Cesar award winner to perform in Ha Noi

Simple setting: French actress Dominique Blanc will perform in French in The War: A Memoir (La Douleur) with Vietnamese subtitle on Thursday at Ha Noi Opera House. She has received best actress award for her part in La Douleur during the 24th Molieres theatre award ceremony last year. – Photo courtesy of French Cultural Centre

HA NOI — Actress Dominique Blanc will perform her one-woman theatrical odyssey La Douleur (The War: A Memoir) at the Ha Noi Opera House on Thursday night.

Directed by Patrice Chereau, the drama won Dominique a Moliere prize for best theatrical actress last year.

Born in 1956 in Lyon, Blanc trained at the French Drama School. She is one of France's most critically acclaimed actresses, with four Cesar Awards (the French Oscars) already under her belt.

Blanc met director Patrice Chereau while working on a production of Peer Gynt in 1981, and the pair have worked together on several successful productions since.

In 1989, Blanc won her first Cesar for her supporting role in May Fools. She also received Cesars for her supporting roles in Indochina in 1992 and Those Who Love Me Can Take The Train in 1998, while also winning best actress in 2000 for Stand-by. She also won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress in L'Autre at the 65th Venice Film Festival in 2008.

In The War: A Memoir, based on the diary of writer Marguerite Duras, Blanc adds a unique resonance to Duras's script. Her performance style is simple, yet intense.

Blanc will perform in French for one night only at the Ha Noi Opera House on Thursday at 8pm.

Born in 1914 in Gia Dinh, near Sai Gon, Viet Nam, after her parents responded to a campaign by the French government encouraging people to work in the colony, Marguerite Duras was the author of many novels, plays, films, essays and short fiction, including her best-selling, apparently autobiographical work L'Amant (The Lover) in 1984.

The book won the Goncourt prize in 1984. The story of her adolescence also appears in three other stories: The Sea Wall, Eden Cinema and The North China Lover. A film version of The Lover, produced by Claude Berri, was released to great success in 1992.

During World War II, Duras spent a long time waiting for her husband's return from a concentration camp. She wrote a diary as a testimony of her own suffering.

The War: A Memoir is a diary that reflects a punishing absence, a threatfull waiting, despair, the shame of being alive while waiting for a loved one to survive unspeakable horrors.

Despite her success as a writer, Duras's adult life was also marked by personal challenges, including a recurring struggle with alcoholism. Duras died of throat cancer in Paris, aged 81. — VNS

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Hue Palace gets royal restoration treatment

Beautiful facade: Buu Thanh Gate's beauty returns after restoration. — VNS Photo

THUA THIEN-HUE — German restorers are using traditional Vietnamese methods to restore the facade of the Imperial Palace in Hue.

Restoration work is currently being carried out on Buu Thanh Gate and screens around King Tu Duc's tomb.

The Germany foreign ministry has commissioned experts from the German Conservation, Restoration and Education Project (GCREP) to renovate six murals dating from the Nguyen kings in the lobby of An Dinh Palace.

The artwork is magnificent, but heavily damaged. Before attempting to restore the murals, team leader Andreas Teufel sent samples back to Germany for chemical analysis.

The team are using traditional mortar made from molasses, lime and sand to restore the works. Teufel said the restored parts of the palace will be indistinguishable from the original work.

"Previous restorers tried to preserve the original works but they didn't know how to do it properly and didn't have access to modern technology," she said.

"That was why relics at the site have largely been left unrestored. The work they did was far from perfect and bore little resemblance to the original. People in the past used different painting techniques. The Vietnamese restorers used modern pigments and techniques," she said.

"I discovered that the original painting technique was similar to that used in Italy."

The German restorers have used traditional pigments, which are applied to the wet mortar. The colour will be fixed when the mortar dries. Bacteria will grow on the walls during the drying process, which helps to make the artwork more durable.

The restoration work is in keeping with UNESCO's 1964 Charter.

According to Phan Thanh Hai, vice director of the Centre for Restoration of Hue Relics, the techniques used to restore the palace will be applied to other sites.. — VNS

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Youth cycle for a greener Viet Nam

Eco-warrior: Xen (middle of front row) bikes around Ha Noi on Sunday mornings to promote a greener lifestyle. — VNS File Photo

HA NOI — Vu Thi Xen, 24, is the founder and face of an award-winning project to promote environmental issues among young people. Xen has devoted much of her youth to green issues.

