Sep
20
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Zitherists pluck tradition
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Musicians from Ha Noi, Hue, HCM City and Tokyo will participate in the third annual Zither Festival in HCM City this week.
Zitherists will perform traditional music at the four-day festival.
Several exhibitions and talks by music professors. including musicologist Tran Van Khe, will be held.
Khe spent years researching the zither, a traditional multi-stringed instrument.
The zither is known as koto in Japan, kayagum and komungo in Korea and guzheng in Singapore.
Kayagum and komungo are played with the fingertips while other zithers are played with plectrums.
In Viet Nam, it is called dan tranh or dan thap luc (16-chord zither).
Singapore's guzheng is similar to Viet Nam's dan tranh 16-string guitar but it is larger and boasts between 18 and 21 cords.
The deep sounds of the kayagum are similar to that produced by Viet Nam's dan day (with a long neck and three strings, a distant cousin of the guitar) played in cheo (traditional opera).
Well-known artist Nguyen Thi Hai Phuong, who has won top awards at local and international music competitions, will perform at the festival.
One of Asia's leading zitherists, Phuong, has featured in solo and group performances in many countries, and now works as a music teacher at the city's Academy of Music.
In 2000, Phuong and her group opened the first Asian Zither Festival in HCM City by playing a tai tu traditional piece Duyen Ky Ngo (Marvellous Encounter). Tai tu music was popular in southern Viet Nam in the 19th century.
Zitherists Hong Nga and Hong Hanh will also perform.
Nga and Hanh work for the Hue Academy of Music and Viet Nam Institue of Musicology, both prestigious music schools.
The musicians will perform nha nhac (royal music), cheo (traditional opera) and tai tu traditional music.
While nha nhac is originally from Hue, cheo is popular in the northern provinces.
Japanese artists Toshiko Nagase and Kenzan Nagase will present their traditional music on the koto.
Organised by the HCM City Sound of the Homeland Club and its partners, the festival aims to preserve and popularise traditional music.
"We're interested in performing and teaching traditional music because we believe the art can connect people around the world," said Phuong, a lecturer and member of the Sound of the Homeland Club, which was founded 32 years ago.
The club offers training courses and performances, attracting nearly 150 traditional singers, dancers and music players; many of them are students and young workers.
Several traditional music exchange programmes between the club and music troupes in Canada, Japan, South Korea and France have been organised.
The four-day festival will begin at 7.30pm on Friday at the Lao Dong (Workers) Culture Palace, 55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1. Tickets, which are free, are available at the Culture Palace.
Precious trees to be preserved
The Hue Monuments Conservation Centre is planning to build a sanctuary for rare and precious trees where the treasured species can be preserved and cultivated.
According to the centre's director Phan Thanh Hai, the vestiges of the ancient royal capital housed many rare and precious trees that were donated by different regions of the country. However, many of them no longer exist.
The garden, scheduled for early next year, will be built in the area of the former Quoc Tu Giam School (Imperial Academy) in Huong Ho Commune, Huong Tra District, Thua Thien Hue Province.-
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Sep
20
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Saigon libraries struggle to remain open
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Libraries in Ho Chi Minh City are presently facing many difficulties like shortage of capital, lack of proper premises and poorly trained human resources.
The General Sciences Library in Ho Chi Minh City is struggling to keep its doors open and continue to serve its readers, same as other libraries in the City that are faced with a cash crunch, lack of proper premises and shortage of trained personnel.
The library received financial assistance from the FORCE fund, South Korea’s SK Telecom Group, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and United Way International (UWI), French Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and French Valease (Book Enhancement in Southeast Asia) project to build rooms for audio books, equipment, organize mobile bookstores and open the Ly Tu Trong children’s library.
The library has also leased its premises for opening a book café to earn money and has upgraded old reading rooms into modern reading rooms for businessmen.
Meanwhile libraries in districts around the city have not attracted visitors because of lack of professional human resources, no addition of the latest books and lack of so many other essential facilities. Most of these libraries are located in districts’ cultural centers with other entertainments that have detracted from a reading environment.
According to Bui Xuan Duc, director of HCMC General Sciences Library, districts should join hands to build large-scale libraries with diversified cultural activities to lure more readers and avoid wasting on poor quality small libraries in every locality.
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Sep
20
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Photo exhibit raises funds for disadvantaged women
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A photo exhibition featuring life of single disabled women will be open from September 20-21 in Hanoi, with all proceeds going to help the plight of the exhibit's subjects.
The two day exhibition will be held at the Centre for Women and Development, at 20 Thuy Khue Street, Hanoi. It is entitled ‘Xuong rong van no hoa’, or ‘A cactus also blossoms’. The show bares the same name as a project aiming to provide support to disabled single women and their children.
This will be the first event in a series by the project organisers, the Action Centre for Community Development, and sponsored by the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and the British Council.
The photos, which were taken by both professional and amateur photographers, depict the lives of disabled single women in Hanoi.
According to the organisers, they will set up a fund that will be used to provide support for these women.
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Festival honours northeastern ethnic groups
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20/09/2012 09:10:11
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Art exhibition highlights Vietnam-Rok relations
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20/09/2012 09:05:57
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French flautist, pianist to play
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20/09/2012 09:04:40
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San Art Gallery founders exhibit works in USA
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20/09/2012 08:54:35
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“The Colours of Vietnam” shines in US
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20/09/2012 08:45:07
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Woodblock prints get modern twist
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20/09/2012 08:43:51
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Century-Old Le Beaulieu at Metropole Named “One of World’s Best”
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20/09/2012 08:41:13
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Conde Nast Traveller votes the Nam Hai as Best Overseas Spa Hotel
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20/09/2012 08:39:57
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Opera “Cosi fan Tutte” by Mozart to be performed in Hanoi
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20/09/2012 08:35:21
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