi Minh City on November 30, will feature world famous jazz pianist Niels Lan Doky and his trio, and Vietnamese diva Thanh Lam and musician Quoc Trung.

For the first set, Doky, born from a Danish mother and Vietnamese father, will perform "Return To Denmark," "Poem For A Dolphin," "Contemplation From A Mountain Top," "Home Sweet Home," "Piano Interlude," "The Miracle Of You," "Rough Edges," and "Hope."

The second set will be a collaboration between the Niels Lan Doky Trio and Quoc Trung & The Road To Infinity with Thanh Lam. 

Doky, the pianist, record producer and composer, will end the concert with "Story Of Earth And Water" and "Misty Dawn."

He attended the Berklee College of Music in the early 1980s and has worked as a professional musician since he was 13. He has worked with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, John Scofield, Gino Vannelli and others, and has performed for many prominent world figures, including Pope Jean-Paul II and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. 

Doky, 48, has received a Ridderkorset af Dannebrogordenen Award from Denmark's royal family, and has been appointed a Member of the Music Committee under the Danish Arts Council by the Danish Culture Minister.

In Hanoi: tickets will be priced from VND800,000 to VND2,500,000. Contact Ms. Duyen at telephone: 09 8 249 0505. The Hanoi Opera House is located on 01 Trang Tien Street, Hoan Kiem District. 

In HCMC: A limited number of free tickets can be picked up from November 21 at the Danish Economic and Commercial Office, 505, Centec Tower, 5th floor, 72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 3.

Tickets will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis, and it will not be possible to call and reserve tickets. The HCMC Opera House is located on 07 Lam Son Square, Dist. 1.

France host Vietnamese traditional aired

    
A Vietnamese traditional music show was held in Orsay, France on November 21 by OCTAVE, an association for Vietnamese culture and traditional music in Orsay.

The show attracted the participation of 25 Vietnamese non-professional musicians and performers and many French people who are friends of Vietnam. The director of the show was Nguyet Anh, the chairwoman of OCTAVE.

OCTAVE was founded in 2007 with 50 members and conducts various activities including shows and classes for Vietnamese traditional music.

The association has also organised Vietnamese language classes and cooking classes for foreigners. All members are volunteers and all funds are used to assist poor children, pupils and students in Vietnam.

Antique exhibition in Hung Yen museum

 
UNESCO Center for Vietnamese Antique Preservation today collaborates with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to hold an antiques exhibition at Hung Yen Museum.

The exhibition will mark Vietnam’s Antiques Day and it displays a number of items collected by members of Hung Yen Province and the center. Some artifacts include ceramics, bronze vases, pots, drums and jewelry from the 13th to 18th century, with some dating back 2,500 years.

Passion for Vietnamese Calligraphy of Vietnamese woman

A French woman with a deep interest in Vietnamese poetry and music has decided to stay in Vietnam and spend her elder years learning Calligraphy.

Ginette Lam is married to a Vietnamese man and has 5 children.

One year ago, Ginette made her first trip to visit the renowned Vietnamese poet Han Mac Tu’s grave in Quy Nhon city in the central province of Binh Dinh.

She met painter Dzu Kha, who has used a “fire-pen,” a kind of pen whose nib is a light that can burn wood to create letters, for 30 years, in order to write the Calligraphy of Han Mac Tu’s poems. The woman was fascinated by the unique art.

Since then, Ginnette has decided to stay in Quy Nhon and become Kha’s student.

"Ginette is my oldest student, but she has an amazing passion and great patience. Her faith, dynamic and open-hearted personality are admirable,” Kha told Tuoi Tre.

Ginette had learned about Calligraphy during previous trips to her husband’s homeland, and the woman considers the meeting with Dzu Kha a chance of fate that links her with the land of Quy Nhon.

“I’ve come to Vietnam many times and, and I have spent three Tet holidays here,” Ginette said.

“Your country has beauty that can hypnotize any visitor,” she added.

Her small rental house near the poet’s grave is decorated with calligraphy versions of Han Mac Tu’s poems written with a “fire-pen”.

The woman, who can also fluently read poems in Vietnamese, said Trinh Cong Son’s music and Vietnamese traditional music gave her great inspiration.

“Writing Calligraphy requires a high amount of concentration. Listening to those kinds of music helps me to stay focused.” she added.

