ART & ENTERTAINMENT IN BRIEF 10/4 ? TalkVietnam

Eternal spring from the late Nguyen Van Phuong

Painting exhibition ?An Eternal Spring? by the late artist Nguyen Van Phuong opened at Tu Do Gallery in downtown HCMC on Saturday, giving a chance for art lovers to admire the works of their forefather?s generation.

The show features 45 artworks, consisting of 40 oil on canvas and five lacquers. Phuong?s works present a skillful combination of classic art style with inspiration from the nation?s history.

Phuong?s artworks are filled with Vietnamese cultural features of traditional festivals, customs, practices, daily life in spring in Khue Van Cac, Lim Festival, bailing out water at the full-moon night. Characters in his paintings are dressed in traditional costumes with some depicting ancient architecture, recalling times of the past.

The colors in Phuong?s works are also worth a mention with the five main colors of the basic elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth.

Each work seems to be a story narrated with real images and all his paintings are colorful, expressing happiness and a love of life.

Born in 1930 in Hanoi, Phuong has had many solo and group exhibitions in Vietnam, Japan, Sweden and South Korea. He died in 2006.

The exhibition runs until May 7 at the gallery, 53 Ho Tung Mau, District 1.

Biggest sapphire Buddha statue inaugurated in Vinh Phuc

Thousands of people gathered in the Truc Lam-Tay Thien Zen Monastery yesterday for the inauguration of the world?s biggest Buddha statue made from sapphire in Tam Dao District, Vinh Phuc Province.

According to the Venerable Thich Kien Nguyet, managing monk of the monastery, the statue weighs 31 tonnes, is 3.45 metres high and made from Vietnamese sapphire.

Ha Noi Gem Association deputy chairman Ngoc Chau said the statue was made from six individual blocks of sapphire from central Nghe An Province. The job took three groups of craftsmen more than a year to complete.

The Zen Monastery also inaugurated another stone Buddha Statue and kicked off construction of a 49m high Buddha statue and tower on a nearby hill.

Korean band greets fans via clip before Vietnam trip

Four members of the well-known South Korean band Big bang excite their Vietnamese fans by sending a greeting through a clip before the group?s trip to Ho Chi Minh City for the ?Sound Fest? music festival this weekend.

?Hello Vietnam. This is Big bang. Hope to see you guys at the Sound Fest concert on April 14,? the band said in the video.

Besides Big Bang, the concert held by Coca Cola in collaboration with Samsung will feature British singer Taio Cruz, Top 7 American Idol 2003 Kimberly Caldwell, talented Thai singer Tata Young and a number of local singers.

Tickets for the event have been officially released at prices ranging from VND500,000 (US$25) to VND2.2million (US$110).

Under the organizer?s plan, the festival will open with cuisine, cosplay and game booths from 2pm to 6:30pm.

Local artists including Buc Tuong, Unlimited, rock band Microwave, Ha Okio, Thao Trang, Tien Dat, Thanh Bui, Suboi, Van Mai Huong, Phuong Vy and Pham Anh Khoa will perform at the event from 2pm, and then the foreign singers will join in from 7 pm to rock the air with a big concert.

Last month, Hanoi fans of the Korean band performed a flashmob against the background music from the band?s hits to welcome the four men.

?Sound Fest 2012? will take place at Phu Tho Outdoor Stadium at 1 Lu Gia Street in District 11.

Activities blossom at 2012 Hue Festival

The Giao Offering Ritual was held on the Nam Giao esplanade in the central city of Hue on April 8 as part of the ongoing 2012 Hue Festival.

The ceremony, which attracted nearly 1,000 people, was one of the traditional rites during the Nguyen dynasty to pray for favourable weather, prosperity and national peace.

On the same day, the main streets of Hue were livened up by jolly melodies and dragon and unicorn dances performed by artists from East Asian and Latin American countries at a street carnival launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Thua Thien ? Hue provincial People?s Committee, aiming to boost exchanges and development among East Asian and Latin American nations.

A special set of stamps entitled ?Tile-Roofed Bridges? has also been issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications, the provincial People?s Committee and the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group to commemorate the event.

The stamp set, designed by painters Do Lenh Tuan and Nguyen Du, features characteristic tile-roofed bridges across Vietnam, including Kim Son Bridge in Ninh Binh province, Chua Thay Bridge in Hanoi and Thanh Toan Bridge in Thua Thien Hue province.

Also on April 8, experts from the Republic of Korea (RoK) National Centre of Traditional Performing Arts handed over some restored antique musical instruments from Hue, including a ?Bac Chung? (bronze bell) and a ?Dac Khanh? (musical stone), to the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre.

These instruments were used in ?Nha Nhac? (Hue royal court music) performances, but the methods of producing and playing them were lost in the early 20th century.

The restoration of the instruments by RoK artisan Kim Hyun Kon, which began in October 2011, will complete the set of instruments used for ?Nha Nhac? orchestras.

