| Beer festival comes
back to Vietnam
metro Beer lovers can quench their thirst with a variety of local
and international beer brands at the third annual Beerfest Saigon from May 25
to 28 at the five-star Windsor Plaza Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. The event will run from 6 p.m. to late at the hotel’s Jade
Ballroom on the 7th Floor, 18 An Duong
Vuong Street, District 5. Beerfest Saigon gathers a number of local and international
beer vendors and is sponsored at the platinum level by San Miguel, with gold
sponsors including Carlsberg, Coors Light and 333. In addition to plenty of refreshing beer, the participants
can enjoy all-you-can-eat cooking, the town’s hottest contemporary musical acts,
exciting games and exhilarating lucky draws. Admission tickets cost VND450,000 (US$21) for Wednesday and
Thursday evenings (May 25 and 26) and VND500,000 ($24) for Friday and Saturday
evenings (May 27 and 28). Each entry ticket includes a buffet meal, samples
from each beer vendor and a souvenir beer mug. Entry to Beerfest Saigon is limited to people 18 years of
age and up. For further information, contact the event organizer,
Windsor Plaza Hotel, on (08) 3833 6688. For booking tickets online, visit
www.beerfestsaigon.com/get-tickets. Kid’s heaven on
island Getting trouble in finding an entertaining place for your
kids on the Children’s Day? Nha Trang coastal city’s Vinpearl Land
island is such perfect getaway with bunch of delighted services. Highlighted parts of the promotion are the food court’s
bonus menu, applying new games and amusing variety show, the “Happy Children’s
Day” and “Happy full-moon festival.” The friendly staff of the island will also organize team
building games which can gather more kids to encourage their collective and
creative spirits. The show time will be lasted longer on weekdays, instead of
only weekend as usual, with extra performances. The “Happy Children’s Day” kicked off on June 1 will offer
chance for kids to discover the fairy world and get cutie presents. Kid under 1.4 meter high will be given a free voucher for
any fast food bistro in the island’s food court. The “Full-moon festival” will wrap up the summer promoting
season in Vinpearl
Land on September
11. Discovering the “Power ranger’s city”, an event held by
Phuong Nam Company, is the special fete for kids in Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho,
Nha Trang and Hue city from May 28 to June 5. The children will involve in various games and activities
like painting, photo shooting, watching movies about power rangers, popular
characters in local kids’ childhood. The products related to the cartoon’s icon will be sold at
up to 50 percent discount with special gifts to little customers shopping at
Phuong Nam
bookstores. Transformers 3
hitting Vietnam
June 29 Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon will hit Megastar theaters
accross Vietnam
on June 29. Director
Michael Bay
returns to wreak more robotic mayhem in this third entry of the Transformers
franchise, in which the Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on
the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and learn its secrets,
which could turn the tide in the Transformers’ final battle. Shia LaBeouf and Tyrese Gibson topline the film, with John
Malkovich and Frances McDormand heading up the supporting cast. “Soul of Vietnam” makes
good impression on int’l delegates An art performance called “Soul of Vietnam” by artists from
VOV Theatre was held at Melia Hotel, Hanoi
on May 24, under the framework of the 8th Asia Media Summit (AMS8). Speaking at the event, VOV General Director Vu Van Hien
emphasised that through AMS8, VOV wants to introduce international friends to Vietnam’s
traditional culture, its fast growth in all fields, particularly in new media
and radio-broadcasting industry and its efforts to strengthen the mutual
understanding, and friendship between the Vietnamese people and other peoples
in the world. Judging from the opening ceremony and following sessions of
AMS8, Mr. Hien expressed his belief that the event being held in Hanoi for the first time
will leave a deep impression on international friends. The art performance consisted of two parts. The first was
