A festival boasting over 360 booths symbolizing nearly 200 traditional craft villages will be held in Hanoi from Thursday to Sunday, the Vietnamese government said last week on its website. The 2014 Traditional Craft Village Festival, which is one of many activities marking the 60th anniversary of the capital's liberation from French rule, will take place at the Quan Ngua Sports Complex at 30 Van Cao Street, Ba Dinh District, according to an article published October 3 on the website. The event is meant to honor, preserve, and develop the traditional crafts of Hanoi and other provinces and cities nationwide. There will be 366 booths representing 194 craft villages from 22 provinces and cities across Vietnam. The villages specialize in such fields as ceramics, rattan, embroidery, textiles, paper, wood carving, and bronze casting. Visitors will be able to make their own handicrafts, for example painting on pottery and knitting rattan. The fest will also feature 15 booths … [Read more...] about Traditional craft village fest to kick off in Vietnam capital this week
Vietnam capital
Int’l Monsoon Music Festival rocks thousands in Vietnam capital
Thousands of young Vietnamese music lovers filled the yard of the Hanoi-based Thang Long Imperial Citadel on Thursday and Friday nights as the Monsoon Music Festival 2014 rocked the capital city. The show, directed by famed local musician Quoc Trung, gathered around 100 local and international artists from countries such as Denmark, the UK, France, Belgium, South Korea and Japan. Vietnamese singers including Thanh Lam, Ha Tran, Suboi, Ngu Cung rock band shared the stage, breathing a fresh "monsoon" to the capital city. "I want the festival to bring new styles of music to aficionados in Vietnam as well as to be a place to introduce creative music projects and music talents," musician Quoc Trung shared. "A dynamic environment for music will be built up and the public's aesthetic values will be increased through this." The space in front of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel is an ideal venue for the show, the musician added. "Listeners will have more responsibility … [Read more...] about Int’l Monsoon Music Festival rocks thousands in Vietnam capital
Contemporary graphic art exhibit to open in Vietnam capital this week
The Goethe Institute will organize an exhibition featuring contemporary graphic artworks by German artist Benjamin Badock in Hanoi from Friday to early next month, the institute says on its website. Goethe Institute "> Titled "That's New - What's Next," the event will showcase a selection of 29 works on paper by Badock - one of the most seminal and original graphic artists in Germany. A talk with the participation of Badock and Hanoi artists on contemporary graphic art will be held at 5:00 pm on October 16 at the Goethe Institute office in the capital city, at 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Ba Dinh District. Born in 1974, Benjamin Badock studied art at the Eesti Kunstiakadeemia in Tallinn, Estonia, and at the Braunschweig Academy of Fine Arts, Germany. He was a master student of Professor Olav Christopher Jenssen in 2009. The German artist was recently awarded the Sprengel Prize for Visual Arts 2014 by the Lower Saxony Sparkassen Foundation. In December 2014, Badock … [Read more...] about Contemporary graphic art exhibit to open in Vietnam capital this week
Fires consume warehouses, restaurants in Vietnam capital
Vietnam capital to host dragon dance fest to mark 60th liberation day
A dragon dance festival will be held in Hanoi this weekend to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Vietnamese capital'sliberation from French rule. Hanoi Dragon Dance Festival, in its fourth year, is set to run from 1:30 pm to 6:30 pm on October 4 at the garden around Ly Thai To King Statue, next to the city's iconic Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake. … [Read more...] about Vietnam capital to host dragon dance fest to mark 60th liberation day
Local folk music festival concludes in Vietnam capital
A music festival introducing a well-known type of Vietnamese folk music closed in the capital city of Hanoi this week. The "Lien hoan ca tru toan quoc 2014" (National Northern Ceremonial Singing Festival 2014) fest took place at the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology at CC2 Me Tri Street, Tu Liem District from August 26 to August 29. The event welcomed some 300 artists from 26 northern ceremonial singing clubs and troupes of 12 provinces and cities, and was meant to raise public awareness of the UNESCO-recognized art. … [Read more...] about Local folk music festival concludes in Vietnam capital
