HCM CITY — Viet Nam's 100 top calligraphers will attend the first-ever calligraphy festival that will be held at the Hoa Lu Citadel in the northern province of Ninh Binh next week.
The two-day event, which will open on the 21st, will feature their performances and display 500 works by artists from 27 clubs around the country.
A seminar on the origin of Vietnamese calligraphy and how to export works will be held while the participating calligraphers will present their works to visitors.
Several new records like the longest calligraphy work will be set at the festival, which is being organised by the Viet Nam Records Book (Vietbook).
The event would also serve as a rehearsal for a bigger festival at Ha Noi's Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature) in September to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the capital this year, Le Tran Truong An, the general director of Vietbooks, said.
MTV road show hits Viet Nam
HCM CITY — A musical tour of Viet Nam sponsored by the international channel Music Television, or MTV, to raise awareness of and prevent human trafficking will conclude with a free outdoor concert in HCM City tonight.
The MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign's final concert will feature the US band, The Click Five, who will perform at the Military Zone 7 Stadium.
The concert will also feature some of Viet Nam's top talents like Ha Anh Tuan, Anh Khoa, Phuong Vy, Luu Huong Giang, May Trang, and Micro Wave.
"We are so excited to be back in Asia, and for such an important event in Viet Nam," said The Click Five's front man, Kyle Patrick.
"The issue of human trafficking is big, and we're doing everything in our power to stop it. Raising awareness is first and we're proud to be teaming up with our friends at MTV EXIT again to do just that."
The tour included stops in Ha Noi, where Boy band Super Junior from Korea and pop star Kate Miller Heidke from Australia performed, and Ha Long Bay and Can Tho. They were attended by more than 60,000 fans.
Vietnamese-Australian Idol returns
HCM CITY — Vietnamese-Australian singer Thanh Bui, an Australian Idol selected from 38,000 contestants two years ago, will return to Viet Nam and sing with local artists for the first time this month.
Thanh Bui or Bui Vui Thanh, 26, said this was the third time he was returning to his native land.
He will sing popular songs that have made him famous, including Gravity, Forbidden, Mirror Mirror, My Face (original – English) and Ordinary People.
He will also perform many of his own compositions.
Thanh said he would sing with Ho Ngoc Ha the song Lang Tham Mot Tinh Yeu (A Quiet Love) that he wrote or a movie directed by Dustin Nguyen. With Thao Trang, Viet Nam Idol 2007, Thanh will sing a song written by Duong Khac Linh.
The Australian Idol, who sings fluently in both Vietnamese and English, has wowed Vietnamese and foreign audiences after being chosen Australian Idol 2008. His concert tour in the US last year was also a huge success, with his own Mirror Mirror drawing standing ovations.
Thanh's concert will be held at 7pm, April 24 Villa FB, 79 Suong Nguyet Anh District 1, HCM City.
City set for make-up exhibition
HCM CITY — HCM City will host an annual international exhibition on cosmetics, hairstyling, and spa treatment later this month.
To be held at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre in District 7 from April 22, the three-day Cosmobeaute Viet Nam will showcase new equipment, technologies, and trends and products in the cosmetics, hair and spa, and health and wellness industries.
The third edition is set to attract 206 brands, many of them well known, from 15 countries and territories, including Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and host nation Viet Nam.
For the first time, companies from the Philippines and India would showcase their personal care products, CP Saw, managing director of the Malaysia-based ECMI Trade Fairs S.E.A Sdn Bhd, one of the event's organisers, said.
The exhibition would provide a forum for industrialists to meet, compares notes, and strike partnerships, he said. — VNS