Every day Ginette, the woman who loves Vietnam as if it were her second homeland, tries to finish a Calligraphy painting with the fire-pen.

“Every time I start a Calligraphy painting, all my worries seem to be washed away by the pen,” she said.

Phan Thi Moi finally attends Miss Earth 2011

VietNamNet Bridge – The Performing Art Agency has permitted Phan Thi Mo, who was in the top five the Miss Vietnam World 2010 pageant, to participate in Miss Earth 2011. Mo has left Vietnam to the Philippines today, November 24.

Only two days ago, this agency refused to license Mo to represent Vietnam at this beauty pageant, reasoning that the pageant opened for several days and Mo was nominated late so she could not prepare well for the competition.

Explaining about the change, Nguyen Thanh Nhan, from the Performing Art Agency, said: “Our agency initially denied to grant permission to Phan Thi Mo because her file was submitted four days after the contest began. However, the organizer committed that it is no problem for the Vietnamese contestant to join the contest a little late. So our agency has granted the license.”

Mo is 21 years old. She is 1.72m tall, 48kg in weight, with body measurement of 80-62-87. She is the last-year student of the Saigon College for Culture, Art and Tourism. She was the winner of a local beauty contest, entered the top five of Miss Vietnam World 2010 and the top ten of Miss Asia USA 2011.

Mo said she is not afraid to join the pageant late. “I’ll try my best to not betray people’s expectation on me,” she said.

Mo said she will take ao dai and ao tu than (four-panel traditional dress of Vietnam) designed by Thuan Viet, evening gowns by Hoang Hai and Quynh Paris to the Philippines. She has practiced a dance for the talent contest.

Before Mo was nominated, the Performing Art Agency did not license model Ngoc Thach because she has not won any title at national-level beauty pageants. After that, model Thai Ha was allowed to attend the pageant but she suddenly announced to withdraw.

Vietnam has sent its representatives to Miss Earth pageant five times, from 2004 to 2007 and 2010. The highest rank belongs to Miss Vietnam World 2010 Diem Huong, who ranked 14th at Miss Earth 2010, held in Vietnam.

At Miss Earth 2006, model Ha Anh won the Miss Talent title. In 2007, Truc Diem took the Miss Fashion title.

The Miss Earth 2011 was scheduled in Thailand. However, owing to the historical flood in Bangkok, the event is now held in the Philippines, with around 90 contestants. The crown ceremony will take place on December 3.

The Miss Earth 2012 pageant will be held in Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam.

Son Ha

Festival celebrate the lover.

VietNamNet Bridge – A national festival celebrating cheo (traditional opera) will open tomorrow night in the northern province of Thai Binh, which is considered to be the birthplace of the art form. 

Ham it up: Artists of the Viet Nam Cheo Theatre stage a cheo play. A national festival celebrating this form of traditional opera will open tomorrow in the northern province of Thai Binh. (Photo: VNS)

Thirteen theatres and art troupes from across the country will stage 16 plays that address issues of contemporary life, in accordance with the theme of the festival: Traditional Opera with Modern Topics.

According to Vuong Duy Bien, head of the cultural ministry's Performing Arts Department, the theme was chosen in order to bring "new vitality" to a traditional art form that mostly focuses on legendary and historical material.

Viet Nam officially became a member of the Asian Stage Union when the Ha Noi-based Youth Theatre has joined the first congress of the union, which was held last month in Chongqing, China. Director Le Hung and Vice Director Truong Nhuan of the theatre, were among 15-member of the union's Executive Board for its first term. The inaugural congress gathered 46 representatives from major theatres in 13 countries and territories, including China mainland, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Israel, Taiwan, and Thailand. The union aims to co-operate, promote and strengthen mutual knowledge, exchange of experiences between Asian artists, thus to meet the demands of art audiences in the region.

"This is the first time we are requiring a specific theme for the plays presented in the festival. We strongly believe that cheo plays could be a preferred art form for mass audiences if a link can be established to the present day. In fact, Vietnamese are already familiar with the classic cheo plays that have been performed consistently for many years," he said.

Cheo is a form of popular theatre in Viet Nam that has its roots in traditional village festivals. The plays consist of folk songs with pantomime, instrumental music and dance, combined with instructive or interpretative sketches based on stories from legend, poetry, history or even daily life.

