Thứ Tư, 25 tháng 2, 2015

Art & Entertainment News 25/2


Vietnamese cuisine book journeys out of 5-star resort's kitchen
The five-star Furama Resort has released a 120-page cookbook titled A Journey Through Viet Nam's Cuisine, featuring recipes from the resort's culinary library.
The book, published in Vietnamese and English, tells the story of the central region's cuisine in five parts: the story of food, the recipes of specialties, the garden of herbs, the selection of teas and the venue of cuisines.
It shows readers how to cook and enjoy the food at its best, while introducing Vietnamese cuisine to the world.
The book is available at the resort in Da Nang, Ha Noi's VIDTower at 115 Tran Hung Dao Street and HCM City's Opera ViewBuilding at 161 Dong Khoi Street, District 1.
More than 82, 000 books sold at book street festival
After seven- days opening in Ham Nghi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Book Street festival attracted thousands of domestic and foreign readers.
According to the latest updates of the organizational board, 82, 434 books were sold with total revenue of VND 4, 505 billion, an increase of 32, 5 percent in comparison with last year.
At the book festival, the best selling books are book series of Vietnam's Sea Islands and sovereignty. Besides, other book names of Publishing Houses like Youth, Phuong Nam and Nha Nam attracted many readers.
The highlight of the Book Street festival was displaying books, images and ancient documents on Vietnam's sea and islands sovereignty.
This year’s book street festival under theme  'Vietnamese Spirit and Identity' was appreciated about content as well as decoration.
Belarusian & Russian circus artists perform in city
Belarusian and Russian circus artists will perform at Phuong Nam Art Theater in Ho Chi Minh City on Tet.
Six foreign circus performers will be on stage together with the Hong Loc circus troupe and artists of Phuong Nam Art Theater at Gia Dinh Park in Ho Chi Minh City.
The artists will present audiences their performances that won local and international prizes.
The performance will take place from February 19-March 1.
Vietnamese photographer listed in famous photo book

 Nick Ut

Nick Ut, whose “Napalm girl” picture shocked the whole world, has been listed in a photo book “Behind Photographs” of Tim Mantoani.
American photographer Tim Mantoani tracked down the talent behind some of the world's most iconic photographs and got them to sit for portraits.
According to a famous website International Business Times, he used a soon-to-be-extinct photographic medium – the 20×24 Polaroid.
Over a five-year period, he took large format Polaroids of more than 150 photographers.
Nick Ut’s photo has received a number of prestigious awards such as the Pulitzer and World Press Photo and is one of the 100 influential photos in the 20th century.
Longest-ever Tet cake made
The Yakasa-Saigon-Nha Trang Hotel in Nha Trang city, the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa, has set a new record for its giant-sized traditional Tet cake, which is 40 metres in length, as part of the activities to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
This is the 12th consecutive year the hotel has made the record-size cake on the occasion of Tet holiday, said Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Vice General Director of the hotel.
In 2004, the hotel introduced its first 29m-long Tet cake.
This year, tens of chefs made the 875-kg cake, filling it with various ingredients including green and black beans, pork, bananas and peanuts as typical flavour of localities nationwide.
Later the day, the cake was cut and sold to local residents and tourists. Money from selling cake will go to charity.
Banh Tet (round glutinous rice cake) is a traditional cake enjoyed by southern Vietnamese people on the occasion of the lunar New Year. It is considered a variant of Banh Chung (square glutinous rice cake), which is more popular in the northern region.
Tet cake is served with pickled scallions, vegetable pickles and fish sauce. After cooking, the banana leaves are removed and the cake is sliced into wheel-shaped servings. The cake may also be sliced and fried to a delicious chewy crispness.
To prevent the banana leaf from coming apart during cooking, Tet cake is usually wrapped again several times with a length of plastic ribbon before steaming.
Presently, Tet cakes have become popular with people in other regions as they are sold on the market shelves in many localities across the country.
Photo exhibition on ethnic groups invites entries
Photographers are invited to send photos featuring Vietnam's ethnic groups for an exhibition to be held towards the end of March.
The exhibition will be held in the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism.
Each competitor can send up to four 50 cm x 75cm photos of various genres, including black and white and colour photos.
Soft copies should be sent to the organisers by February 28, while 50 finalists will be selected by March 15.
According to Dinh Thi Van Chi, an organising member, the exhibition aims to attract more than 1,300 representatives from 160 countries who will take part in the 132th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
After being displayed at the village in Dong Mo District, 40km west of Ha Noi's city centre, the collection will be exhibited at the Hanoi Culture College in till May 19.
