South Korea restores royal music instruments

A set of
Bien Chung (brass bells) and Bien Khanh (stone gongs)The National Institute of
Traditional Art Performance of the South Korea Wednesday handed over a set of
Bien Chung (brass bells) and Bien Khanh (stone gongs) to the Hue Imperial
Relics Preservation Centre (HIRPC).

South
Korea Institute helped HIRPC restore Bien Chung and Bien Khanh, percussion
instruments of Nha Nhac (Royal Court Music), as the techniques for making them
have been lost in Vietnam
since early the 20th century.

However,
the instruments are sill preserved in the South Korea.

The
instruments were used in Hue
royal orchestra under the Le dynasty (1427-1788) and Nguyen dynasty
(1802-1945), according to HIRPC Director Phung Phu.

They will
be handed over to the Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theatre to be used on the
occasions of traditional rituals during Hue
festivals.

Park il
Hun, Director of the South Korea Institute, hoped that through the cooperation
the world will know more about the bilabial traditional music.

Youth Year 2011 to feature various
activities

The Ho
Chi Minh City Committee of Communist Youth Union on December 30 introduced
various activities and functions, which will be held from December 31 to
January 9. The event aims to celebrate the upcoming 11th National Congress of
the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Specifically,
on December 31, members of the city Youth Union from 24 districts will launch
the event entitled ‘Day for poor’. This event will offer free tickets to
students, some scholarships, and the organises, will distribute free medicine
to the poor.

On
January 1, the city youth union will honour an outstanding young citizen of
2010. On the same day, they will also start construction of the Ly Tu Trong
Communist Youth School and will meet city authorities.

On
January 2, the youth union will launch a program to clean 8,000 lampposts and
to organise friendly environmental products for the city. The event will
include an exhibition of creative products, from young people and children.

Photo exhibition on Vietnam – Cuba
ties opens in Hanoi

A photo
exhibition themed “Vietnam –
Cuba, 50 years of
solidarity, cooperation and development” opened in Hanoi
on December 30 to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Cuba (Dec. 2, 1960 - Dec. 2, 2010).

Attending
the opening ceremony were Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le
Tien Tho, Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Fredesman Turroz Gonzalez and
representatives of the Embassies of Cuba, Thailand, France, the Vietnam-Cuba
Friendship Association and news agencies.

On
display are almost 100 photos depicting the friendly cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba and as well as the Cuban
people, land and culture.

Addressing
the event, Deputy Minister Tho described the exhibition as a chance to review
the traditional friendship and bilateral cooperation between the two nations in
the fields of politics, economy, culture and education since the two countries
established their diplomatic ties in 1960.

He said
he believed that the exhibition would contribute to strengthening the bilateral
friendship and boosting the comprehensive partnership between the two nations.

For his
part, Cuban ambassador Fredesman Turroz Gonzalez expressed his thanks for the
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s participants in the event and
affirmed that this year was important in exchanging bilateral culture between Vietnam and Cuba, especially the exchange
visits by the two nations’ culture ministers and the signing of cultural
exchange programme in the 2011-2013 period.

The
exhibition, which is co-organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and
Tourism and the Cuban Embassy to Vietnam, will last until January 3,
2011.

PV