The first time Xen understood the importance of environmental preservation was during an encounter with a club called Cycling for Environment.

Its purpose is to gather youngsters from all over the country to go on bike tours to raise environmental awareness, including global warming.

"My father was very supportive, but my mother was not so approving. She refused to believe that a petite girl like myself could ride a bicycle around the country," Xen said.

The first trip was a six-week journey from Ha Noi on June 29. It crossed 17 provinces and cities before finally arriving in HCM City on August 11.

Fifty young people took part down 2,000km of the legendary Truong Son Trail. Xen was the leader of the group.

"We all tapped into a mysterious spring of energy. We were cycling all day, every other day for six weeks," Xen said, "On average, we made 80km a day, 130 at our best. We woke up at 4.30 and were back on the bikes at five."

The group stopped at every villages on the way to talk with people, including many ethnic villagers, about issues, particularly the protection of rare wild animals.

"There were days when we talked to villagers till one or two in the morning. Even then, next morning we would get back on our seats for another long day of biking," Xen said.

"We slept in villagers' homes. We were shocked to see that people in parts of our country, such as Ta Rut Village, still have to go without a clean water supply, electricity or the basics of hygienic living."

The tour helped connect youth throughout Viet Nam to the cause, as well as planting the seed for more "green" cycling clubs in many areas, including HCM City, Da Nang and Hue.

The further Xen went, the more concerned she became for the environment in the country, a concern that last year earned her praise for her project to promote green issues among the young during Viet Nam Innovation Day, an annual event to promote new ideas.

Xen and other project leaders have held seminars on healthy living at various high schools and universities in Ha Noi.

Funded by the Ministry of Resources and Environment and donations from many charities, the project launched competitions in the capital city to popularise a greener lifestyle. — VNS

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Modern dance blends tradition, hip-hop

HCM CITY — A dance performance featuring traditional music and hip-hop dance will be staged in Ha Noi and HCM City this week.

Faces is a work of German and French choreographers, Raphael Hillebrand and France Sebastien Ramirez, in collaboration with two musicians from Ha Noi, Hoang Thi Thanh Hoa and Ha Dinh Huy.

Nine Vietnamese dancers from well-known hip-hop groups, including Big Toe, Milky Way and Scared Crew, will wear faces that signify modern problems of youth.

The performance was created in 2008 as a collaboration between the Goethe Institute Viet Nam and L'Espace – the French Cultural Centre Ha Noi – supported by the Elysee Fund.

Performances will take place on Friday at the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theatre in Ha Noi, and on Sunday at the Ben Thanh Theatre in HCM City.

Free tickets are available at the Goethe Institute in both cities from today. Faces will also travel to Paris and Berlin.

Japanese kimonos set to go on show

HCM CITY—A collection of kimonos, the traditional Japanese costume, will be showcased at a fashion show to be held in HCM City tonight by the HCM City Union of Friendship Organisations and its partners.

Kimono for Four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, directed by Katsuko Wakabayashi, will show off garments for children and women for each season.

Traditional Japanese and western wedding clothes will also be on display.

Models from Nagoya in Japan will wear the clothes and be assisted by Japanese make-up artists and hair stylists. HUFO will be joined by the Viet Nam-Japan Business Club, the Nagoya city Labour Union, and Japan-based arts organisations in organising the event.

It will be held at HUFO's premises at 31 Le Duaûn Street, District 1. — VNS

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Backstreet Boys flash-mob hits Hanoi

Over 50 young Hanoians yesterday evening gathered together in an organized flash mob inside the Hanoi megastar cinema complex to perform tunes from Backstreet Boys to welcome their concert tour next month in Vietnam.

The youths, mostly from Hanoi-based high schools and universities, are members of the “Backstreet Boys’ fan club” on Facebook.

They performed three Backstreet Boys hit songs “As long as you love me”, “Straight through my heart”, and “Everybody” amid tumultuous applause of the crowd at the cinema.

“I am totally absorbed in their performance. I really want to join the fan club when I know it’s an activity to welcome the Backstreet Boys,” 19-year-old Tra My said after attentively watching the amateur show.

“Through our performance, we would like to boost social activities, create a healthy playground for youths and especially show our love to our Idols [Backstreet Boys],) said the team captain Nguyen Vu Khanh.