about Vietnam’s
beautiful landscape illustrated by songs, dances and stories. The second
focused on some unique styles of music, which have been recognised as the world’s
cultural heritages, such as Quan ho (love duets of Bac Ninh), Nha Nhac (Hue
Royal Court Music) and Cong Chieng Tay Nguyen (Central Highland Gongs). Athira Ali, a delegate from Malaysia,
said she felt very excited when seeing Vietnam’s traditional art performance
for the first time. “Through the show, I find the country very beautiful and
Vietnamese people very friendly, the atmosphere of AMS8 is very warm this
evening,” she said. Winners of “Australia
through your eyes” competition announced The video “Letter to My Mother” has won the grand prize for
a video in the “Australia
through your eyes” video and photo competition, while the top prize for a photo
was awarded to the photo story “Working Class Australian Helps Vietnamese
Students”. The winners were selected from more than 116 entries posted
on VnExpress. The judging panel was Australian ambassador Allaster Cox,
VnExpress Editor-in-Chief Thang Duc Thang and the famous MC, Diem Quynh. “Letter to My Mother”, a collaborative entry by Trung Kien,
Trung Nghia and Hung Anh, impressed judges and viewers with its engaging and
creative story of a young adult telling his Australian experience to his mother
living in Vietnam. The winning entry received a round trip to Australia sponsored by Tourism Australia. On being awarded the prize Nghia said, “We are honoured to
be recognised because the competition attracted so many quality entries and the
attention of viewers, especially Vietnamese students studying in Australia. The
first person I thought about after receiving the prize was my mother, who has
sacrificed so much to give us the opportunities we now have.” The grand prize for photographic entries went to Le Quang
Phuc for his photo essay entitled “Working Class Australian Helps Vietnamese
Students”. The judges applauded the entry for its empathetic portrayal of the
warm welcome an Australian citizen has given to many Vietnamese students newly
arrived in Australia.
Phuc received an iPad 2 for his entry, sponsored by the Australian Trade
Commission. Competition entries featuring urban and rural life in Australia
grabbed the attention of millions of viewers, attracting more than 2,300
comments. Judges and readers were impressed by the quality of the entries as
well as the obvious warmth entrants felt about their Australian experiences,
whether studying, working or travelling. Ambassador Cox said: “We were impressed by the quality and
obvious effort which had gone into the entries. They reflect the warm and
diverse people-to-people links between Australia
and Vietnam.
I was particularly pleased to see many entries featuring student life,
representing the almost 25,000 Vietnamese students studying in Australia.” The “Australia Through Your Eyes” video and photo
competition was co-organised by the Australian Embassy in Hanoi and VnExpress online newspaper. The competition was supported by Tourism Australia, the Australian Trade Commission,
Australia Network and the Australian embassy in Hanoi. Video winners Week 1: Tá»± hà o ngà y tá»t nghiá»p (Proud Graduation Day) Week 2: Australia,
má»t thế giá»i thu nhá» (Australia
– a World in Miniature) Week 3: Sydney
- Äất là nh chim Äáºu (Sydney – a Good Land Attracting Birds) Week 4: ThÆ° gá»i mẹ (Letter to My Mother) - Grand prize winner Photography winners: Week 1: Äá»ng quê bát ngát á» Australia
(Countryside in Australia) Week 2: Mùa thu Äức trong lòng Australia (German Autumn in Australia) Week 3: Bác công nhân Australia
hết lòng vì du há»c sinh Viá»t Nam
(Working Class Australian Helps Vietnamese Students) - Grand prize winner Week 4: Tất cả á» ngoà i trá»i (Outdoor Activities) The Quite American’
returns to Vietnamese screens Phillip Noyce’s 2002
film “The Quite American,” based on Graham Greene’s novel and set during the
Vietnam War, is set for a rerun in Vietnam this week. Saigon Media Company and Megastar Media Vietnam will show
the film from May 25 to 29 to mark the Australian director’s visit to Vietnam to promote his authorized biography
