CA MAU — Twenty-one provinces and cities in the south are compiling information on don ca tai tu (southern amateur music) that will be submitted for recognition as an intangible cultural heritage from the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cutural Organisation (UNESCO).
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is collecting all of the research documents, articles and other information on this music genre, which is performed by local amateur singers and instrumentalists.
The music, which contains lyrics about people's everyday lives, is played on traditional Vietnamese musical instruments, including the dan tranh (16-chord zither) and dan co (two-string guitar).
Ca Mau Province's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, for example, has found hundreds of research documents and articles, and trained 130 officials to conduct surveys of families who have played the music for generations and don ca tai tu clubs.
In upcoming months, the department will organise seminars on don ca tai tu, and will also film a documentary about the amateur music clubs.
Children's story to be released this week
HCM CITY — Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh (I see Yellow Flowers on Green Grass), the latest children's story by well-known author Nguyen Nhat Aùnh, is set to hit bookstores nationwide this week.
The story, narrated by a 13-year-old boy, chronicles life in a small village, the activities he indulges in with his younger brother and friends at home and in school, their hobbies, their quarrels, their feelings of fear when they read ghost stories, and so on.
HCM City-based Tre (Youth) Publisher is bringing out 20,000 copies of I see Yellow Flowers on Green Grass in its first print.
Anh is the author of several best-selling children's books including Kinh Van Hoa (Kaleidoscope) and Cho Toi Xin Mot Ve Di Tuoi Tho (Give Me a Ticket Back to Childhood).
Kaleidoscope was made into a 20-part TV series by HCM City Television Film Studio. It was shown on the national television network in 2004 and has been rebroadcast several times on HCM City Television and provincial channels.
Give Me a Ticket Back to Childhood, which connects childhood memories with adult realities, won the Southeast Asian Writers Award this year.
Exhibition displays gifts, foods for Tet
HCM CITY — An exhibition of gifts and processed foods for Tet, the Lunar New Year, opened in HCM City yesterday.
Organised by the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre at its showroom in Nguyen Hue Street, it features products made by 23 businesses in the food, beverages, clothing, footwear, cosmetics, and other industries.
Also on display are gift items like precious stones, pearl jewelry, hand-made pillow, and origami.
The event has attracted some big names like Vissan, Vifon, and Sapuwa.
Buyers can get discounts of 5-10 per cent between December 6 and 12.
The exhibition will go on until February 8, 2011. — VNS