Khanh Ly Live Concert in Binh Duong

Khanh Ly Live Concert will take place at 8 p.m. on January 23 at Binh Duong Convention and Exhibition Center after two live concerts in Hanoi and Danang City in August last year, reports Tuoi Tre newspaper.

According to organizers Anh Sao Duong Joint Stock Company and Dong Dao Entertainment Company, famous singer Khanh Ly will arrive in HCMC this Sunday to make preparations for the concert.

Director Pham Hoang Nam will be responsible for directing the whole event with the assistance of music editor Cao Trung Hieu and music director Ly Huynh Long.

The concert will also feature composer Nguyen Anh 9 as well as singers Elvis Phuong, Quang Thanh and Ha Anh Tuan.

Tickets are priced at VND0.9-2.5 million each. For further information, contact 091 3781 278 or 094 5678 767.

Russian lensman to share his love

Moscow-based photographer Igor Burba will join an art talk tomorrow to interact with a Vietnamese audience and share his experiences in creative photography.

He will showcase some of his best works, followed by a Q&A session.

Born in 1985, Burba's interest in photography was inspired by his father's passion for it. He shot at the "Zenith" and black and white film. In fact, Burba's first teachers in photography were his parents.

During the time he served in the army, he didn't give up photography. He began to shoot with his cell phone which had a good camera.

Burba said that he did not see boundaries in photographic creativity. He can find inspiration from anything he likes, such as night or day, heat or cold and rain or snow.

Burba nurtured a desire to shoot with a good technique and developed his own style. He is famous for taking beautiful portraits of young girls who hide a certain state of mind. With extraordinary expression, he evokes the girls' inner and outer beauty.

During his Viet Nam visit from December 29 to January 9, he has called upon young girls and couples in love to join his photography project to take fabulous photos of them.

Some professional models will join the project including Katerina Lamteva (Russian) and Yen Tran (Viet Nam).

The photo collection taken in Viet Nam will be soon released on Burba's page igorburba.ru.

The art talk is in Russian, with English and Vietnamese translations. It will take place on 8pm. Entry is free at the venue of the art talk, at Chula, 6 Nhat Chieu Street, Tay Ho District, Ha Noi.

Quang Ngai, Jeju artists meet at cultural exchange

A poetry and music exchange between artists from the central province of Quang Ngai and a 32-writer delegation from the Republic of Korea’s Jeju Literature House was held on January 6.

During the activity held by the Quang Ngai Art and Literature Association, the two sides briefed each other of their organisations.

The Jeju Literature House representatives announced the publication of a collection of poems in the Korean and Vietnamese languages composed by 60 poets from the two associations.

The exchange is also an opportunity to introduce the land and people of Quang Ngai to the Korean people in general as well as Jeju artists in particular.

Also on the occasion, the Jeju delegation visited the Son My and Binh Hoa relic sites.

Int’l workshop featuring Bai choi singing to be held

An international workshop featuring Vietnam’s Bai choi singing and similar arts in the world will be held in Quy Nhon city, the central province of Binh Dinh, on January 13-14.

Over 20 reports on the folk singing and world similar arts will be presented at the event by cultural researchers from France, Germany, Sweden, the Republic of Korea, Laos and Vietnam, Nguyen Binh Dinh, Director of the Vietnam National Academy of Music, told a press conference on the workshop in Quy Nhon on January 6.

Participants will also hear opinions from leaders and managers of the nine central coastal provinces, namely Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa.

They will focus on the history and culture of the central coastal localities, the performance art and music, as well as measures to preserve and promote the values of the Bai Choi singing with a view to completing a dossier to seek the recognition of the folk singing as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage in 2016.

Unique to the central coastal region, Bai choi is often seen at local spring festivals and resembles a game, using playing cards and village huts.

The stage for Bai choi performances encompasses nine cottages, each containing five or six ‘players’. One of the cottages, the central house, contains a troupe of musicians and instruments. A deck of playing cards is split in half, with one stack distributed amongst the players, and the other placed in the central house. The cards are stuck onto bamboo poles and erected outside the cottages.

The game singer delivers a flag to each cottage, all the while singing Bai choi, and then draws a card from the central house. Whoever holds the card closest in value to the game singer’s card wins.

The Bai choi songs are about festivals, daily life and work, and are accompanied by musical instruments.

The game and songs were developed by Mandarin Dao Duy Tu (1572-1634) to help locals protect their crops, according to Hoang Chuong, Director of the Centre for Preservation and Promotion of National Culture.