“Backroads to Hollywood.” The film, made at a cost of US$26 million, got rave reviews
and won for British actor Michael Caine the Oscar Award for best actor. It made it into more than 20 top ten lists in 2002,
including those of the US National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. When silence is worth
a 1,000 words Japanese mime artist Iimuro Naoki will perform at solo shows
in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City next month. “A time of pantomime” will feature several of his works like
“A world in balance,” “Angel,” “Fly,” “Conductor’s tragedy,” “A life of frog,”
“Escape,” “New employee,” and “Universe inside a glass.” Naoki, who graduated from the International School of
Pantomime in Paris and the French National
School of Music, Dance and Drama Art, has won numerous awards in Japan and
overseas. They include a gold medal for mime improvisation at the
Delphic Games in 2009 in South Korea,
an international festival of arts and culture, and a special prize in the
street performance competition at the Biennale art competition in Japan the same
year. Naoki performed in Hanoi and Hue last June. The shows will be in HCMC at the Young World Theater on June
7 and 8 and in Hanoi
at the Youth Theater on June 10 and 11. In Hanoi, tickets are
available at the Japan Foundation Center
for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam,
Quang Trung. Admission will be free in HCMC. Artists’ charity club
to raise funds for poor kids Several Ho Chi Minh City-based artists have set up a charity
club to raise funds for the city’s poor that will begin operations this month. Humanity Bridge counts emcees Do Thuy and Thanh Bach,
comedian Quoc Thuan, singer Pham Thanh Thao, and the 2010 Miss Vietnam World
Diem Huong as members. It will start with an auction of local celebrities’
souvenirs at the Hard Rock café May 27. The money raised through this will be donated to disabled
and disadvantaged children on the occasion of International Children’s Day,
June 1. Phong Bui’s social
experiment A collaboration exhibition called ‘To Ho Chi Minh City with
Love: A Social Sculpture’ by Phong Bui, is opening at San Art in Binh Thanh
District. Artist Phong Bui explains: “The exhibition is inspired by
the idea of social sculpture, which is similarly motivated by the utopian
belief in the potential of art to transform society, dreaming of a social
organism as a work of art that could perhaps manifest as a token of my homage
to the community of creative individuals in my very first trip to Vietnam since
1980.” The exhibition is a co-operation by about 20 Vietnamese and
international artists with over 20 artworks made of diverse materials such as
mixed media, mirror, acrylic on fabric, metal, wood, zinc, ink, thread, paper,
digital print, pencil, enamel on canvas or acrylic on canvas. Unlike normal exhibitions with paintings hanging on walls or
in cases, Phong Bui transforms the gallery space of San Art into a new spatial
experience as paintings, photographs, drawings, video, poetry, music by local
artists and much more will be featured, though perhaps not displayed in the
typical conventional way visitors may expect. Paintings ordinarily hung on the wall may be found leaning
on the floor, while photographs usually framed and placed at eye level may be
placed up high so you have to stand to view on tip-toe. Other works may be hung
one on top of the other in a new kind of sculpture. These are all deliberate gestures by Phong Bui who is
interested in the social interactions between art and audience. Phong Bui is an artist, writer, publisher and independent
curator. His artistic practice plays with ideas of space, both physical and
textual, often challenging how we choose to interact with principles of
perspective. As a visual artist, his numerous installations have won the Award
in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Eric Isenbeurger
Annual Prize for Installation from the National Academy
Museum. His work has been
included in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the USA, China,
Greece and Italy. Between
2007-2009 he was curatorial advisor at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center/Museum of
Modern Art, New York.
