Lang Son Then festival gets underway

 

A national festival featuring Then singing and Tinh lute music got underway in the northern province of Lang Son on November 4. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the festival, themed ‘the origin of Then singing’, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai said that the festival, the fourth of its kind to be held in the country so far, is part of the ministry’s campaign to gain UNESCO recognition of the art as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

The festival aims to honour the culture of Then singing and Tinh lute music and promote the region’s cultural heritages, to boost economic development and improve the material and spiritual lives of local people, he said. 

It also offers Then singers and musicians from northern localities the chance to meet and learn from each other, he added. 

According to Deputy Director of the Lang Son provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Phuc Ha, this year’s festival will see nearly 800 artists from Lang Son and its neighbouring provinces taking part. 

Traditional Then singing is common to the Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam and is most popular in Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lang Son, Tuyen Quang and Dien Bien provinces. It is a unique combination of music and song accompanied by the handmade Tinh guitar, which has only two strings.

Source: VNA

 

Cruise, cuisine and culture on Saigon River

Authentic cuisine, dancing, music and many more typical Vietnamese traits are available for visitors to experience on board the three-deck wooden boat Vietcruiser that travels along the Saigon River every Saturday, with chartered voyages six days a week.

 

The dancing show on Vietcruiser

The journey to experience Vietnamese specialties begins when guests step aboard Vietcruiser, as local girls in traditional attire, including ao dai, treat you with cakes and fruit of different regions and seasons.

On the bamboo trays are banh tet (cylindrical glutinous rice cake filled with green bean paste and pork), banh pia (flour cake with salty yolk, durian, green bean paste and taro), and many other sweet and salty cakes made from rice powder and other ingredients. Litchi, chom chom (rambutan), Vietnamese tea and other seasonal fruit on offer will add some flavor before the trip starts

A buffet dinner begins once the 39-meter-long, 8.5-meter-wide Vietcruiser departs Nha Rong Wharf in downtown HCMC at around 7:15 p.m. During the cruise on the Saigon River at night to Thanh Da in Binh Thanh District and back to base, guests can walk around the serving counters on the ground floors to select goi (mixed salad), goi cuon (spring roll), grilled squid and shrimp, and other dishes featuring flavors of different localities in Vietnam.

Music and dances depicting cultural and historical glimpses of Vietnam are on show throughout the voyage that ends around 9:30 p.m. The melodious sounds of dan tranh and dan bau and other Vietnamese musical instruments will relax guests on board. Craftsmen are also a fixture on the Vietcruiser to make to he (toy figurine), which is made into toys for children to play at traditional festivals in the country from a mixture of glutinous and ordinary rice powder. With this material, the craftsman can shape animals, flowers or characters from folk stories and also do requests for guests. When dinner is over, a good idea for passengers is to sit and relax at their seats or go to the upper deck to view HCMC at night

Tickets are priced from VND390,000 and allow guests to enjoy a wide selection of Vietnamese food specialties as well as music and dancing shows during the weekend voyage on the 256-seat boat. For the ticket price you also get some free drinks.

Note this is a special promotion price until the end of October.

 

The craftsman shapes to he on the boat