Famed pianist Richard Clayderman to perform in Vietnam capital in August
World-renowned French pianist Richard Clayderman is set to perform alongside Vietnamese musicians in a concert in Hanoi late next month. The “Richard Clayderman in Concert” show will take place on August 23 night at the Vietnam National Convention Center at 57 Pham Hung, Tu Liem District. During his three-day stay in the Vietnamese capital starting August 22, the 61-year-old virtuoso will also take part in exchanges with lecturers and students of the Vietnam National Academy of Music. Apart from his everlasting hits such as “Mariage d’amour,” “A comme amour” and “Ballade pour Adeline,” Clayderman will perform pieces from his 2013 album. One of Vietnam’s leading violinists Bui Cong Duy and the Vietnam National Academy of Music’s eight-member orchestra will also join the French pianist in his performances. Accompanying Clayderman on this trip will be famed composer Olivier Toussaint, the pianist’s long-standing … [Read more...] about Famed pianist Richard Clayderman to perform in Vietnam capital in August
Former Vietnam capital losing its book value
T.N. pointed to his house roof. It had stopped leaking after more than VND15 million (US$711) was spent on repairing it. But N. looked none too happy about his improved living conditions. "I had to sell my books," he said, sadness writ large on his face. Similar stories are being narrated by many collectors in the former feudal capital of Hue. They have been selling off many old, original books, as poverty forced them to part with their most valuable asset, a Tuoi Tre report said. N. did not want to be named, saying he felt bad about selling what he treasured. Among the items he sold were hundreds of issues of newspapers published in South Vietnam, the US-backed regime before the Vietnam War ended in 1975, as well as newspapers published in Hue before 1945 and several books from the early 1900s. He is still keeping some 400 music sheets by Hue publisher Tinh Hoa, and An Phu and Dien Dong publishers then based in Saigon, which were the first to print pieces of Vietnamese modern … [Read more...] about Former Vietnam capital losing its book value
“One Planet” exhibit on display in Vietnam capital
An exhibition by prominent Vietnamese artist Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng is currently on display at the Manzi Art Space in Hanoi and will run through July 28. "One Planet'" features Hùng's new sculptural installations that were on show in Ho Chi Minh City early this year, plus a series of paintings entitled "We've been here." The current exhibition was co-organized by Manzi, Galerie Quynh in Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi Grapevine, and was funded by the Netherlands' foundation the Prince Claus Fund for Culture & Development. According to a press release by the organizers, drawing from his own personal history growing up in a cramped Soviet style apartment block in Hanoi, Hùng reflects on the idea of community, conflicts that exist within and without societies, and the complexities of civic development and individual responsibility. "How is a community defined? Is the traditional idea of community just hollow rhetoric or an ideal that can evolve and adapt to modern day Vietnam?" Hùng … [Read more...] about “One Planet” exhibit on display in Vietnam capital
Danish architecture contest launched in Vietnam capital
The Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF) of the Danish Embassy in Vietnam launched its 2013 Talent Prize Competition last week in Hanoi. Accordingly, this year's theme is Architectural Ideas for Improving Urban Spaces, which is based upon the Danish architect Jan Gehl's notion that an urban area is normally created by a set of buildings, and its real value lies in the space between those buildings. Buildings contribute to defining the value and features of an urban area. Buildings' characteristics in terms of usefulness, aesthetics, materials, color, style, openness, proximity to one another, and their appearance of solidity or hollowness have a large impact on the feelings public spaces invoke. The competition is aimed to represent a basic concept of urban planning: buildings are an instrument, but not a goal, of urban planning. The space between buildings, where communities actively exist is of greater importance, said the competition's organizer in a press … [Read more...] about Danish architecture contest launched in Vietnam capital