Hosted by the Performing Arts Department and the Viet Nam Stage Artists' Association, the festival will run until December 4.

VietNamNet/Vie

Welcome the world hip-hop contest

VietNamNet Bridge – B-Boy 3T, 23, a member of S.I.N.E Crew hip-hop troupe, is among four outstanding Asian dancers who are nominated for the world hip-hop contest in Moscow on November 26.

Hip-hop dancer Pham Khanh Linh.

B-Boy 3T or Pham Khanh Linh has practiced hip-hop for nine years. In the last two years, he has won many prizes: the third prize of R16 World Championships 2010 in South Korea, the second prize at the Hip-hop Session Jam in Germany 2011, the second prize of Who is who 2011 in France, the second prize of Bboy Solo 2011 in China, and the first prize of Freestyle Session Southeast Asia 2011.

The upcoming world hip-hop contest in Russia is a large-scale and prestigious event, which has been held annually since 2004.

This year, the qualifier round was organized in 27 countries to choose the best 16 dancers, including four Asian dancers from Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

Linh was a former dancer of Bigtoe Crew, the most famous hip-hop troupe in Vietnam. He recently set up a new crew named S.I.N.E (Saying is not enough) with 19 other dancers.

Thanh Tung

Broadway musicals live show

Famous Broadway showtunes will light up a live show by pop singer Duc Tuan tonight in the capital city.

The HCM City-based singer has been considered by many in the industry as a vanguard singer, who "merges" musical tunes into pop music in an effort to bring the musical theatre pieces closer to mass audiences.

Tuan's 2009 album The Broadway Album: Music of the Night, featuring 11 songs from musicals in both English and French, won the Album of the Year award at the annual Music Contribution Prize last year. He also won the Singer of the Year award at the same event.

The 31-year-old singer says the show was designed to celebrate his 10-year singing career which started right after he won the top prize at the HCM City Television Singing Contest in 2000.

At the show tonight, which is entitled Paradiso, Tuan will perform 10 legendary songs such as I Am What I Am from La Cage Aux Folles, No Matter What from the Whistle Down the Wind and The Journey Home from Bombay Dreams.

Diva My Linh will be a special guest during the performance and will sing two duets with Tuan, Memory from Cats, and Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera.

HCM City-based soprano Ngoc Tuyen will share the stage with Tuan to perform the song The Phantom of the Opera.

Tuan will also perform eight Vietnamese songs by famous Vietnamese veteran composers, including Trinh Cong Son, Pham Duy and Van Cao.

The song Con Mat Con Lai (The Remaining Eye) by Son will be presented in the musical-theatre style.

Under the baton of British conductor and musician Paul Bateman, whose arrangements and compositions are performed all over the world by artists such as Lesley Garrett, Sarah Brightman and Jose Carreras, the 40-member symphony orchestra of the Viet Nam Orchestra and Ballet Theatre will accompany Tuan during the show.

Choreographer Anthoula Papadakis, who has choreographed musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof, La Cage aux Folles, and Sunset Boulevard, is the art director of Paradiso.

Orchestrator Leigh Phillips, who is an experienced theatre and film composer, and conductor with numerous credits, will be among the show's crew.

The Paradiso show will start at 8pm at the Cultural Friendship Palace, 91 Tran Hung Dao Street. 