Japan Cultural Days open in Thanh Hoa

An art exhibition promoting tourism and Japanese traditional and modern culture kicked off the 2015 National Tourism Year at Lam Son Theatre in Thanh Hoa province.

On display are 67 large-sized photographs on Japan’s heritages, 30 Japanese dolls, and 50 Yukata costumes.

The festival, which runs January 6-11, has a wide array of activities planned including Batic-Holic drum performances, Yosakoi dances, and Japanese film screenings.

New fundraiser for soldiers opens

A programme entiled Millions of Hearts for the Country kicked off yesterday in Ha Noi aiming to raise funds for Vietnamese forces stationed on the nation's coast and islands.

The programme has been organised by the Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper's Golden Heart Fund; the Viet Nam Television Cable Company and the Power Communications JSC, and calls for all Vietnamese at home and abroad to contribute to fisheries surveillance and maritime security to protect the country's islands and seas.

Individuals and organisations can support the fund by texting "TCT" to 1407 to contribute VND14,000 (US$0.7), or visit the website at tamlongvang.laodong.com.vn.

Cash contributions will also be accepted at the Golden Heart Fund, 51 Hang Bo Street, Ha Noi.

Photos contributors will be made into giant collages of the Spratly and Paracel islands.

The two pictures will be auctioned to raise money for a memorial park dedicated to the officers and soldiers who perished in a battle on March 14, 1988 while defending Gac Ma Island in the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

Rare artefacts unearthed at Tran dynasty’s Lo Giang palace in Thai Binh

Hundreds of artefacts dating back to the Tran dynasty (1226-1400) have been unearthed at Lo Giang palace in Hong Minh commune, Hung Ha district, Thai Binh province.

The information was released at a conference held on January 6 by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and the Thai Binh provincial Museum to announce the archaeological outcomes after a one-month excavation at the site.

Archaeologists and scientists have discovered vestiges of a foundation of wooden architectural constructions built between the 13th and 14th century as part of the Lo Giang palace.

They have also found bricks, tiles, and decorative items featuring images of dragons and phoenix as well as daily utensils such as bowls and plates made of terra-cotta, porcelain and ceramics.

The results of the excavation have provided a significant database to the research, evaluation and documentation of the Tran dynasty while contributing to promoting cultural values of the province.

Bamboo curtain making craft in Cu Chi

For a long time, a lot of households in the outlying district of Cu Chi in HCMC have earned a living by making bamboo curtains. But in recent years, the job has turned out to be more difficult to maintain.

Bamboo curtain makers have been struggling to look for outlets and material supplies. In the past, bamboo could be found right in the area of Cu Chi or bought from the neighboring province of Tay Ninh at VND4,000-5000 per kilo. Now, they have to buy bamboo in some Mekong Delta provinces at a higher price of VND7,000 a kilo.

Material prices are increasingly high but the selling prices of their products have remained almost unchanged, forcing many households to leave the job. Meanwhile, other households that still cling to the craft can earn a mere VND5,000-7,000 for each bamboo curtain sold.

Foggy landscape in Dalat

This winter, the hilly resort town of Dalat is more fog-blanketed, attracting a lot of photographers to come to capture the foggy landscape.

Photographers who love foggy views often begin their trips at around 3-4 a.m. to Du Sinh, Cau Dat, Hon Bo, Xuan Tho Suoi Vang and Suoi Bac, among others in Dalat City to take magnificent pictures.

In addition, they can photograph beautiful vegetable and flower farms and wild sunflowers in bloom along the roads.

The cherry blossom season is around the corner, making Dalat more attractive to photographers around the country.

CGV Art House promotes Vietnamese and Korean films

CGV Art House, a project developed by the popular cinema brand CGV of South Korea’s CJ Group, has been launched to develop local movie cinema in general and independent movie makers in particular.

Audiences to CGV Art House at CGV Parkson Paragon in HCMC’s District 7 and CGV Ho Guom Plaza in Ha Dong, Hanoi can purchase tickets at a promotional price of VND40,000 each to watch some local winning movies, including “Canh dong bat tan” (Floating Lives), “Chuyen di cuoi cung cua chi Phung” (The last journey of Madame Phung) and “Dap canh giua khong trung” (Flapping in the middle of nowhere), and two Korean blockbusters “Roaring Currents” and “The Pirate.”

CGV Art House is also a platform for local young directors to create their short/feature films and to show their creative productions to audiences.