The Hue Festival International Trade Fair 2012 also opened at the provincial gymnasium, featuring more than 500 booths of 350 businesses from 25 cities and provinces across the country, as well as from China, Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan (China).

The expo, held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, aims to promote trade, investment, tourism and economic co-operation in the northern central region to international investors and visitors and will last until April 13.

Musical concert for patients at Hue Festival 2012

Patients at Hue Central Hospital had a chance to enjoy an outdoor concert featuring the American band, Mary McBride, on April 8.

The music concert was one of the events at Hue Festival 2012. The five-member group presented to audiences 10 songs from the 30 more they will be performing during the festival.

Although most patients do not understand English, they were attracted by the sweet and harmonious melodies that helped them forget their pain for a while.

Working as cultural ambassadors for the US State Department, the band has performed at many diplomatic events in countries throughout the world.

Mary McBride, the main singer of the group, has been highly appreciated for her music talent and outstanding contribution to disadvantaged people. She received much praise for her song ?No One?s Gonna Love You Like Me?, the soundtrack of film director Ang Lee?s Academy award winning movie, ?Brokeback Mountain?, released in 2005.

Young Vietnamese singer Le Cat Trong Ly also performed her songs at the show.

On the same day, the American band visited and performed at the Thua Thien- Hue Province Teenage and Children Centre and at the Thai Hoa Palace.

Also on the same day, the ?Countryside market festival? opened in Thuy Thanh Ward in Huong Thuy Town in Thua Thien-Hue Province.

The fair includes a series of activities such as a traditional boat race; folk musical performances; folk games; exhibition of agricultural products; and various handicraft products.

A stamp collection of ancient tile bridges including Kim Son in Ninh Binh Province, Chua Thay in Hanoi and Thanh Toan in Thua Thien-Hue Province was presented at the fair.

The ?Countryside market festival? will run until April 10.

Vietnamese stars indulge in flights of fancy

Vietnamese artists seem to be tripping over themselves as they boast of a wealth of potential projects that never seem to quite come to fruition.

Former Miss. Vietnam Mai Phuong Thuy boasted she would act in a Hollywood film in which she would play the role of a girl living near the Laos-Vietnam border who was to fall in love with a handsome military officer. Thuy kept all specific information about the film in secret, and it has remained so since her first announcement. Although Thuy has visited Hollywood on several occasions, she has yet to make a film, apparently spending most of the time blagging her way into the premieres of blockbusters like Transformers and Twilight Saga.

After seizing an opportunity of a lifetime to act in The Quiet American, Hai Yen surprised Vietnamese audiences when she said she had been invited to join the cast for a film named Battle Angel directed by James Cameron. Yen said that the film would have a budget of USD400 million and be released in 3D, yet so far, the film seems little more than a figment of the actresses? imagination.

Model Bebe Pham once dominated newspapers with the news that she would star in several international films. But in fact the closest Bebe Pham got to film star fame were a few walk-on roles in unknown films like Deep Gold, The Girl with No Number, Irreversi, and Midnight Movie.

Truong Ngoc Anh is another boaster claiming she had won a major role. She was so confident of the film going ahead that she submitted the film script to Vietnam?s film censors before making a final decision. However this confidence may have ebbed away as Truong Ngoc Anh seems busy doing other things, and her Hollywood script seems to be gathering dust in a draw somewhere.

Hardly anyone remembers Long Quan who once boasted of a VND5 billion (VND239,693) L&P Communications Company investment in his career, and it seems little has happened to the expected investment.

2008 Vietnam Idol contestant Tra My seems to be the most impressive boaster claiming she and composer Ha Dung would tour four cities in Texas and California on a multi-million dollar tour to launch her in the US.

Vietnamese pop diva My Linh couldn?t carry out the project she promised, in which she would co-operate with Blues Record to record and release albums in the US. Ho Quynh Huong, one of the best Vietnamese vocalists also damaged her reputation by boasting about her receiving an invitation to act in a Korean film and releasing her albums in Beijing, all of which proved to be wishful thinking.

Abstract lacquer painter introduces latest works

Truong Be, one of the most well-known artists in Hue City has introduced a new exhibition featuring 22 of his latest abstract lacquer paintings.

The works, which are being exhibited at the New Space Arts Foundation, No. 15 Le Loi Street, are mostly large sized, with a deep and rich colour tone.

Known as a pioneer in Hue City in the world of abstract lacquer art, Truong Be, who was the former director of the Hue University of Arts, has followed this form of art for more than 20 years. Many of his exhibitions have been well received.

According to Doctor Pham Thanh Binh, Director of Hue University of Arts, ?Truong Be?s works have always blended romanticism with abstractionism, but the later is now very impressive.?

Truong Be?s works seem to attract, not only art-lovers, but a more general audience who are moved by his paintings.

The on-going exhibition will last until April 18.

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