VNS

Long Bien bridge, a symbol of the country’s wartime heroism

Architects have said that Long Bien Bridge deserves to recognised as a living museum and a symbol of the country’s wartime heroism. The Overseas Vietnamese Association held a meeting in Hanoi on Sept 20 to discuss ideas to preserve and upgrade Long Bien Bridge and the surrounding areas. At the gathering, Nguyen Nga, an architect and urban planner from Paris, proposed that the bridge could become a contemporary museum. According to Nga, the original bridge could be reinvented as the world’s longest contemporary art museum as there are already plans for a new Long Bien bridge to be built in the future to serve national railway links. In order to realise the idea, the bridge must be raised two metres to permit the navigation of large vessels and be enlarged to permit long term development. At the other end of Long Bien Bridge, there are ambitious proposals to construct a Museum of Contemporary Art, which would rise out of a lotus. The museum will present works of contemporary art, design, and technology, and feature a library, auditorium, restaurant and cafe. Long Bien bridge’s 131 arches could be renovated with hanging gardens in the manner of the Coulee Verte Arts Viaduct in Paris or the High Line in New York City. The reopening of the 131 arches, currently walled in and condemned, could provide a whole city-worth of galleries for artisans and artists, helping boost accessibility and interest. The arches could house galleries, studios and workshops, where artists could explore painting, printing, sculpture, mosaic, photography, design, and video art, along with performing arts, theatre, music and dance. Twenty arches would also be reserved for cafes, tea houses, and restaurants. Prof Hoang Chuong, General Director of Director of the Research Centre for Preservation and Development of National Culture, said, “Long Bien Bridge is not only a piece of transport infrastructure, but also carries special political significance. Therefore, the bridge should be developed into a cultural destination for tourism.” Long Bien Bridge was built by the French between 1898 and 1903. It included a railway and two road lanes. Some parts of the bridge are severely downgraded. The Ministry of Transport and Vietnam Railway Corp are responsible for studying plans to upgrade the bridge.

Source: Dtinews

Prepair to build marina on Phu Quoc Island

The Phu Quoc Marina Company has opened the first stage of its Duong Dong-Phu Quoc marina on Phu Quoc Island in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang. The marina includes a terminal, coffee bar, five-star floating restaurant and a five-star hotel. Total first-stage investment amounts to 100 billion VND (4.8 million USD). The marina can receive and dock about 50 high-class motor or sailing boats. Its capacity will be expanded to 100 vessels.

Source: VN+

A seminar of 100 members of Famtrip International from Russia, Germany and the US

On September 17, the Binh Thuan Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a seminar with a delegation of 100 members of Famtrip International from Russia, Germany and the US. Director of the Binh Thuan Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ngo Minh Chinh, said the seminar aimed to introduce tourism products, potential and services in the south-central coastal province of Binh Thuan. The two sides exchanged views on the environment, transport, administrative procedures and advertising to develop the province's Phan Thiet township into a "Resort Heaven” for visitors and investors. During their trip from September 16-18, the delegation visited famous tourist sites such as Mui Ne, Hoa Thang, Ham Tien, Van Thuy Tu and Tien Thanh, and surveyed tourism service providers, high-class hotels, resorts, and recreational centres in Binh Thuan.

Source: VOV

Vietnam festival took place in Tokyo

Vietnam Festival 2011 opens in Tokyo  September 19, 2011

The Vietnam Festival 2011 opened at Yoyogi Park in Tokyo on September 17 under the theme “Beloved Vietnam”. Speaking at the opening ceremony, former Japanese Senator Iowa Matsuda, co-head of the festival’s organising board praised the assistance from the Vietnamese Government and people to Japanese victims of the March 11 twin disasters. Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Phu Binh, co-head of the festival’s organising board, said the annual Vietnam Festival in Japan aims at boosting the linkage between the two countries’ people and introducing the traditional culture of Vietnam to Japan, so that Japanese people understand more about Vietnam and visit the Southeast Asian country in greater number. On this occasion, the organising board will launch a campaign on voting for Ha Long Bay of Vietnam as one of the world’s new natural wonder. The organsing board dedicated one booth to sell products made in the areas seriously hit by the disasters such as Asahi city of Chiba prefecture and Fukushima prefecture in northeastern Japan. In furtherance of the festival, there will be a fund-raising campaign for Japanese disaster victims.