Backstreet Boys is scheduled to perform in Ho Chi Minh City-based Military Zone 7's stadium in March 24 and to grace Hanoi's My Dinh national stadium two days later.

All tickets to the shows have been sold out, according to the organizers, adding that many customers from other countries in the region like Singapore, Thailand also booked the tickets.

Meanwhile, several expatriates and foreigners, who live and work in Vietnam, are also interested in the coming concert.

“I have lived and worked in Hanoi for 6 years but I have never seen a world-renowned band like Backstreet Boys performing here. I hope other world-famous artists will come to Vietnam for performance in the near future,” said Mike Gallagher, a British national.

Backstreet Boys, one of the biggest teen-pop groups in 1990s, consisting of four members A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson, was formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys in 1996. They reached to superstardom with their album Millennium in 1999 and its follow-up album, Black & Blue one year later. Richardson left the group in 2006 to pursue other interests, leaving the band as a four-piece, but the remaining members did not rule out a possible return of the singer. The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them one of the biggest selling artists of all time. According to Billboard, they are the first group since Sade to have their first seven albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200.

 

 

Masked hip-hop show comes to town

A hip-hop show titled “Faces” by chorographers Raphael Hillebrand and Sébastien Ramirez from Germany and France will take place in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on 25 and 27 February.

Top hip-hoppers such as Hoang Ky Anh, Nguyen Chinh Dung, Nguyen Minh Kien will perform together with foreign dancers.

All artists will wear masks during the performance to send a message: “Are we all wearing masks to cover up our face in today’s society?”

Introduced for the first time in 2008, in an event organized by Vietnam Goethe Institute and French center L’Espace, the hip hop performance has since gained more fans as it reflects a dynamic, open and modern Vietnam, a country with rich culture and good preservation of traditional values.

The show will take place in Hanoi’s Youth Theater on February 25 and Ho Chi Minh Ctiy’s Ben Thanh Theater on February 27.

Free tickets can be obtained at Goethe Institute, No 56-57 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi or No 18, Street 1, Do Thanh, Ward 4, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

After performing in Vietnam, the crew will tour France and Germany.

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Hanoi pagoda houses priceless Buddhist relics

Vien Dinh Pagoda in Hanoi

Legend has it that at the beginning of the Ly Dynasty’s rule 1,000 years ago, the King, hoping to develop Buddhism, went in search of a scared land to build a temple.

When passing through what is now Dong Vo in Hanoi, he saw two giant trees that struck him as an embodiment of sanctity and decided to build Vien Dinh Pagoda there.

Despite turning 1,000 years now -- legend also says they stood there long before the pagoda was built -- the enormous Siamese rough bush trees continue to produce beautiful yellow blossoms that release their heady scent every summer.

But the astonishing thing is that the trees, native to Southeast Asia, are usually medium-sized and grow to a maximum height of eight meters. This jaw-dropping pair is dozens of meters tall and has enormous trunks.

Another precious relic lays right in front of us as we walked past the large gate into the sacred temple: an ancient wooden bell tower. It is held up by massive columns made from immense ironwood trees and inside is a huge bronze bell that goes back to the time the temple was built.

We were struck by the massive bell’s antique beauty, engraved as it is with ancient writing and delicate decorative patterns.

Its chimes are believed to ward off evil spirits and protect the locality.

Locals tell of dark times when the area was plagued by devils which only the sacred bell’s peals helped hold at bay.

Sacred land

Vien Dinh Pagoda is an important pilgrimage destination with its large number of revered Buddhist relics.

Since 2002 Thich Chon Phuong, its head monk, has visited major Buddhist temples in countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar for religious and cultural exchanges.

Vien Dinh Pagoda head monk Thich Chon Phuong

His trips have managed to take Vietnamese Buddhism and stories of the sacred origins of Vien Dinh Pagoda outside the country, and evince keen interest in them.

Vien Dinh got its first relic when he met with the chairman of the World Buddhism Union, Thich Huyen Dieu, in India in 2003.

It has now score of them donated by seven Buddhist centers around the world.

Preserved carefully in a large glass container, they give the room an ethereal air.

Phuong has also helped bring some priceless treasures to other pagodas nearby, “to invoke the great blessings and share the power of divine grace.”

 

The ancient massive bell of Vien Dinh Pagoda

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