Museum of Ethnology celebrates minority traditions
Cultural activities of northern ethnic minority groups were demonstrated at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi on February 22.
Ethnic minority members from the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai presented their heritage through performances of musical instruments like “khen” (panpipe), flute, and “dan moi” (leaf flute). The Gau tao Festival of the H’Mong people, ritual dance of the Dao Tuyen, and wedding dance of the Red Dao were also featured.
Members of the Tho, Si La, San Chay, Dao, and H’Mong groups brought their folk games to the museum and invited visitors to join them.
Additionally, visitors has the opportunity to learn more about Lunar New Year festivities in the Red River Delta through demonstrations of “phao dat” (earthen firecrackers) by natives from Hai Duong province, puppetry from Hai Phong city, and Dong Ho folk painting from Bac Ninh province.
Established in 1997, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology has served as a research centre and public museum with a mission to collect, document, preserve and exhibit the cultural heritages of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups.
It houses over 29,000 exhibits, including approximately 25,000 objects related to Vietnam’s ethnic minorities and their cultures.
Binh Dinh province celebrates Ngoc Hoi-Dong Da victory
The 226th anniversary of the Ngoc Hoi-Dong Da victory over China’s Qing invaders in 1789 was marked with a ceremony at the Quang Trung Museum in Tay Son district in the central province of Binh Dinh on February 22 - the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.
In the early spring of 1789, Nguyen Hue, who was later proclaimed Emperor Quang Trung, led his troops from the Hue imperial palace to Thang Long (now Hanoi), which was occupied by the Chinese Qing army.
He launched a surprise attack and defeated about 29,000 Qing soldiers during a battle on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.
Addressing thousands of participants, Chairman of the Binh Dinh People’s Committee Ho Quoc Dung said in recent years, local authorities have upgraded the Quang Trung Museum and the nearby Temple of Tay Son-Tam Kiet (Three Great Heroes in Tay Son) which worships Nguyen Hue, his brothers Nguyen Nhac and Nguyen Lu, and their soldiers.
The upgrade was designed to enable the facilities to serve as cultural and tourist sites and help educate the young generation about patriotism, he added.
At the ceremony, the provincial committee also received a certificate recognising the Temple-Quang Trung Museum as a special national relic site.
Sa Huynh holds ‘Fish Catching’ ceremony
Fishermen in the central coastal province of Quang Ngai on February 22 held their annual fish catching ceremony on opening day of the new fishing season at Sa Huynh fishing village to pray for their safety and luck.
During the event, many cultural activities and traditional games of the coastal region were organized. Joining the event, local people performed traditional songs and lion dances and prayed for a year overflowing with good catches, abundant crops, and happiness.
This was an excellent opportunity for local people to preserve and uphold traditional values and cultural heritages said 63-year old fisherman Nguyen Thuan, who has attended the fish praising festival for the past40 years.
Millions in Hungary watch TET on television
Television screens across Hungary have been alit with an array of images and special galas celebrating the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (TET) festival, which started on February 19.
On the first day of the day of the new year, Hungary’s TV2, a commercial television station broadcast throughout the nation, started its morning breakfast programming entitled Mokka, Mochas, introducing Vietnam’s traditional holiday customs.
On another feature, the Chair for the Hungary - Vietnam relations, and her two daughters Thuroczy Karolina My Lan and Thuroczy Viktoria Ly Anh provided their interpretation of the meaning of Vietnamese traditional Tet customs.
Though My Lan and Ly Anh were born in Hungary, they said they take every opportunity to visit the homeland and they shared many little known facets about the festivities from their personal perspective.
They said that the spring festival is an occasion for family gatherings and fun adding that they love Vietnamese food and enjoy cozy atmosphere during Tet. They shared their deep feelings about Tet, saying that Banh Chung (square cake made of sticky rice, green bean and fat pork) are an indispensible part of the year's biggest festival.
Other shows introduced Hungarian audiences to specialties and a number of traditional Tet customs such as lucky money, calligraphy and parallels.
Cua Dai beach makes TripAdvisors best list
Travel website Trip Advisor has named Cua Dai beach in the central province of Quang Nam to its 2015 Travelers' Choice Awards for Asian beaches.
The winners were determined based on the quantity and quality of traveller reviews and ratings on Trip Advisor over a one-year period. The company announced the best beaches winners last week.