Source: VNA/VOV

Ninh Binh's tourism concentrates on ecological and cultural-spiritual kind

Ninh Binh will focus on developing two main kinds of tourism – ecological and cultural-spiritual, a tourism official in the northern province has said. Speaking at a conference on promoting the province's tourism destinations in HCM City yesterday, Le Huy Hoang, a representative of the province's Tourism Promotion Information Centre, said: "Authorities have instructed the tourism sector to focus on the province's strengths." In the short term, it would focus on weekend, leisure and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions) tourism. From 2015 it would intensify golf, shopping, homestay and river tourism. It looked to France, Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, North-east Asia and places like Ha Noi, HCM City, Hue and Da Nang for visitors. Ninh Binh is endowed with a system of beautiful grottoes and two sources of mineral water. Its well-known tourist attractions include Tam Coc (Three Grottoes), Cuc Phuong National Park, Trang An Grottoes, and Van Long Nature Reserve. There are also historical relics like the ancient capital Hoa Lu, Bich Dong Pagoda, Phat Diem Stone Cathedral, and Tam Diep Defense Line. In all, it has 78 national historical relics, 160 provincial relics, and 46 traditional handicraft villages and celebrates 76 annual festivals. "All of them make Ninh Binh a charming land of myth and unique landscapes," Hoang said. It is also located near the key economic areas of the north, forming a tourism quadrangle with Ha Noi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh. Tourist numbers to Ninh Binh increased by 29 per cent annually between 2006 and 2010. Last year it received around 3.3 million visitors, 700,000 of them from abroad tourists, who spent VND550 billion (US$26 million).

Source: Dtinews

Vietnam has potential in coastline tourism

Experts say Vietnam needs to do more to attract more cruise tourists to Vietnam, the country with 3200 kilometres of coastline, and wonderful bays and beaches. For the last many years, Vietnam always appears as one of the destination points in the itineraries of cruise trips that tour the Asia Pacific region. However, the number of foreign cruiser travelers to Vietnam remains modest, just accounting for one percent of the total foreign tourists to Vietnam. Tin tuc has cited its sources as saying that since the beginning of the year, Vietnam has received only 25,000 foreign cruise travelers, which represents the 20 percent decrease in comparison with the same period of the last year. Cruises only make few-day stays in Vietnam Explaining the decreases in the number of cruise tourists to Vietnam, Vu Duy Vu, Deputy Director of Saigontourist, said that recently, the cruises to Vietnam not only stay at one port, but at two or three ports, and they tend to dock at many ports in Vietnam. A lot of cruises stay in Vietnam overnight, but most of the cruises do not: they come in the morning and leave in the afternoon. Vietnam is really a good destination for tourists with its beautiful landscapes and wonderful beaches. However, the poor tourism services explain why Vietnam still cannot attract cruise tourists. At present, only 10 Vietnamese travel firms receive cruise tourists. In 1990s, ship routing (periodic cruise trips) was once planned in Vietnam which then lasts several years. At that time, the number of cruise tourists to Vietnam once accounted for up to 10 percent of the total travelers to Vietnam. However, due to many reasons, including the difficulties faced by the partners, the activities of receiving periodic cruises have halted. However, Saigontourist said it is planning to resume the plan. Nguyen Thanh Binh, representative from Tan Hong Travel Firm, said that as for foreign cruise tourists, Vietnam remains an unfamiliar destination; therefore, they want to go to Vietnam to discover the interesting things in the country. However, the problem is that Vietnam, though having attractive destinations, still cannot offer good services due to the poor infrastructure conditions. For example, foreign cruse tourists dock the Ha Long Bay and then leave for Hanoi during the same days. It takes them four hours to go to Hanoi and four other hours to return to Ha Long. This means that they only have two or three hours to visit Hanoi. Since tourists do not have many choices for means of transport, they still have to travel by land, and have no other alternatives in case troubles occur with the road traffic. Vietnam’s services unprofessional The first thing that cruise tourists can easily realise when they arrive in Vietnam is that the ports are all cargo ports, not tourism ports. This means that tourists may feel inconvenient when docking cargo ports, including the poor environment conditions. Especially, many tourists have expressed their dissatisfaction when they have to receive a lot of vendors who try to persuade them to buy souvenirs. Barbara Parson, a Canadian tourism said that when his cruise docked at the Ha Long bay and the tourists were planning to leave for smaller boats, they could see the small boats of local residents, who came to ask the tourists to buy souvenirs. If tourists refused to purchase the products, the local residents then asked for money. Meanwhile, the foreign tourists really did not want to buy the products sold by the people, because they were advised not to buy the products due to the low quality. Binh from Tan Hong travel firm said that Vietnam does not have many products to sell to tourists. Foreigners like fine art hand-made products in Vietnam, but they do not know where to find high quality products. In general, vendors only sell low quality products. Meanwhile, tourists cannot find vendors to pay back the products they purchase. After every trip, cruises always ask tourists to give comments about the destinations. And Vietnam has been marked as the new destination which deserves “dropping in”.

Source: Dtinews