He is also co-founder, editor and publisher of monthly publication ‘The
Brooklyn Rail’. Phong Bui was born in Hue and
currently lives and works in New York
City. The show at Me Linh Street, Binh Thanh District runs until
June 30. Vietnam
joins cultural heritage exhibition in China According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
(MOCST), Vietnam will
participate in the exhibition for world intangible cultural heritage in China from May
27-June 3, reports VietnamPlus. Vietnam Exhibition Centre for Culture & Arts (VECCA)
will team up with the International Cooperation Department under the MOCST to
organize the event. The exhibition is an excellent opportunity to honor Vietnam’s
intangible cultural heritages. Until now there are five Vietnamese heritages acknowledged
by UNESCO as the Intangible Heritage of Humanity, including nha nhac (Hue royal
music), khong gian van hoa cong chieng Tay Nguyen (the cultural space of Gong),
ca tru (ceremonial songs), quan ho (Love duets) and Hoi Giong (Saint Giong
Festival). Singing festival
marks Uncle Ho’s birthday The Sen (Lotus) Village Singing Festival 2011 was held
yesterday in Vinh city, Nghe An province, as part of the activities to mark the
121st birthday of President Ho Chi Minh (May 19) and the 100th anniversary of
the day he left the country to seek a way for national salvation. Under the theme ‘Following Uncle Ho’s Footprints’, the
festival featured songs and dances praising President Ho Chi Minh and the
beauty of the country during its renewal. The event brought together over 500 amateur artists and 19
art troupes from 19 districts and towns in the province. The festival offered Vietnamese people the chance to express
their deep sentiments toward their beloved national leader. It also promotes
President Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts and encourages people to follow his moral
example. Misanthropist Marcel
Lucont comes to Hanoi
Frenchman Marcel Lucont will present his unique brand of
comedy to a Hanoi
audience on Wednesday in Le Cooperative at 8:30 p.m. The event is part of the misanthropist’s tour ‘Encore’ from
February to next month. He is a self-published author of several books, including
his own European travelogue ‘Menage à Cinq,’ his account of loose executive
women of London ‘Whores D’Oeuvre’ and his Los Angeles travelogue ‘Diagnosis:
Merde.’ Tickets are priced at VND100,000 for the gig at 46 An Duong,
Tay Ho District. For more information on Marcel Lucont, visit his website at . Festival “Befriend Southeast Asia” 28 & 29 May 2011, 8.30 – 11.30 am & 2.30 – 6.30 pm Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Cau Giay Dist., Hanoi For this year’s International Children Day celebrations, the
Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is organizing an exciting and action-packed two day
festival called “Befriend Southeast Asia.” The event will focus on raising
awareness in the diverse, yet interconnected traditions and cultures of
Southeast Asian countries. Vietnamese and Southeast Asian children living in Hanoi take this
opportunity to introduce their cultures to you through music and dance
performances, folk games, toy workshops, etc. There will be the chance to enjoy dance performances from
Indonesia (Tari Pendet, Welcome Guests) and Laos (The Sound of Laotian Pan,
Beautiful Homeland), as well as performances of Malaysian, Cambodian and
Vietnamese songs and dances. In addition, there will be several traditional
costume shows from the countries of Brunei,
Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Cambodia, Laos, Philippines,
Thailand, and Vietnam. Visitors to the museum will have the opportunity to partake
in a wide selection of folk games, in which the similarities and differences
between Southeast Asian countries are reflected, such as Walking on coconut
shells (Laos, Thailand and Indonesia), Pebble board game (Indonesia, Philippine
and Vietnam), Jumping over hands and feet (Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam),
Pick–up-sticks (Philippines and Vietnam), Tug-of-war (Thailand and Vietnam),
Spinning tops (Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam), and many more. Besides this,
there will be many opportunities to play games unique to Southeast Asian
countries, such as Stealing turtle eggs (Laos),
Pot carrying game (Cambodia),
Tag in a Square (Philippines),
Put crabs in the basket, Jumping with elastic band, Blindfold art, Hunter and
wild ducks (Vietnam). Children can take part in workshops guiding them to make
folk toys using traditional methods and materials, such as toys from leaves
(grasshoppers, fish and flowers), bamboo puppets, animals from rolled paper, as
well as a workshop on traditional paper fans by the craftsmen from Chang Son, Hanoi. In addition, children will be invited to enrich their
knowledge through exciting activities and games concerning the national flags,
cultural heritages and currencies of Southeast Asian countries. By learning
through play, the children will enhance their knowledge of cultural information
more readily, as well as improving initiative, creativity and team-work skills.