The beach with its miles of unbroken sand and wild and natural beauty is located five kilometres from Hoi An Ancient Town.
A full list of Asia’s top-rated beaches can be found on TripAdvisor's website.
Brocade making – a Mong cultural identity
The Tet holiday is an occasion for young Mong ethnic women to sew themselves colourful costumes and display their national identities.
The northern mountainous province of Dien Bien is home to 19 ethnic groups, the majority of which belong to the Thai and Mong groups.
Mong people live in upland villages with costumes weaved by the clever hands of Mong women. They all feature Mong characteristics, from design to decoration.
Giang Thi Cong from Sa Long commune, Muong Cha district, said she makes these dresses every Tet. It takes two months to finish just one dress.
“This year, I made two,” she said.
With just four colours: green, red, white and yellow, these women make the colourful dresses, a fine tradition passed down over generations. Each detail of the clothing is dyed with love for the motherland.
“We weave during our free time when we don’t have to go to the rice-fields. It takes a lot of time to make this dress. I can make only three of them each year,” said Hu Thi Ly in Sa Long commune, Muong Cha district.
For upland ethnic groups, brocade making is essential to their spiritual life and is a traditional component of Mong culture.
Spring festivals draw visitors to Bac Ninh
Thousands of visitors flocked to the Phat Tich pagoda in the northern province of Bac Ninh for its annual peony festival, held on February 22 (the fourth day of the first lunar month).
The Phat Tich pagoda, a special national relic site located just 25 kilometres northeast of Hanoi, was built in 1057 on a mountain called Lan Kha during the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong (1054-72). It was reduced to ashes by French colonialists in 1948 and restored in 1987.
During the excavation of the pagoda from 1949-51, archaeologists found numerous old stone sculptures carved with flowers and dragons, bird goddess statues from the 17th century, and a piece engraved with the head of a fairy, all of which are now on display at the National History Museum.
A giant Buddha Amitabha statue, 27 metres tall and weighing 3,000 tonnes, was installed outside on the Lan Kha Mountain in 2010. It was adapted from a similar structure from the Ly Dynasty.
The Phat Tich Pagoda is associated with Tu Thuc’s meeting with a fairy. As the legend goes, there were endless peonies on Lan Kha Mountain and in the pagoda, leading a young woman to visit the pagoda one day to see the flowers. She carelessly broke a tree branch and was fined by the monks, but a local scholar, Tu Thuc, was also visiting the pagoda and offered his coat to compensate for the broken branch. They became friends and continued to meet at the pagoda. The woman ultimately invited Tu Thuc to visit her house, leading him to a peony forest and into a cave on the mountainside with an imperial palace with high walls and stone footsteps. She revealed that she was a fairy and they got married.
Every year, people visit the pagoda to take part in the peony festival, where they enjoy looking at the flowers, listening to quan ho (love duets) and poem recitations, and playing traditional games. The festival usually lasts three days.
The same day, thousands of international and domestic tourists gathered for the Dong Ky Firecrackers Festival in Tu Son town to enjoy the two giant symbolic firecrackers and the annual procession.
They also joined in traditional games and enjoyed art performances during the event.
Although the Government banned firecrackers in 1995, the locality has preserved and upheld the tradition symbolically to ensure its continuity.
Modern ceramics express ideas
An exhibition at Hanoi's Heritage Space presents the essence of Vietnamese contemporary ceramics.
"The exhibition doesn't present all contemporary ceramic artists but we expect that through the magnificent artworks of these notable artists, visitors can imagine various genres of Vietnamese contemporary ceramics," said Heritage Space Director Nguyen Giang Van.
"They reveal a new, unique expression of artistry and aesthetics, creating a vastly diversified face for Vietnamese contemporary ceramics. We wish to establish an active and diverse playground for the community of ceramic artists in Vietnam, aiming to serve the growth of Vietnamese ceramics on both the national and international market."
Lan Huong may be the most unique artist of the exhibition, as she doesn't create ceramic products but rather paints them. For many years, Huong has been designing ceramic tiles at Huong Canh in the northern province of Vinh Phu.
Having been engaged with the material for such a long time, she decided to experiment with it in a series of paintings.
The series debuted at an exhibition in 2007 to wide acclaim from the public, and the paintings she displayed there sold out almost immediately.
Vuong Quan, originally an engineer, encountered ceramics when he was commissioned to work for a number of gas kilns in Bat Trang Village. Years after this initial encounter, he became devoted to the craft, creating ceramics that are unique and unprecedented in idea, experimentation and execution.
