Canadian rapper to perform for Tet

Canadian-Somalian rapper K’naan will perform at a concert for young people to welcome Tet holiday (Lunar New Year) in HCM City next week.

The concert called Hoa Nhip Mua Xuan (Enjoying Spring) will feature the latest songs of 11 Vietnamese popular singers like Ho Ngoc Ha, Minh Thu and Hoang Hai.

K’naan will also perform duets at the show. He is managed by A&M/Octone Records, a division of Universal Musical Group and was the main singer of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola.

Two thousand free tickets will be given to students who present their student ID cards at the venue before the show at Quan Khu 7 (The 7th Military Zone) Gymnasium on January 16.

The concert is part of HCM City Television (HTV) ’s monthly show Hoa nhip ban tre (Enjoying with the Youth) which presents popular singers from locally and around ASEAN.

Ben Tre kicks off coconut festival

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Ben Tre will stage a five-day festival starting next Friday in honour of its native fruit, the coconut, provincial officials said at a press conference.

The festival is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Dong Khoi Ben Tre, or the uprising of local residents against the US-backed Sai Gon regime.

Organised by the provincial People’s Committee under the direction of the Trade and Industry Ministry and Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry, the festival will feature cultural, trade and investment activities.

The main features include a coconut products fair, a week for small – and medium-sized enterprises, a cooking competition, a flower lantern evening, a commemoration ceremony for the uprising movement, a masquerade in coconut costumes, children’s performances and a bike race, among others.

Comprised of three big islands separated by main tributaries of the Mekong, Ben Tre is one of the most isolated provinces in the delta and has long been stereotyped as a "land of coconuts".

Music lecturer wins award

Composer Tran Manh Hung has won two of the five prizes awarded by the Vietnamese Musicians Association for his emotional poetic symphony, Le Chi Vien (Le Chi Garden) and the song Giac Mo Mua La (Dream of Falling Leaves).

Hung, who is a lecturer at the National Academy of Music, also won two association awards last year for his four-chapter symphony Mot Nua Coi Tram (Haft a Life), and the choral song Gio Long Bon Phuong (Rising Wind on All Sides).

Other prizes were granted for the songs Doi Do Ngan Nam (One-Thousand-Year Relocated Capital) by Nguyen Tien, and Dong Trang Lung Lieng (The Stream of Moonlight) by Ngo Quoc Tinh, and a compilation on bai choi folk singing by Truong Dinh Quang.

According to the deputy head of the Musicians Association’s Membership Department, Ha Long, the award-winning composers had expressed their extreme creativeness in their compositions. "Compared to last year, it can be said that this year’s award-winning works are really outstanding."

More than 360 compositions, songs, and research pieces were submitted to the association for this year’s awards in the categories of pop music, children’s songs, symphony, chamber music and research. The awards ceremony will take place in Ha Noi tomorrow, January 8.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News