They will learn about the flags of 10
Southeast Asian countries by playing games such as Capture the flag, Hunt the
flag and Paint the flag. They will also develop their skills of precision and
carefulness by drawing with cereal grains to represent scenes of cultural
heritage. To learn about currencies, children will play some simple and fun
games, and then devise and create their own currency which will develop
understanding of the cultural symbols used on currencies. Finally, the Traditional puzzle games will help children
explore the world around them through riddles and activities about trees,
fruits, flowers and animals. There will also be an opportunity to try on
traditional costumes from Indonesia,
Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam,
Japan and Korea, as well as have an instant
photo taken at several locations in the museum. Ticket price Adults: VND 25,000 Children: VND 3,000 Students: VND 5,000 Tickets are available at the museum. 8th Anniversary of
Halley Crew in HRC Fri 27 May 2011, 7 – 11 pm Hanoi Rock City,
27/52 To Ngoc Van, Tay Ho, Hanoi HRC is proud to host another hot hip-hop party and this one
is going to be extra special : Happy 8th year anniversary to Halley Dance Crew!
Halley Crew is one of the leading dance groups in the country with an
impressive collection of national and international awards to their name. In celebration of turning 8 years old this Friday night, the
group will be putting on a free show for everyone that will include incredible
hip hop performances – break, rap, DJ, beatbox, dance battle & cypher. Artists to perform: Halley crew (bboys), Cypher team (bboys), W&M (DJ),
Touliver (Space Speaker), Sacred ENT (hip-hop dancers), Lady Killah (Rap &
RnB Team: LK, JustaTee, Emily, Mr.A, Mr.T, Yanbiâ¦), Phong Fat (Beatboxer),
Master Hà Lê & Hip (MC) and more⦠Free admission. Program “I Love Music
4â³ by VNAM Sat 28 May 2011, 8 pm Concert Hall of Vietnam
National Academy
of Music, 77 Hao Nam
Str., Dong Da Distr., Ha Noi You are invited to the music concert titled “I Love Music 4â³
at Vietnam National Academy of Music. Ticket price: 100 000, 200 000 VND Tickets are on sale at VNAM or call Ms My at 0904204248,
0913306786 HCMC – Exhibition “Lightning in U Minh Forest” Exhibition: 26 – 29 May 2011 Galerie Quynh, 65 Äá» Thám, District 1, HCM City Galerie Quynh is pleased to announce its participation in
ART HK 11 from 26 – 29 May. A new series of paintings by Hoang Duong Cam will
be presented. Titled ‘Lightning in U Minh Forest’, the work reflects the artist’s
continued interest in the roots of idealism. These complex and layered
paintings are imagined stories inspired by the revolutionary past and fantastic
myths of U Minh Forest. Also on view will be a selection of videos by Hoang. Works by Tiffany Chung, Do Hoang Tuong, Sandrine Llouquet,
Nguyen Thanh Truc, Trong Gia Nguyen, Nguyen Trung and Bruce Yonemoto can also
be viewed at the fair. “BoÌng”, a Musical
Séance A Piano Mediumship Conversation 28 & 29 May, 2011, 8 pm, Cong Nhan Theatre, 42 TraÌng
TiêÌn Ticket price: 500 000, 300 000 VND ÄaÌ£o MâÌu – Mother Goddess religion – refers to the worship
of Holy Mothers in Vietnam.
ÄaÌ£o MâÌu is commonly associated with spirit mediumship rituals – known in Vietnam as lên ÄôÌng - much practiced in other
parts of Asia. Lên ÄôÌng has inspired pianist
PhoÌ An My and composer ÄÄÌ£ng Tuệ Nguyên to venture onto a new idea of musical
plays. Ancient poems provide inspiration to create characters who come alive
with piano music. The piano and HaÌt VÄn go hand-in-hand as two independent
entities, crossing and exchanging and enriching each other. The ancient Vietnamese believed that their world was
controlled by the Holy Mothers of these Three/Four Palaces: Heaven, Earth,
Water and Jungle. The mediumship seances are conducted for the Holy Spirits in
the Four Palaces to manifest themselves through the mediums, who then speak
holy words to the audience, lecturing, reprimanding, commanding, etc. PhoÌ An
My plays the role of the medium for the Holy Spirits to manifest themselves. In
between the variations are items of HaÌt VÄn performance in this pure original
format. With the participation of director Việt TuÌ, this show is surely a
spectacular musical event rich in feeling and full of novelties. PV | 