Tran Quang Hai's turn to the ceramic arts was even more sudden and surprising. Formerly a construction contractor, Hai abandoned his job to follow his artistic calling. After traveling from Huong Canh to Bat Trang to learn various methods of producing ceramics, he settled down on a small family farm in Soc Son District to concentrate on expressing his own views through pottery and ceramics.
"His work, modern and refined in form, ripe and mellowed in ideas, is a spark of the exhibition," said Van.
The exhibition also displays functional ceramics, a variety of handmade products from Mai's Ceramics, Dong Gia Ceramics and Chi's Ceramics. The works use nature-friendly materials, advocating an ecological approach to making art.
Through the exhibition, the artists also express their desire to preserve and develop traditional ceramics.
"I want to separate art-oriented ceramic works from the marketisation trend that prevails in Bat Trang Village, and to save the traditional expressions and originality of the generations before me," said Vu Thang.
The exhibition will run until the end of this month at Heritage Space (Dolphin Plaza, 28 Tran Binh Street, Nam Tu Liem district, Ha Noi).
200 artists featured on DVD for Lunar New Year
More than 200 singers, dancers, musicians, and theatre performers in Ho Chi Minh City are featured in a performance on a DVD released on February 14 for Lunar New Year.
The work, Xuan Dat Viet-Tet Que Huong (Vietnamese Spring- Welcome Lunar New Year in Homeland), features song, and theatre and fashion performances.
Around 20 cai luong (reformed theatre) artists, from the HCM City Theatre Association and Tran Huu Trang Theatre, including stars Phuong Hong Thuy, Phuong Loan and Phi Phung, staged popular extracts from historical plays like Thai Hau Duong Van Nga (Queen Duong Van Nga).
Pop stars Ho Ngoc Ha and Dam Vinh Hung, and dozens of young singers such as Dong Nhi, Giang Hong Ngoc and Minh Hang performed songs in praise of the country, soldiers, love and Spring.
Highlighted performances include a special fashion show attracting top models wearing the traditional dress of ao dai by talented designers.-
Ninh Thuan develops craft villages
Bau Truc and My Nghiep villages, two famous Cham craft villages in the central province of Ninh Thuan, will be developed into major tourism sites starting later this year.
Bau Truc pottery village in Ninh Phuoc district, recognised as a national intangible heritage, is one of oldest ceramic villages in Southeast Asia. Some 85 percent of the village's 400 households make pottery.
Every stage of the process of making pottery, from mixing clay to shaping the products, is done by hand. Upon entering the village gate, visitors can see pottery products lined along streets, in front of houses and elsewhere.
My Nghiep village in the same district is famous nationally for its traditional craft of weaving brocade. Visitors can see locals weaving brocade and making various products from brocade such as handbags, wallets and backpacks. Around 80 percent of the village's 700 households are involved in the craft.
In recent years the province has invested in gates, roads and showrooms in the two villages to promote tourism. This year the province will continue to invest in them and solicit investment in tourism services.
The villages attract large numbers of local and foreign tourists.
Int’l poets to join Vietnam festival
The Vietnam Writers’ Association has announced that 550 local and 200 foreign poets from 40 countries around the globe have registered to participate in the Asia Pacific Poetry Festival set for March 2-6 in Hanoi.
They will also attend Vietnamese Poetry Day, organised annually on the fifth day of the first lunar month, which will fall on March 5 this year, a spokesperson for the association said.
In addition, Vietnam’s naval forces and border guards will attend the event, promising to bring excellent works and an exhibition featuring the past 30 year history of the islands struggle for national defence.
On the occasion, the foreign poets will visit the Temple of Literature, tour Ha Long Bay, enjoy Quan Ho (love duets) in the northern province of Bac Ninh and visit the memorial house of Cao Ba Quat (1809-55), a Vietnamese poet and revolutionary, in Gia Lam District, Hanoi.
New Year boat racing kicks off on Ly Son island
A boat racing festival was launched on Ly Son island in the central province of Quang Ngai on February 22 to mark  the 2015 lunar New Year Festival (TET) - the Year of the Goat.
Before the kick-off ceremony , religious rituals were held in commemoration of ancestors and combatants who laid down their lives to defend national sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.
The five-day festival is one of the biggest events on Ly Son island, which features  cultural identities  and prays  for safety and prosperity of local fishermen. It is also a good chance for boat racers to show their skills and talent.
VNA/VNS/VOV

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